Apple Unveils iPhone 12 Pro & 12 Pro Max
What a great timing it is to have the new iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max in the context of the holidays. Recently, Apple announced their most iPhone iPhone ever to be created so far. These folks have taken 5G and made it pro thanks to their brand new, state of the art, A14 Bionic 5- nanometer chip with internal components so advanced that they literally have nanometric components inside.
But With Two Similar Devices, Which One To Pick?
Well, we'll leave that to you after we present you the specs on these two magnificent pieces of technology. But not before telling you in our words what we had been able to find about them so far.
They both come with the same sweet looking finish in colors Silver, Graphite, Gold and Pacific Blue. And on the outside, they both have been built with Ceramic Shield front, Textured matte glass back and stainless steel design.
One true blasting thing about the ceramic shield front is that, according to Apple, it is tougher than any smartphone glass. How? Well, it is made from nano-ceramic crystals which happen to be harder than most commercial metals out there. It does sound simple, but these folks have made a tremendous effort into transforming those crystals into a transparent material. By manipulating the inner properties of these tiny crystalline objects, Apple mad geniuses have developed an exclusive formula that maximizes the toughness of the ceramic while remaining optically clear. This was the breakthrough that made Ceramic Shield ideally suited for the display, and as expected, it is a first timer in any smartphone ever to be built, therefore, the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max are tougher than any smartphone glass.
Capacity wise, they both offer the same amount of space, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB. We recommend at least 256Gb since available space is always less and varies due many factors. But Apple states that a standard configuration uses approximately 11GB to 14GB of space (including iOS and preinstalled apps) depending on the model and settings. Preinstalled apps use about 4GB, and you can delete these apps and restore them. Storage capacity is subject to change based on software version and may vary by device.
Another great common thing these two models share is the camera, and boy that it delivers... The built-in photographic set-up offers the following specs:
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100%FocusPixels(Wide)
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2.5x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out; 5x optical zoom range (iPhone 12 Pro Max)
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2xopticalzoomin,2xopticalzoomout;4xopticalzoomrange(iPhone12Pro)
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Advancedred-eyecorrection
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AppleProRAW*
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Autoimagestabilization
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BrighterTrueToneflashwithSlowSync
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Burstmode
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DeepFusion(UltraWide,Wide,Telephoto)
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Digitalzoomupto10x(iPhone12Pro)
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Digitalzoomupto12x(iPhone12ProMax)
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Dualopticalimagestabilization(WideandTelephoto)
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Five-element lens (Ultra Wide); six-element lens (Telephoto); seven-element lens (Wide)
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Imageformatscaptured:HEIFandJPEG
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Lenscorrection(UltraWide)
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Nightmode(UltraWide,Wide)
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NightmodeportraitsenabledbyLiDARScanner
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Panorama(upto63MP)
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Photogeotagging
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Portrait Lighting with six effects (Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage, Stage Mono, High-Key Mono)
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PortraitmodewithadvancedbokehandDepthControl
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Pro12MPcamerasystem:UltraWide,Wide,andTelephotocameras
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Sapphirecrystallenscover
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Sensor-shiftopticalimagestabilization(iPhone12ProMaxWide)
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SmartHDR3
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Telephoto:ƒ/2.0aperture(iPhone12Pro);ƒ/2.2aperture(iPhone12ProMax)
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UltraWide:ƒ/2.4apertureand120°fieldofview
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WidecolorcaptureforphotosandLivePhotos
- Wide:ƒ/1.6aperture
Regarding both, the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras offer the following.
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Ultra Wide: 13mm equivalent focal length, which translates into a 120o field of view. It also comes with a fixed ƒ/2.4 aperture and 5-element lens with precise lens correction to avoid weird optical distortions such a wide setting could represent.
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Wide: Here some distinctions can be spotted between these two phones besides their size (which we'll cover in a bit). iPhone 12 Pro comes with a 26mm equivalent focal length, 1.4 μm pixels and a fixed ƒ/1.6 aperture with 100% Focus Pixels and 7-element lens. And the iPhone 12 Pro Max comes with the same equivalent focal length of 26mm, but with a larger coverage of 1.7 μm pixels and Sensor-Shift OIS, which contrasts with a regular Optical Image Stabilizer found inside the iPhone 12 Pro's wide camera.
- Telephoto: Another distinct diversion between the iPhone 12 Pro iPhone 12 Pro Max of 52mm and 65mm equivalent focal lengths, as well as fixed ƒ/2.0 and ƒ/2.2 aperture values respectively. Regarding focus pixels, 6-element lenses and OIS, they both share these alike.
