iPhone 12 & iPhone 12 Pro

We’ve finally got them in the house, the iPhone 12, and the iPhone 12 Pro. Nice and early, MAKguru, one of the first topic in the world, so a thumbs up for your guru would be appreciated. We've got a bunch of new features including an updated design with flat edges, 5G for the first time on an iPhone, improved cameras. We'll be taking a look at all of these in this topic. Let's get to it.

Box Inside

So the first thing you’ll notice straight away is that these boxes are super, super slim. I mean I'd say that they are half the size of a traditional iPhone box. Let's check it out. we have no longer get a charger or earphones included in the box. This is the blue version. This is the one that I wanted to check out. Absolutely love that color. We're going to put this to the side and then check out the iPhone 12 Pro. And the iPhone 12 Pro is also in the blue, Apple call this the Pacific Blue, and I'm really digging this because this has a matte finish whereas we've got a glossy finish on the iPhone 12. Right, And inside, all we have is some paperwork, a SIM card tool as well as an Apple sticker, and of course, there is a USB Type-C to Lightning cable.

Now, honestly speaking, I would have preferred if Apple went with USB Type-C to USB Type-C, it's just so much more universal but I'm assuming they wanted people who already have lots of Lightning cables and accessories to be able to carry on using them. Right, so let's quickly talk about why the charger and earphones are not included. Well, Apple say that this is to save on carbon emissions. By not including these, they've halved the size of the boxes which means they can get more into all the shipments. In total, they're looking at around two million metric tons of carbon emissions saved annually. That's the equivalent of around 450,000 cars off the roads.

In addition to that, at the launch event, Apple also said that there are already billions of chargers and earphones out there, and with the use of wireless technologies: wireless charging, wireless earphones, people tend to already have these at home. Now, personally speaking, I'm somebody who has lots of wireless charges at my house, and I also use wireless Air Pods. So for me, this is not a big deal but of course, I don't speak for everybody. What do you guys think? Do let me know in the comments below.

Body Design

Right, we're going to take a look at the iPhone 12 first. The flat edges, love the flat edges. Definitely gives me the iPhone 4 and 5 vibes, which I was a big fan of personally. Some of my favorite looking iPhones in the past. And what's interesting is that both of these icons are exactly the same size. However, the iPhone 12 Pro does weigh a little bit more compared to the iPhone 12, and that is because we've got a surgical-grade stainless steel frame whereas we've got an aluminum frame on the iPhone 12. And the contrast is really interesting because the back glass of the iPhone 12 is glossy with a matte finish for the frame, and for the iPhone at 12, we've got a matte finish for the back glass with a glossy finish for the frame.

Color

The iPhone 12 is available in five color options. We've got the blue, black, white,?, as well as a Product RED. And the iPhone 12 Pro I've got in this Pacific Blue but this is also available in a silver, graphite, as well as the gold, and the gold version looks really, really good especially because of the stainless steel frame.

IP68 and Screen glass

Now all of the new iPhones are IP68 water and dust resistant, but they are much more water and dust resistant compared to other devices, which are usually rated for up to two meters. These are rated up to six meters deep for 30 minutes, which is definitely quite impressive. Now for the back glass, Apple has said on the website that this is the toughest glass on a smartphone, so it should be pretty durable. But if you do want to be safe and put this in a case, like I normally do.

Now let's move over to the front. And here is what Apple call Ceramic Shield. They don't even call this glass because it's supposed to be tougher than any other smartphone display out there with four times improved drop performance. Now I'm not going to do a drop test. That's not what I do here on the channel, but I'm sure there's going to be lots of others that are going to do that.

Display

Now let's look at the displays. So we've got 6.1 inch displays on both devices and they are almost identical. Super Retina XDR with a 2million to 1 contrast ratio.Now these are 60 hertz displays. Unfortunately, we do not have 120 hertz this year. However, the displays have been improved especially on the iPhone 12compared to the iPhone 11. So gone is LCD and all of the new iPhone12s do have OLED technology which means colors are much more vibrant and things really do pop. We've also got an improved resolution on the iPhone 12 compared to the iPhone 11. So with that higher PPI, details are also a lot sharper. So there is a big improvement going from the iPhone 11 to the iPhone 12 compared to going from the iPhone 11 Pro to the iPhone 12 Pro.

Now the displays between the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 Pro are almost the same. You can see that we've got a uniform bezel around with the notch. And both also have a peak brightness of 1200 nits when you're watching HDR content. However, there is a small difference that I have noticed on the Apple website and that is that the iPhone 12 Pro does have a max brightness for regular conditions up to 800 nits. Whereas the iPhone 12 has a max brightness of around 625 nits. So a minor difference, but it's really good to see that the iPhone12 is now really up there with the displays of the Pro models.

Chip

Now, a lot of the similarities between these two do continue on the inside. So both of these are powered by the Apple A14 Bionic chip which is the world's first five-nanometer chipset, and it is super, super fast. No doubt these are going to be some of the fastest smartphones out there. In terms of the difference between these two, as far as I know, the iPhone12 Pro does have more RAM. And although on the day-to-day, you might not notice this too much, the iPhone 12 is going to be better overall for multitasking.

5G and OS

Now these are also the first iPhones with 5G, so Apple is now finally joining the 5G race, and this is going to mean super fast speeds. Now it's really going to depend on your area whether you're going to be able to fully take advantage of 5G speeds right now. But I think from Apple's point of view, it's more about future proofing. People usually buy an iPhone and keep it for many many years, which is why the A14 is going to be great for that. But also by having 5G,it's going to mean that even if you can't take advantage of those speeds tomorrow, you will be able to take advantage of those speeds in, say, a year's time.

