The new smartphone flagship from Apple will be launched on Friday. But is it even worth buying the iPhone 12 Pro?
On Friday, October 23, 2021, the time has finally come: Apple is entering the 5G world with its new smartphone flagship iPhone 12 Pro (from 1,120 euros) and has also visibly changed the design. The news agency spot on news put the new device through its paces before it went on sale.
Finally 5G technology in the iPhone
The biggest technical innovation, and actually long overdue with regard to the competition, is the introduction of the 5G standard. Both the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 Pro can now use the new cellular technology and are – at least theoretically – much faster in the mobile network than with the previous LTE standard. Theoretically, speeds of up to 10 Gbit / s are possible with the new technology.
Unfortunately, the reality in Germany looks a little different. A 5G network has only been offered in a few large cities. During the test in Munich, however, the iPhone 12 Pro sometimes spewed out passable values with a little more than 300 Mbit / s, significantly faster than the LTE standard on average. Nevertheless, the added value of a 5G-capable smartphone in everyday life is currently still manageable. The network operators would have to step up significantly in the coming months and years in order to be able to exploit the possibilities of the latest smartphone generations.
Retro design brings back the familiar iPhone feeling
When it comes to design, Apple is making a backward roll for the twelfth generation and, as most recently with the iPhone 5 from 2012, relies on hard edges. You will look in vain for soft rounded edges on the iPhone 12. For Apple nostalgics, of course, a festival, otherwise certainly a matter of taste. Objectively speaking, however, the iPhone 12 is much firmer and grippy in the hand and its hard edges give you more security and stability during use.
Processor performance increases again significantly
In terms of computing power, Apple relies on the so-called A14 Bionic processor in the iPhone 12 Pro. Compared to the already very fast iPhone 11 Pro, the smartphone has made significant gains here. In numerous performance tests, the iPhone 12 Pro clearly defeated its competitors from Samsung and Co. The smartphone also showed itself to be extremely fast in the practical test and delivered excellent performance, especially for games that require higher graphic computing power.
Battery performance remains almost the same
Higher faster further. The demands on smartphone batteries are increasing from year to year. That's why Apple has come up with an intelligent network control for the iPhone 12 in order to save the hard-working battery in certain situations: If the power-guzzling 5G network is not needed, for example because the iPhone is in your pocket when it is idle, automatically switches the smartphone to the LTE network to reduce battery consumption. Clever!
In general, however, the new iPhone doesn't make a leap forward in terms of battery performance. Quite the opposite, but also with significantly greater computing power. Compared to the previous model, the lights go out a few minutes earlier in the video playback test with the same load. The bottom line is that the iPhone 12 Pro does not have to hide from other high-end devices and even heavy users have enough time to go to the charging cable.
Screen experience significantly improved
The display has become a little larger compared to the iPhone 11 Pro, from 5.8 to 6.1 inches. What doesn’t look much on paper is clearly noticeable when you use it. Apple relies on a 2532×1170 pixel Super Retina XDR OLED display, both in the Pro version and in the cheaper normal version. As usual from Apple, the displays are of extremely high quality and can now show dark colors, in particular, much more pleasantly for the human eye than the iPhone generations before.
Very good cameras a little stronger
For the first time, Apple built three different lenses for the iPhone 11 Pro: ultra wide angle, wide angle and telephoto. Nothing has changed in this basic arrangement; once again, the iPhone 12 lacks the telephoto lens that is only available in the Pro version. The already excellent shots of the previous model are now even better: The wide-angle lens has an f / 1.6 instead of f / 1.8 aperture and thus delivers even more lively results at dusk, for example.
A little has changed on the software side as well; the deep fusion function now works with all lenses. The camera takes several pictures with different exposure times, which are then merged into one picture. Also in portrait mode there is now a night mode that allows significantly better snapshots in dark surroundings than before. With this, Apple has improved the already strong photo performance of its iPhone models and blurred the line between professional cameras more and more.
Conclusion
All in all, with the iPhone 12 Pro, Apple is bringing an all-round successful smartphone in a class of its own – albeit for a proud price. The developers are turning the right screws and are noticeably improving the model compared to its predecessor. The new design is also a real eye-catcher for all Apple nostalgics.
So if you want to switch from an Android smartphone to Apple, you should take a closer look at the iPhone 12 Pro. Likewise Apple users with older smartphones. However, anyone who is already allowed to call themselves the owner of an 11th generation iPhone can safely skip a generation. Apple will certainly not revolutionize the smartphone market with the iPhone 12 Pro, but Apple can once again present a top level cell phone.