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1080p HD video recording at 30 fps or 60 fps
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2.5x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out; 5x optical zoom range (iPhone
12 Pro Max)
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2x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out; 4x optical zoom range (iPhone 12
Pro)
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4K video recording at 24 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps
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720p HD video recording at 30 fps
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Audio zoom
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Brighter True Tone flash
- Cinematic video stabilization (4K, 1080p, and 720p) - Continuous autofocus video
- Digital zoom up to 6x (iPhone 12 Pro)
- Digital zoom up to 7x (iPhone 12 Pro Max)
- Extended dynamic range for video up to 60 fps
- HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 60 fps
- Night mode Time-lapse
- Optical image stabilization for video (Wide and Telephoto) - Playback zoom
- QuickTake video
- Sensor-shift optical image stabilization for video (Wide) - Slo-mo video support for 1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps
- Stereo recording
- Take 8MP still photos while recording 4K video
- Time-lapse video with stabilization
- Video formats recorded: HEVC and H.264
And to close the specs dimension, the most notorious one, the size!
The iPhone 12 Pro comes with a 6.1" (diagonal) Super Retina XDR display, which delivers 2532-by- 1170-pixel resolution at 460 ppi across the entire OLED display. It has rounded corners that follow a beautiful curved design within a standard rectangle. When measured, the screen is 6.06 inches diagonally, making the actual viewable area 0.05" less.
On the other hand, the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a 6.7" (diagonal) Super Retina XDR display, in case you missed those 0.05" taken away from the smaller iPhone 12 Pro. Qualitywise, it delivers a 2778- by-1284-pixel resolution at 458 ppi, and also follows the same sleek design principle from the smaller version, but it just reduces the visible area in 0.02", meaning a true display of 6.68" (diagonal). And both models come with High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays, true tone, wide color (P3), Haptic Touch, typical 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and 800 nits max brightness in regular mode and 1200 nits max brightness in HDR mode. They also have a built-in fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating for you to forget about adding extra protection to it, and it has support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously.
But, There is One More Thing
Or a couple of... Regarding imagery, the new shooting modes make every possible scene a remarkable visual experience. Night mode portraits on the Wide camera result in vivid color, and beautiful bokehs that accentuate lit buildings, streetlights and just any background lights you can think of. Even with just a single small light source, the LiDAR technology, along with the state of the art brand new A14 Bionic chip, can render every pattern and texture in the foreground along with realistic color throughout an entire room.
The deep fusion is perfect for capturing sharp and clear details, when taking photos in the middle of bright lights. Therefore, blown highlights won't be a compositional issue anymore. Go nuts with mid to low light scenarios, like morning landscapes or candlelit dinners, Deep Fusion comes into the rescue by rendering the needed details for great shots. Basically, it starts just in the same way any HDR photo happens, but without the cartoonish odd looks from regular HDR photographs.
When a photograph is taken with the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, the internal cameras actually capture multiple bracketed frames at different exposures. This allows the computing processes to assemble a smooth HDR image; with which then, those frames are combined to create the best exposure for your subject, add detail in highlights and shadows, and reduce noise overall.
But the Deep Fusion on iPhone 12 Pro goes beyond regular HDR by running every pixel of multiple exposure frames through the Neural Engine of A14 Bionic. The Neural Engine selects the best parts of each pixel for the best sharpness, color, highlights, and shadows. Then it fuses those pixels together into a richly detailed final photograph that will make you drool over the place. No other smartphone on the market yet delivers this, and thanks to the sheer speed of A14 Bionic, Deep Fusion is better and faster than ever (80% faster). Oh, and this is also available in the TrueDepth camera on the front. So expect some ridiculously detailed selfies from here on!
Little by little, Apple has been getting closer to traditional camera photography, and thanks to the machine learning built on both iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, imagery is quite better at separating the subject from the background; adding more photographic and controls that will allow us to adjust the background blur (bokeh) and even light on faces (like flashes, but better, because they are controlled)!
And if you are all about image control, then the Apple ProRAW will drive you crazy (hopefully, in a good way) by giving you all the standard RAW information, along with the Apple image pipeline data. So you can get a head start on editing, with noise reduction and multiframe exposure adjustments on the go!
And regarding video, these two new iPhones record in Dolby Vision, which means 60 times more colors when recording. Insane! This happens thanks to complex exposure stacking which takes two exposures and runs them through a custom image signal processor to create a histogram, which is a graph of the tonal values in each frame. Then, the Dolby Vision metadata is generated based on that specific histogram.
And Last But Not Least!
And surprisingly enough, our favourite feature on the new iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, the stack and go part! Which allows us to snap wallets on a case! And well, they are made by Apple of course, but our passion for leather has no brand restrictions. And maybe someday we'll be able to design some of our own to cope with.
And as clumsy users, we find that the MagSafe solutions are brilliant and beautiful looking. The MagSafe is a new ecosystem of accessories for easy attachment and faster wireless charging. Offering endless combinations, meaning an endless mix to match any style. The MagSafe Charger makes wireless charging a snap, perfectly aligned magnets attach to the iPhone 12 Pro systems to provide fast wireless chargings.
And those magnets allow us to stack one of the stunninshing looking iPhone Leather MagSafe Wallets for essential cards and ID.
Wrapping it Up
After this overview, and some keyboard drooling, our conclusion is that the iPhone 12 Pro is perfect for overall usages, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the perfect solution for content creators which happen to need a bit more performance and size due to being constantly interacting with their phones. Said that, there is no other reason we could think of for investing in the Max rather than the "regular" Pro, which is already way better than the regular iPhone 12.