Apple iPhone 12 Pro for review

Our review of the iPhone 12 is already over, but we’ve also spent some time with the premium iPhone 12 Pro. But while the review team is still doing their thing here, leave some early thoughts.The iPhone 12 Pro definitely makes a better first impression than the iPhone 12. For starters, the frame is made of stainless steel, not aluminum. It also feels better and it’s shinier.

The rear glass also feels better thanks to its matte finish (the regular 12 gets a glossy one). Finally, the iPhone 12 Pro is gaining 25 grams over the regular 12, which makes it feel denser and more solid.

Otherwise, Apple brought the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 to the same exact dimensions, so any case that fits one will work on the other too.

The next big difference between the 12 Pro and the regular iPhone 12 is the 12MP 52mm f / 2.0 2x telephoto camera on the iPhone 12 Pro. We’re fans of telephoto cameras, but we have to say that the same old 2x camera as the 11 Pro is nowhere near enough to justify the $ 200 / EUR 243 / £ 200 premium for the Pro.

When we switch to the screens we have a tiny difference. The iPhone 12 and 12 Pro both have 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED panels with HDR10 support and a resolution of 1170 x 2532 pixels. However, the iPhone 12 hits 600 nits while the iPhone 12 Pro offers 800 nits. However, we cannot say that there is a noticeable difference when the two stand side by side. However, both also have the same peak brightness of 1200 nits for HDR content.

Finally, there are storage options and RAM. The iPhone 12 Pro has a base memory of 128 GB with upgrade levels of 256 GB and 512 GB, while the iPhone 12 starts at 64 GB and goes up to 256 GB. The iPhone 12 has 4GB of RAM while the Pro has 6GB – something that seems like a decent upgrade but doesn’t seem to make much of a difference, at least in those early days.

So overall, the iPhone 12 Pro has a few reasons to justify its price premium over the iPhone 12. This is much smaller when you need to balance the storage. Overall, we’d say it’s worth paying more for the Pro if you enjoy the telephoto camera’s perspective or plan to carry it without a case and enjoy the nicer build quality. But we would also like to inform you that the iPhone 12 feels just as fast as the Pro, is a bit lighter thanks to its aluminum frame and is available in nicer colors. This year, the line between Apple’s regular and pro lines is very blurred.

A short word for iPhone 11 Pro users looking to purchase an iPhone 12 Pro. The 12 Pro looks bigger but doesn’t feel like it, mainly due to its virtually unchanged weight. The flat edges make the iPhone 12 Pro a different feel to the phone and we welcome the change. Apple has been able to make a phone like no other on the market – one with flat sides and a completely flat display – and it feels almost revolutionary after so many years of slightly to outrageously curved devices.

However, upgrading from the iPhone 11 Pro to the 12 Pro is difficult to justify. Yes, the new phone is faster and has a bigger screen, but not that much of a difference either. In our view, if you can live with the much larger phone, the only sensible upgrade path for 11 Pro owners is the 12 Pro Max.

Look forward to our detailed iPhone 12 Pro review, which will be released in the first few days of next week!