The New iPhone 12 Review|| A Bold Move

Nabila Afsana October 21, 2020

0 179 9 minutes read

Prologue
Specifications
Unboxing
Design & Build
Display
Camera
Performance
Hardware & Software
Battery
Pros & Cons
What makes it special compared to iPhone 11
The new iPhone has 5G
Apple announced MagSafe accessories for iPhone 12
Final Verdict

Prologue

Apple just announced a whole bunch of new hardware including four new phones where we will get to see two iPhone 12s and two iPhone 12 Pros. It seems like the bulk of the upgrades are here on the iPhones this time despite the fact that the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini are kind of mid-range phones and the Pro models are for the premium segment from Apple. Let’s find out from this iPhone 12 review what actually happened in this most recent event of Apple.

Our iPhone 12 Review Start From Here

Specifications

Release Date	October, 2020
Price	iPhone 12 mini: $699 iPhone 12: $799 iPhone 12 Pro: $999 iPhone 12 Pro Max: $1099
Display	Super Retina XDR OLED, 6.1 inches, 1170×2532 pixels, 460ppi density, 19:5:9 ratioScratch Resistant Glass, Oleophobic Coating, Dolby Vision, Wide Color Gamut, True Tone
Dimensions	5.78 x 2.81 x 0.29 inches
Weight	164 g
Chipset	Apple A14 Bionic (5 nm),Hexa-coreApple GPU (4-core Graphics)
RAM & Storage	4GB/64GB, 4GB/128GB, 4GB/256GBNVMe
Rear Camera	12 MP Wide (f/1.6, 26mm, 1.4micron, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS)12 MP Ultrawide (f/2.4, 120 Degree)Quad-LED Dual Tone Flash, HDR, Panorama
Front Camera	12 MP Wide (f/2.2, 23mm)SL 3D (Depth & Biometric Sensor)HDR
Video	Rear: 2160p@24/30/60fps(4K), 1080p@30/60/120/240fpsHDR, Dolby Vision HDR (up to 30fps), Stereo SoundFront: 2160p@24/30/60fps (4K), 1080p@30/60/120fpsGyro-EIS
Battery	2227mAh (non-removable), Li-ion20W fast charging, 50% in 30Min15W Qi Fast Wireless Charging
Network & Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 (a/b/g/n/ac/6), dual-band, HotspotBluetooth 5.0 (A2DP, LE)GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSSNFC connectivity No FM Radio
Sound & Audio	Stereo SpeakersNo 3.5mm headphone jack
Sensors	Face ID, Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Compass, Barometer, Siri Natural Language Command & Dictation
Water/Dust Resistance	Yes (up to 6m for 30 mins)

Unboxing

For 2020, Apple is no longer bundling charging bricks and ear-pods with their iPhones which is happening across all of the iPhone models whether it be the new iPhone 12 or older models like the iPhone 11. Apple is claiming to be cutting these accessories from their boxes with a view to meeting their environmental goals as well as reducing carbon emission. The cable that Apple is bundling up with all those new iPhones of this year, is a USB-C to Lighting Port cable which were only seen with iPhone 11 Pros. So, iPhone now will just come with the phone itself, a single USB-C to Lightning Port and some paper works.

Design & Build

There are new designs and colors this time for the iPhone 12 series. The colors for the regular iPhone 12 are Blue, Black, Red, White and Green; where the color we would be seeing for the Pro models are White, Black, Blue and Gold. The regular iPhone 12 is thinner, smaller and lighter than the existing iPhone 11. It seems like a smaller package in a new type of form factor.

The iPhone 12s are incredibly boxy phones where you get to see flat sided shape, aluminium frame all the way around, flat screen and some new antenna action. It might not come out to be that comfortable for some users as the iPhone 11. But for iPhone 12, Apple has managed to trim the bezels this time which was a much-needed move.

Other interesting things coming up with this year’s iPhones are, the magnets on the back of iPhone 12 mini, which iPhone is calling MagSafe, allowing these phones to take on a whole bunch of accessories like cases, chargers, wallets etc. So, overall design wise it does not seem to be revolutionary but they have gone back and you are definitely going to like it.

Display

The biggest upgrade that we are seeing this year is finally an OLED screen on these mid-rangers. These OLEDs from Apple are much brighter with higher contrast ratios, better colors and higher resolution that was on the iPhone 11.

There is this new ceramic shield in the screens, which is supposedly grown very small ceramic crystals inside the glass layer to make the screens way more durable and as a result these new iPhones are supposedly have four times better drop performance than the previous screens.

The notch does not go obviously but this might be the only downside as it is a HDR10 certified display which is flat right up to the edges. Apple did not mention about 120Hz refresh rate at all, which might upset some of the tech enthusiasts out there.

Camera

Another main thing that has changed with the iPhone 12 is the camera. This time the new iPhones have these newly upgraded camera systems where the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro versions have got pretty much of the same camera setup as the last generation with a slightly upgraded main camera. They come with better lenses and wider aperture which means more light, better photos and videos are to be shot on these. But the things to be noted here are that, the ultrawide camera now supports low light photos which is nice to see and also the software has been improved across the whole camera system as well. The cameras can now take HDR videos which brings out more detail.

For the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, the focus regarding these two phones is seemingly on the camera system with a whole new shape and design. Both of the Pro models come with LiDAR sensors which is basically like an advanced depth camera, understanding the information around better for augmented reality and slightly better portrait mode.

