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AThe more luxurious version of the iPhone 12 takes the best of the iPhone 4’s appearance, adds some polished stainless steel and a third camera on the back, and an additional £ 200 to the price.
The new iPhone 12 Pro costs from £ 999 and is between the slightly smaller £ 699 12 Mini, the same size £ 799 12 and the larger and more expensive £ 1,099 12 Pro Max, which will have a more powerful camera when the launch is made. November 13.
In many ways he is the uncomfortable middle child. The iPhone 12 Pro is the same size with the same revamped design and essentially the same features as the iPhone 12. But instead of the aluminum sides, the 12 Pro has a stainless steel body with highly polished sides.
It’s also 25g heavier than the standard 12, making it relatively heavy at 187g compared to similarly sized and spec competitors, and a bit more difficult to hold as a result. It’s just 0.1mm wider than its predecessor 11 Pro, which had a smaller 5.8-inch screen.
The display is the same impressive 6.1-inch OLED screen as the iPhone 12, but it’s slightly brighter on the 12 Pro. It’s also covered in Apple’s new, more drop-resistant “Ceramic Shield” material and has the MagSafe charging and accessory system integrated into the back.
specs
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Screen: 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR (OLED) (460ppi)
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Processor: Apple A14 Bionic
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RAM: 6GB
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Storage: 128, 256 or 512 GB
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OS: iOS 14
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Camera: 12MP triple rear cameras with lidar, 12MP front camera
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Connectivity: LTE, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5, lightning, ultra broadband and GPS
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Waterproof: IP68 (6 meters for 30 minutes)
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Dimensions: 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.4 mm
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Weight: 187g
Long-lasting battery with maximum performance
The iPhone 12 Pro has the same A14 Bionic processor as the iPhone 12 and iPad Air, but with 6GB of RAM instead of just 4GB and a starting storage of 128GB, double the 64GB of the 12. The performance is equally excellent in all aspects: nimble, elegant and fast for processing photos, videos or when playing games.
The 5G performance is also the same as that of the iPhone 12 – the speeds match the competition, but the 5G reception indoors is slightly worse than that of the OnePlus 8T or the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2. It has little impact on the battery outside of intensive testing.
Battery life is excellent and the phone lasts about 40 hours between charges and the screen is used for apps and videos for over six hours in that time, which is similar to the iPhone 12 and longer than most of the competition. That means the phone will last from 7 a.m. on day one to night on day two with normal use, including four hours on 5G.
It takes 25 minutes to charge the battery to 50%, but just under two hours for a full charge with a £ 19 Apple 20W USB-C charger; no power adapter is included in the box, just a USB-C to Lightning cable. The charge rate drops significantly beyond 95%, which is achieved in less than 90 minutes. Full charge with Apple’s new MagSafe wireless charger takes more than three hours connected to the same 20W USB-C charger.
Sustainability
Apple doesn’t provide an expected battery life for the iPhone 12 Pro, but it can be replaced for £ 69. Typical smartphone battery life is at least 500 cycles while maintaining at least 80% capacity. The smartphone is generally serviceable, with an out-of-warranty service costing £ 526.44 that includes the display. The iPhone 12 Pro was awarded six out of 10 for repairs by specialist iFixit.
The iPhone 12 Pro uses 100% recycled tin in its main board solder, 99% recycled tungsten, 98% recycled rare earth elements, and at least 35% recycled plastic in many other components. Apple is also using renewable energy for the final assembly of the phone and breaks down the environmental impact of the phone in its report.
Apple offers free and trade-in recycling schemes, even for non-Apple products. The iPhone 12 Pro doesn’t ship with a headphone or power adapter in the box, just a USB-C to Lightning cable, which reduces its carbon footprint.
iOS 14
The 12 Pro ships with the same iOS 14.1 version as the iPhone 12, including visual overhaul of the home screen with widgets and app library folders, improved privacy tools, and the new Translate app.
You can expect more than five years of software support, including security fixes and updates to the iOS version once a year, in line with all other iPhones, which is longer than any other smartphone manufacturer.
Camera
The iPhone 12 Pro has a 12-megapixel triple camera system on the rear and a single 12-megapixel selfie camera on the front. Two of the rear cameras, the main and the ultrawide, as well as the selfie camera are identical to those of the iPhone 12 and work in the same way, including solid improvements in low-light performance, detail and noise control.
The third camera on the back is a 2x telephoto camera, which allows the iPhone 12 Pro to zoom 0.5 to 2x optical and then 10x digital zoom. The telephoto camera can produce excellent images and any optical zoom is better than pure digital zoom. But having only a two-fold magnification means you can’t get it that much closer to the subject, particularly compared to rivals with 3x, 4x, or 5x optical zoom cameras.
The other addition to the 12 Pro is a lidar (light and range detection) scanner on the back. It measures distance to objects and works similarly to the iPad Pro to scan a room for enhanced augmented reality (AR) experiences. But for the camera, it helps autofocus in the dark, allowing for much faster focus in low-light portrait shots and in night mode, which uses the main camera and depth sensor for some impressive photos of people.
One area in which Apple is way ahead of the rest is video. In addition to the excellent video recorded by the iPhone 12, the 12 Pro has the added zoom and can capture video in 4K Dolby Vision HDR recording at 60 frames per second, where the iPhone 12 is restricted to 30fps.
Note that the larger iPhone 12 Pro Max has a larger sensor and an improved type of optical image stabilization technology in its main camera and a 2.5x longer telephoto camera; those looking for the best camera on an iPhone will want to wait.
Both 12 Pro phones will also be able to shoot in a new Apple ProRAW format after an update. ProRAW files combine Apple’s computational photography system with the capabilities of a traditional RAW format for professional and enthusiast photographers to change the various parameters and choices made by the camera after the fact.
Observations
Price
The iPhone 12 Pro costs £ 999 for 128GB, £ 1,099 for 256GB or £ 1,299 for 512GB of storage.
By comparison, the iPhone 12 Pro Max costs from £ 1,099, the iPhone 12 costs £ 799, the iPhone 12 Mini costs £ 699 and the iPhone SE costs £ 399. The Samsung Galaxy S20 costs £ 899, the Google Pixel 5 costs £ 599. and the OnePlus 8T costs £ 549.
Verdict
The iPhone 12 Pro is a good phone, but it’s caught between a really good one and a potentially even better one in Apple’s 2020 lineup.
It’s the same size as the shiny iPhone 12 and has all its benefits: a fresh design, a large screen, long battery life, maximum performance, improved durability, and 5G. But it also has a few additional camera tricks, including an additional 2x telephoto camera and a lidar sensor, which is still an AR trick but is useful for autofocus in low light.
It looks and feels more luxurious than the iPhone 12, but the use of stainless steel makes the 12 Pro noticeably heavier, which is not a good thing. It costs £ 200 more than the iPhone 12 and will be upgraded by the larger iPhone 12 Pro Max, which will have a more powerful camera.
The iPhone 12 Pro is a great phone, but it’s not $ 200 better than the fantastic iPhone 12.
Pros: Upgraded triple camera, portraits with night mode, waterproof, wireless charging, MagSafe, Face ID, long battery life, great performance, large screen, more durable, 5G, long software support.
Cons: without USB-C you need your own charger, only 2x optical zoom on the camera, heavier than iPhone 12, expensive.
