What's the difference between the Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer and Polaroid Mint Pocket Printer?

What’s the difference between the Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer and Polaroid Mint Pocket Printer?
What’s the difference between the Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer and Polaroid Mint Pocket Printer? (Image credit: iMore)

What's the difference between the Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer and Polaroid Mint Pocket Printer?

Best answer: The biggest differences between Polaroid's Mint Camera & Printer and Mint Pocket Printer are that one has a built-in camera, and the other can print photos from external sources, respectively.Get the camera: Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer ($52 at Amazon)Get the printer: Polaroid Mint Pocket Printer ($70 at Amazon)

The Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer has a built-in camera, while the Mint Pocket Printer does not

Both the Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer and the Mint Pocket Printer quickly print 2-by-3-inch photos on Zink paper, making it easy to snap a picture and print out a physical artifact of a particular moment in time as soon as it happens. The biggest difference between the two devices is where those photos come from.

As you might guess from the name, the Mint Camera & Printer is both a camera and a printer. It has a 16MP camera built right into the body of the device, along with an automatic LED flash. It also only prints new photos that you take, which is interesting because the Mint Camera & Printer also includes a microSD card slot, but you can't print any images that might be on a card. It's only used for storage.

The Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer also won't connect to your smartphone. It really is just a smartphone-sized instant camera.

The Polaroid Mint Pocket Printer will require your smartphone

In contrast to the Mint Camera & Printer, the Mint Pocket Printer only prints previously-taken photos. After all, it has no camera of its own, instead relying on a connection to your smartphone.

Using the Polaroid Mint app, available on both the App Store and Google Play Store, the Mint Pocket Printer connects to your phone over Bluetooth and lets you print out the images you take with your phone. The Mint app, in addition to letting you print, it allows you to view your photos beforehand, as well as make edits to ensure that they're just right.

If neither of these products works for you, there are plenty of other instant cameras on the market that might be of interest.

Joseph Keller

Joseph Keller is the former Editor in Chief of iMore. An Apple user for almost 20 years, he spends his time learning the ins and outs of iOS and macOS, always finding ways of getting the most out of his iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.