But the main camera improvement comes down to the iPhone 12 Pro Max as this is the only iPhone to actually have a Telephoto Lens of 12MP with 2.5x optical zoom and improved stabilization besides the iPhone 12 Pro which is having a 2.0x optical zoom. But the biggest flex in the camera module was the 10bit Dolby Vision HDR 4K 60fps video recording on the Pros. It is the only camera in the world that will shoot Dolby vision and besides iPhone 12 Pro Max with its LiDAR Sensor and its improved optics should really be something to be checked out.

Performance

Hardware & Software

Speed was one of the features that Apple highlighted throughout the whole event and that is because which one of the new iPhones you get whether it is the base version of iPhone 12 mini or the maxed-out version of iPhone 12 Pro Max, you are going to get the same Apple A14 Bionic Chipset (5nm) along with 5G. Now, this newly featured A14 Bionic Chipset comes with better GPU performance as well as better machine learning performance. And during the event, they talked a lot about 5G. Although 5G does not seem like that of a great option for now but after two-three years, this might just come out to be a go-to option for the iPhone lovers.

Apple claims that they have managed to feature 50% faster GPU than any other smartphone chip which can perform with 30% more power efficiency than the last year.

Battery

The concern you might be having with iPhone 12 mini is its battery life for the phone being a tiny one and possibly there should not be enough room for a large battery in there. But hopefully Apple is providing a respectable battery life in it.

For charging Apple is introducing MagSafe where a big wireless charger will slap on the back of the phone helping you to align it perfectly every time. It is not actually wireless as there would be wires to connect the port but with that feature you might be now able to use your phone while it is being charged.

Now the charger is something that had rumors not to be included in their box from now on. They address the reason as the chargers not being included, they can make the boxes smaller and which sums up to the removal of about 4,50,000 cars removed off the road which turns out to be a massive impact on the environment.

Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
-Super Retina XDR OLED display -Durable screens with Ceramic Shield -Apple A14 Bionic Chipset (5nm) -5G Connectivity -MagSafe Wireless Charging Facility -IP68 Water and Dust Rating	-No Charger Provided Inside the Box -No Higher Refresh Rate -No Headphone Jack -No Reverse Wireless Charging -No FM Radio

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What Makes it Special Compared to iPhone 11

First of all, the iPhone 12 just comes to be 11% thinner, 15% smaller and 16% lighter versus the iPhone 11. Lacking behind in case of display has now been fixed with iPhone 12 as it comes with Super Retina XDR in place of the previous Liquid Retina and that leads to brighter color and less power drain than the iPhone 11 from previous year.

Apple comes with this new material called Ceramic Shield to help this OLED display with 4x drop protection which means it will break 4 times less than the previous iPhone 11. Now for the camera, it looks pretty similar on both iPhone 11 & 12 with those two sensors, the array and the ultrawide camera.

But the things tend to get a little bit of spicy for iPhone 12’s Wide sensor as it comes with this different aperture of f/1.6 which is huge deal for 27% better low-light performance if you are a low-light photographer.

With iPhone 12 Apple is introducing MagSafe where you would be able to use the magnets on the back of the phone to do some pretty cool stuffs as well as it can also be used for that 15watt wireless charging which is more than double what we had in iPhone 11.

To the surprise of nobody, 5G has been here with the new iPhone 12 for the first time from Apple. Apart from this, powering the iPhone 12 would be the A14 Bionic Chipset, the first mobile processor that has been made on 5nm, which with that 6 core CPUs and 4 cores of GPU will be able to support your phone at up to 50% faster speed.

So on an overall rating, iPhone 12 just outperforms the previous iPhone 11 except for the fact that there would be no charger brick with any of the phones from iPhone 12 series.

The new iPhone has 5G

iPhone 12 happens to be the first iPhone to have 5G. It goes with the answer of both yes and no for the question being asked that if it is worth getting excited for 5G. Basically 5G is an entirely different network from the 4G networks that you have been using right now when at the same time it enables faster speeds, lower latency, new applications and to use your phone in ways that were not possible with 4G.

This means you can download movies, applications or whatever you want, 5 to 50 times faster than what you used to on 4G right now. Besides, lower latency is really important in case of video calls, online gaming, streaming and other things that need a quick response time for both download and upload.

Apple announced MagSafe accessories for iPhone 12

First of all, there is a 15watt charger which you can connect to the back of your iPhone 12 with MagSafe and charge the phone with double the normal wireless charging capability. It comes with about a four feet long USB Type-C cable and a price tag of $39.

Then you get to see discrete Silicon Cases available on attractive colors, which will stick to that MagSafe on your iPhone 12 perfectly and will come at a price tag of $49 each.

Now you will be able to use a magnetic wallet on the back of your iPhone 12 if you want where you can keep your cards, money, papers and all easily. They come at the price of $59 and in four different colors – Black, Baltic Blue, California Poppy and Saddle Brown.

The next accessory would be the Otterbox Figura Case for the iPhone 12 series which also comes in four different colors – Berry, Teal, Yellow and Fuchsia at the price of $49.95.

Final Verdict

Clearly people would be upset about missing out some useful accessories with this year’s iPhone but if you look at the bright side, this bold move from Apple is really appreciable. But the feature you would really be missing out on is the 120Hz refresh rate. But this redesign combined with the fact that they have managed to keep the same $699 starting price in this series and the same $999 starting price for the Pro models and their Android rivals getting expensive day-by-day, these new series of iPhones are predicted to be sold really all around the globe. Guys let us know is our iPhone 12 review has quenched your thirst?