It's been three month since Apple released their iPhone 12 lineup, and now that all the hype has
started to die down, let's talk about what's changed, what we were wrong about, If you should
buy the iPhone 12 instead of 12 Pro or a cheaper 11, and the biggest issue I have with this phone
that's partially avoidable, and at the end of the day if you should just wait for the iPhone 13.
When Apple launched 4 phones earlier this year, I thought that the 12 was almost redundant
mixed in with the cheaper and smaller iPhone 12 mini that people were asking for for years,
and the iPhone 12 Pro which seemed to offer a lot more for not that big of a price hike,
especially after that hidden $30 activation charge that apple and some carriers tacked
on without mentioning it at the event, which I’m still salty about and you should be too.
I figured that the iPhone 12 wouldn’t be anywhere near as hot of a seller as the iPhone 11
simply because it's no longer at the great price point of $699
but instead costs up to $130 more, and that iPhone 11 is still available now for $599,
but now that sales figures are out the outcome is interesting.
I thought a lot of budget minded people would go for the 11 since it's still a
very capable phone with a fast chip and dual cameras just like the 12,
and at the same time the 12 has never been as close to the price of the Pro model.
Last year the 11 Pro cost $300 more than the 11,
and if you upgraded to 128GB of storage it was still $250 more. This year, many
people are paying $830 for a 12, and once you bump up your storage you’re spending $880, meaning a 12
Pro cost only $120 more, so should you just buy a Pro? Well let's see what else you’re getting.
Starting with the most noticeable differences, you’re getting a very premium stainless steel
frame that almost no other brands offer. Not only does it look good but it also
offers more protections and less noticeable scratches and dents compared to aluminum.
You lose the wide variety of color options but get more premium ones like pacific blue or gold.
The back looks a lot sleeker too with the matt glass finish that is fingerprint resistant,
and the camera cutout is glossy for a really clean look.
Of course the biggest differences come in the camera department.
Along with the standard and wide camera, we have a telephoto lens for zoom shots, and a lidar
sensor which is used for VR and also night time portrait mode shots. Not only that but the Pro
can shoot dolby vision at up to 60fps instead of only 30fps, and can also shoot Apple ProRAW which
are both just software locks since the 12 and 12 mini have the same camera sensors and processors.
3 months ago I thought that these extra features
clearly make the iPhone 12 Pro with the extra money, and Apple was shooting themselves in
the foot by raising the iPhone 12 Price so much compared to the previous year.
At the same time, Apple is offering the iPhone 12 mini, basically the same phone but with a smaller
display, for $100 less, and the only downside is battery life, and even then I only noticed about
1 hour less screen on time, and with my heavy use I had to top off both phones during the day
anyway, so that seemed like another great option if you don’t want to pro since almost
everything else was the same including the cameras, display quality, and processor.
So now that it's been 3 months, did the iPhone 12 turn out to be the odd middle
child? Or did Apple know what they were doing? Here’s what ended up happening.
First off, sales figures started coming out, even though Apple fans were begging for another small
flagship iphone for years, the 12 mini ended up absolutely flopping. In my why the iPhone 12 mini
failed video, I talked about a few issues I’ve had with the phone and why I could no longer use it.
The biggest issue among the list was the 5G antennas. Even though it has the same exact
specs as the 12, the reception was noticeably worst and multiple areas where I had service
with the bigger iPhones I didn’t with the 12 mini and that was the biggest deal breaker for me.
But for most people, I think the size is just too small now. Apple has been focusing on
large phones for years now, and even though its a pain getting used to larger phones,
once you’re used to it its even harder to switch back to something smaller. Because
of that the 12 mini sales have been so low at only 5% of sales,
that Apple have to pay Samsung for the lack of volume of these oled displays.
So most people are skipping the mini, but how about the Pro? Well,
sales figures have shown that the iphone 12 Pro’s account for about 20%
of total sales, and that's a total of 20% so its split between both phones. If I had to guess
I would say the max model would pull more sales since it has exclusive features and the only
larger size iphone so at least 12% while the 6.1” 12 Pro would be roughly at 8%.
