Bug: Screen rotation, camera focus, compass...etc

Hi All,

We have an iPhone 13 mini which got given to us by a family member who had it since new and did not have problems. I set it up, it updated to iOS18. I noticed, that the screen was not rotating. I checked the screen rotation lock in the control centre, it was not enabled. I cycled the switch, it did not help. Camera did not turn, apps did not turn. I restarted the phone and it was fine.

A bit later I needed to take a photo of an object fairly close on the desk. I noticed the camera was not focusing. I had to switch to wide-angle lense to get the item in focus. I also noticed a little later that a landscape selfie was not landscape after having taken the photo. So the screen rotation did not work again. I also noticed that if this occurs the compass does not react either, as if the iPhone was on the desk and not moving.

A restart solved this. For about 30 minutes. Then I noticed after a walk that the camera screen was locked in portrait mode but upside down! All above mentioned functions did not work: compass not working, other apps not rotating. I guess the rotation broke when the phone was upside down in my pocket?

A proceeded to reset all settings. I was happy to see everything working, camera focusing very well, phone taking nice photos again. I thought problem solved. This was last night. This morning within 1.5 hours I am already through 3 restarts as the screen rotation....etc broke again.

Is this an iOS 18 bug or is this something that would mean for an expert that "XYZ" hardware is definitely faulty? I have seen others in other forums as well reporting screen rotation bug but there is no flood of error reports anywhere, so I am puzzled. Thank you for reading and for any suggestions in advance.