This year’s new iPhone generation has the same powerful engine, razor-sharp and bright screens, and built-in support for 5G networks.
Most things are the same on the four mobiles, which deliver raw performance and give us a big step up in picture quality compared to the 2019 models.
But which one to choose?
You get the most advanced cameras in the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, which have three cameras and a Lidar scanner, but it costs money. The most expensive is the 12 Pro Max with a 6.7-inch OLED screen, while the 12 mini with a 5.4-inch screen is the cheapest option.
The performance is the same regardless of model. What differs is the number of cameras, storage capacity, screen size, color selection, and some features that are lacking in the most affordable editions.
The new iPhone 12 Pro sweeps the floor with the competition, and has the best camera we’ve seen so far.
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All have the same form factor with angular sides where the glass in front and behind is completely flat, and all have a Ceramic Shield applied in the casting of the glass to make them more robust.
The glass on the back is double ionized to make it more scratch-resistant than before, and the mobiles can withstand water depths down to six meters for up to 30 minutes.
When you know all this, it becomes easier to choose.
If you want the biggest screen and the best camera, the answer is iPhone 12 Pro Max, if the price is not deterrent. Alternatively 12 Pro if you want a slightly smaller mobile with the same performance, with three cameras and a Lidar scanner.
12 mini is the clear choice for those who want a compact iPhone, and then it remains what for many will be the best buy of them all – iPhone 12 with 6.1-inch OLED screen.
Bright OLED screen
And what a screen it is. Like the other three models, it has a new OLED screen with noticeably better brightness. Up to 1200 nits with HDR (High Dynamic Range), which really lights up, but slightly lower brightness – 625 against 800 nits – than 12 Pro when the screen is at normal brightness.
The screen has Apple’s True Tone white balance, which adapts the white balance to the light around you, and a refresh rate of 60 Hz.
Like the Pro models, the screen on the iPhone 12 can display video with HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, which are used by professionals when making movies. It provides a fatter movie experience with more contrast and greater color gamut on the screen, and this also applies when you look at recordings you have made with your mobile.
Which you can edit yourself in the iMovie app in full quality on your mobile, which also supports Dolby Vision.
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Covers are available in quantities for iPhone 12, such as these in blue leather from Mujjo. Lasse Svendsen
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One camera smaller, just as good quality
The Pro models have one more camera in the form of a 52mm for 12 Pro and a 65mm for 12 Pro Max, but the iPhone 12 has the same wide-angle cameras as the Pro models:
A 12 Mp 13mm f2.4, with 120 degree wide angle, and a 12 Mp 26mm f1.6 wide angle, with optical image stabilization, and 2 x zoom – or up to 5 x digital zoom, should you need more telephoto.
The front camera, which Apple calls a True Depth camera, supports FaceID with more secure login and user identification, and has 12 Mp resolution with support for 4K video and Dolby Vision HDR up to 30p.
The camera also has Deep Fusion that analyzes each pixel, and puts together an image with optimized sharpness, color reproduction and dynamics.
Only the Pro models are equipped with a Lidar scanner. Which is the scanning of light reflection in the room.
Read more about Lidar in the test of iPhone 12 Pro.
Advanced video
With one exception, the camera’s video features are identical to those of the Pro models.
You can record video in 4K60p here too, but recording in HDR with Dolby Vision – which provides better color depth and dynamics – is limited to 30 frames per second, compared to 60 on the pro models. The files are stored with metadata that can be utilized in post-processing of the recordings.
Just like on the Pro models, you can record slow motion movies in full HD at 120 or 240 fps, and time lapse sequences with image stabilization – and you can pick still images in eight MP resolution from 4K video recording.
The image quality
Since the two wide-angle cameras on the iPhone 12 are the same as in a Phone 12 Pro, the picture quality is just as high. This means that it is among the very best with a true-to-life and color-neutral color reproduction, few other mobiles match.
The cameras’ features, including night mode, not only provide clear images in low light. They are also among the most noise-free, and can withstand being inflated beyond the screen size, without being marred by coarse-grained image noise.
The color reproduction is much better than we usually see from a mobile camera, and portraits do not look as over-processed as we experience it from other mobiles.
Like the 12 Pro, the camera’s portrait mode is enhanced, with a better sense of depth and the images have better defined details than from an iPhone 11 Pro.
Read more about picture and video quality here.
iPhone 12 does not support Apple’s new raw photo format called Apple ProRAW. It is reserved for the Pro models, which will come later to 12 Pro and Pro Max.
ProRAW is a raw file format for finishing colors, sharpness, dynamics and white balance, but the camera processing in the Pro models also uses Deep Fusion and HDR so that the images do not look completely flat on the screen.
For the most avid photographer, the raw format support in the Pro models may be an argument for choosing 12 Pro or Pro Max, but it requires that you finish processing images.
Performance
All iPhone 12 models have the same A14 processor, which beats competitors’ mobiles in our performance tests, and shows that Apple keeps its word, when they claim up to 50 percent faster performance with the A14 processor.
When we recently tested the iPhone 12 Pro with the same processor, it shattered the 11 Pro in the Geekbench tests, and stood out from the competitor’s high-end models processor performance.
The same, of course, does the iPhone 12, which scores almost exactly the same as the 12 Pro, and leaves behind Sony Xperia 5 II and Asus ZenFone 7 Pro in the dust behind him.
It is only on the test of the graphics performance that the competitors are close, and the iPhone 12 is close behind with high-end mobiles such as the Huawei P40 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Note S20 Ultra 5G.
Which leads me to 5G. Which is a much faster mobile network for data traffic, which is not very well developed, but which will provide download speeds 4G is not close to, and open to many new services via the mobile network.
Charger is optional
Apple’s USB charger is history and is no longer delivered in the box for mobile phones. There is a Lightning to the USB cable in the box, so you can charge in any USB port.
But the iPhone 12 supports Apple’s new wireless, magnetic MagSafe charger. Which is a small Qi charging pad that attaches to the back of an iPhone 12.
It can also charge the phone with one of the new MagSafe covers, to which you can also attach other accessories. Like Apple’s new card holder in leather, which is attached to the magnet on the cover, and shields the cards from the magnetism from the cover.
The MagSafe charger costs DKK 479, while a MagSafe cover costs DKK 579.
Photo: Lasse Svendsen
Conclusion
If you can do without the third camera with a short telephoto focal length, and do not see the benefit of a Lidar scanner, the iPhone 12 is perhaps the best buy in the new iPhone generation. It costs just a little more than a mini, but much less than the Pro models, and has as big a screen as the 12 Pro. The other two cameras provide the same high image quality as a 12 Pro does. With the same phenomenally sharp screen color reproduction as on a 12 Pro, good battery life, better shock resistance and far better performance, not only is the iPhone 12 better than an iPhone 11, it is better than most mobiles we have tested in the premium layer. The only downside is that the entry-level model’s 64 GB can quickly turn out to be too little storage space.
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