Both devices of course come with iOS 14 out of the box with all of the new features including widgets. And this is something that I really do like about Apple, Apple provide software updates for the longest time.

Look Around and Camera

Now let's take a look around the devices. We have a Lightning connector at the bottom with one of the two stereo speakers; the other one is in the earpiece. On the right-hand side, we have the power button. On the left-hand side, we have the volume buttons as well as the mute switch. And then there is the SIM card tray at the bottom. Both devices do support dual SIM cards: a physical SIM card as well an eSIM. Now here within this notch, we do have Face ID. So we don't have Touch ID anywhere and Face ID as expected works really, really well. And that brings us on to the cameras. Both devices have the same12-megapixel front-facing camera. This has been improved, so we now have support for Smart HDR 3, Deep Fusion as well as Night Mode. So you now have Night Mode from the front-facing cameras. Now, when we move over on to the rear-facing cameras, this is where things get super, super interesting. So as you can see, we've got two rear-facing cameras on the iPhone 12, but we've got three rear-facing cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro. All of these cameras are 12 megapixels.

I like that Apple keeps things consistent. And the ultra wide as well as the primary camera are actually exactly the same on both devices. The ultrawide camera does have 120-degree angle of view with an F2.4 aperture. And the primary camera does have a wider F1.6 aperture which means these are going to be able to let in a lot more light. We are looking at around 81% improvement for low light images. Now, in addition to that, Night Mode is now supported across all the cameras. So this is something that was missing on the iPhone 11 series, something that I did cover my reviews. Not having Night Mode for the ultra-wide camera was a bit of a downside for me, so it's great that we now have these on the new iPhones. Now, of course, being the Pro model, the iPhone 12 Pro does have some additions.

We've firstly got the telephoto camera which has an F2.0 aperture and 2x optical zoom. So although you will be able to capture portraits on the iPhone 12, they will be wide-angle portraits. And the optimal angle for portraits is what you'll be able to achieve with this telephoto camera. In addition to that, the iPhone 12 Pro also has a new LIDAR sensor which detects depth.

Now this is going to give you some great AR capabilities but in addition to that, it's also going to give you improvements for the cameras. The LIDAR sensor does not rely on light, so this does mean that you're going to have improved autofocus in low light situations, and you'll also be able to take portraits in low light, thanks to that LIDAR sensor.

These are the first cameras, not even smartphones, and the first cameras to support 4 K 10-bit HDR with Dolby Vision, which is absolutely insane. Now being the Pro model, you do have 4K HDR with Dolby Vision at up to 60 frames a second on the 12 Pro. The iPhone 12 still supports this but only up to 30 frames a second. Now there is also going to be Apple Pro RAW coming to the Pro models later on.

Now, one major change that you can't see on the outside but has been made on the inside is Mag Safe technology. So Apple has now lined up some magnets inside the new iPhones and this is going to really help not only with charging but also with lots of new accessories. So all of the new iPhones do support qi wireless charging, which is great, up to 7.5 watts. But if you do use a Mag Safe compatible charger, that is just going to snap on directly to the new iPhones, and that's going to give you the optimal charge up to 15 watts fast wireless charging.

Now this is not only going to be for official Apple accessories; this is going to be opened up for many third-party accessory makers as well. And I can't wait to see all of the creative solutions that we get. Now for the wired charging, we do have support for up to20 watts wired fast charging. Of course, that charger is not included out of the box so you will have to buy that separately.

Price

Now let's talk about the price and the storage options and also my advice about which one of these you should go for. So the iPhone 12 does start at 64 gigabytes, there is also a 128 as well as a 256 version available. The iPhone 12 Pro start sat double the storage with 128 as a base, then a 256, as well as a 512-gigabyte version available. The iPhone 12 starts at around 800 pounds or $800. The iPhone 12 Pro starts at 1,000 pounds or $1,000.

Firstly, if you are thinking of getting the iPhone 12, my advice straight away would be: get at least the 128-gigabyte version. You're going to be taking lots of videos and photos, and you're going to be using this potentially for a long time, and you're really going to appreciate the extra storage which is only going to cost you either 50 pounds or $50 more compared to the 64-gigabyte version. Now, if we do compare the iPhone 12 with 128 gigabytes to the iPhone 12 Pro, like for like, 128 gigabytes, then you will be paying around 150 pounds or $150 more for the iPhone 12 Pro. Is it worth spending the extra money? Well, let me break down what you're getting. So you're getting a more premium built with that stainless steel frame. You're getting a slightly better display, only slightly. You're getting more RAM for multitasking. But most importantly, itis the camera improvements that you're getting on the iPhone 12 Pro. That telephoto camera alone, in my opinion, is worth getting for those portrait shots. You've got the LIDAR sensor which is not only going to help with photography but also for AR, and features like Dolby Vision at 60 frames a second versus 30 frames a second, as well as Apple Pro RAW, which is going to be coming later on. Now if those things that I've mentioned are not important to you, then the iPhone 12 might be the better option for you. But if they are important to you, then 150 pounds more will get you all of those features in the shape of the iPhone 12 Pro.

Now, if you want even further features for the cameras, such as the sensor-shift OIS, the better telephoto camera, as well as the larger sensor for the primary camera, then you might want to hold back a little bit and wait for the iPhone 12 Pro Max which is going to be coming in November. And if you were thinking you want a smaller, more compact phone with pretty much all of the features of the iPhone 12, then you might also want to wait till November when the iPhone 12 mini is out.

I hope you enjoyed this topic and found it useful. If you did, then do hit that like and comments for me. It really does help me out.