iPhone 12: the mini, the medium, the Pro and the Pro Max

Everytime the Cupertino giant is about to put a product on the market, the whole world holds its breath and the stores prepare to host thousands of customers lined up to grab Apple latest model. We are already used to the fact that each product comes with more than one version: there is the one with the standard display and the one with the larger display (as it was with iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus), or there is the model with terrific performance and the one with reduced performance and costs to meet an even wider audience (as in the case of iPhone SE). This time, however, Apple has decided to play it all by presenting four versions of the new iPhone 12.

Let’s start with the common features. All four models are equipped with Super Retina XDR OLED displays, protected by the Ceramic Shield. This consists of a “front cover, which goes beyond glass by adding a new high temperature crystallization step that grows nano-ceramic crystals within the glass matrix, increases drop performance by 4x”. They promise to be water resistant to a depth of 6 meters for up to 30 minutes, they include the A14 Bionic processor (already seen on iPad Air 2020) which allows super performance without affecting energy efficiency, and they are compatible with wireless chargers and MagSafe accessories. Of course they all support 5G.

As for the most obvious differences, these certainly concern weight and size. They all keep a modern and elegant design, and a thickness of 7.4 mm. The smallest one, the iPhone mini, has a 5.4” display, it measures 131.5 x 64.2 mm and it only weighs 134g, making it perfect to be handled easily with one hand. iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro share a 6.1” display, therefore the same measurement of 146.7 x 71.5 mm, they are different in weight which is 162 g in the first and 187 g in the second. The bigger brother, iPhone Pro Max comes instead with a 6.7″ screen, which translates into 160.8 x 78.1 mm. Weight is also considerable: 226 g.

The basic photographic sector, it has on all four models 12 megapixel wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle cameras. Pro models also feature a telephoto lens, which further enhances digital zoom thanks to the full-extension optical zoom. This means that pictures quality will be much higher. Still on the Pro models, Apple has also included several features designed for photographers and videomakers such as video recording in Dolby Vision HDR with 4K resolution up to 60 fps and the ability to take photos in Apple ProRAW.

RAM on the Pro models is also boosted since it is 6GB, while the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini still have 4GB of RAM, but the average user will likely notice little difference. Finally, according to Apple’s estimates, the battery runtime corresponds to 17 hours of video playback on iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, 15 hours on iPhone mini and 20 hours on iPhone Pro Max.