Now take a guess how much of the total iphone sales including older iPhone models, the standard
iPhone 12 captured. Go ahead and comment down below. The 12 was 27% of total iPhone sales…
Not only that, but because of the iPhone 12, Apple once again became
#1 in phone sales for the first time since 2016! And had a revenue of over 100 billion dollars for
the first time ever. So it looks like you guys out there spoke with your wallets, and the iPhone
12 became the king of the the iPhones, selling roughly 3 times more than the 12 Pro.
So the question is why is that, and would I as a reviewer still
recommend spending the extra cash on the Pro or save money and get the 11,
and if you’re on the fence about upgrading this year, should you just wait for the iPhone 13.
Let me start out by saying there's no way I would buy an 11 even if the price is so tempting. Sure
the camera hardware is basically the same but a14 processing has made a huge difference
especially with ultrawide shots, and the new design not only makes it look modern
but it makes it thinner and smaller although the screen is the same size,
and the oled screen is soo better than the 720P based LCD from before.
Real-world Battery life has also improved, but the biggest difference for me is the modem that not
only allows for full sub-6, mid-band, and mmwave 5G support so this phone is future proof in that
aspect, but it also has much faster regular LTE that has far better reception then the iPhone 11.
Now what about the Pro models. If we skip the stainless steel and cleaner looks the
biggest thing that pushed me towards them are the better cameras since the display is pretty much
exactly the same and the artificial brightness limitation isn’t noticeable most of the time.
While I do really like having a third telephoto camera and thought I’d always want one,
I’ve recently found that that shooting standard photos and cropping in seems to
be resulting in noticeably better photos than before. I’m not sure if Apple has been quietly
updating the algorithms or using deep fusion more, but photos are coming out fantastic.
Now sure if you want to zoom in 10x you’re going to see a bigger difference,
but a 2x zoom looks quite good with the 12’s standard lens.
As for portrait shots, I’ve been using the 1x lens
way more often then 2x because the image turn out so clean compared to telephoto ones.
And the one thing I thought I would miss the most is taking night time portraits,
but going back over my camera roll It turns out I don’t actually take them very
so maybe I wouldn’t miss them that much.
As for HDR video, I mostly shoot 4K 30 and turn on 60 if I’m shooting something with fast acting,
but I want those of you who have newer iphones to let me know if you shoot 30 or 60 down below.
Looking over how I’ve been using my Pro and seeing how much better the 12 sales are,
it seems like most people don’t either don’t want the spend more,
or they don’t really need the extras that come with the Pro.
And looking back, I think I’d be mostly happy with the 12.
The compromises aren’t as bad as I expected and one thing that I’m appreciating more now
is just how surprisingly lightweight it feels all while still feeling premium.
The iPhone 12 gives you so much more this year than Apple has in previous years, you
get the perfect all around screen size for most people, a gorgeous high rez oled display, finally
the same antennas and modem as the pro phones, so there are way les compromises then before.
Sure the cost did go up by up to $129, but I think that price increase is definitely
justified for a much more futureproof phone. My only complaint about it would be the software
locked camera features such as ProRAW and 60FPS dolby vision, and the only hardware
issue is that Apple Ceramic shield that they are advertising scratches much easier than before,
so I would highly recommend a $10 screen protector which I’ll link in the description,
not to keep your display from cracking, but from scratches that seem to come out of nowhere.
And should you wait to buy an iPhone 13 instead? In my opinion no. The biggest
improvements like Promotion will likely be coming to the Pro versions, and we’ll still have a notch
that might be just slightly smaller. Battery life will be getting slightly
better but overall the upgrade will be much smaller than going from a XR or 11 to the 12.
Overall, the iPhone 12 has been an absolute killer for Apple and for the masses as well, with tons
of my personal friends upgrading to them and being super happy with it even if they went from
a more premium X or XS, and three months later this phone is looking even better than before.
Let me know your thoughts down below. Would you spend the extra on the 12
Pro or maybe buy a mini instead? If you want to see our iPhone 13
leaks video check it out right there, this has been Max and I’ll see you in the next video.