Apple iPhone 12 is the most significant iPhone this year

Apple’s iPhone lineup this year is a rather interesting one, offering a kind of diversity that’s not really ever been seen before from the Cupertino based company. It all started with the “one-iPhone-a-year” philosophy, which evolved to two iPhone of different sizes, but largely the same specs, save for the camera and the battery capacity. This year, we have four different iPhones, all offering some distinction or the other. Despite all the rage about the iPhone 12 Mini for its small size, and the iPhone 12 Pro for its stellar camera setup, the iPhone 12 seems to be the real star of this year’s iPhone portfolio, given that it’s the one to receive the biggest upgrade. As you read further, do note that this piece is an opinion, and you are welcome to disagree, but I do hope you will consider my arguments.

Flagship Display

First, let us consider the fact that up until now, the non-Pro iPhones always sported IPS-LCD panels. There’s no doubt that Apple’s IPS-LCD panels have been class leading, but being upgraded to a higher resolution OLED is going to please everyone. The new OLED panel on the iPhone 12 is brighter (1200nits vs 625 nits on iPhone 11), enabling Dolby Vision content playback in far better fidelity than the previous non-Pro iPhones.

Flagship Camera

The iPhone 12 comes with a dual camera setup, both having 12-megapixel sensors. These are the same camera modules found on the more expensive iPhone 12 Pro. In terms of software features, you get Apple’s Smart HDR 3, Deep Fusion and Night Mode on all cameras, front and back. You can shoot your videos on Dolby Vision HDR at 4K as well. This is exactly the same as what you get on the iPhone 12 Pro as well. The only differentiating factor with the iPhone 12 Pro is the telephoto lens and the LiDAR sensor. Apple made the right choice by offering an ultra-wide lens on the iPhone 12 instead of the telephoto lens. This is because when you take a photo, you can always digitally zoom in/crop into it. Sure, you lose resolution, but its still something that you can do. However, there is no way to digitally “zoom out” of a photo. In that sense, the camera setup on the iPhone 12 is perfectly versatile, and yes, it can do portrait mode just like the iPhone 12 Pro.

Size Matters

Up until last year, the non-Pro iPhone had a different size in comparison to the Pro or even the Pro Max. It sat somewhere in the middle. However, this year’s iPhone 12 is identical in shape and size to the iPhone 12 Pro. This means that all cases and screen protectors would be compatible across the two. Additionally, it brings the experience of handling the iPhone 12 to be at par with that of the iPhone 12 Pro. For a lot of people, the iPhone 11 was perfectly spec’d and priced, but was too big. Such people can happily adopt the iPhone 12.

Closing Thoughts

The iPhone 12 series is a series that’s designed to cover a large gamut of users. For those who want the very best of everything, there’s the iPhone 12 Pro Max with its superior primary camera and bigger battery. For those who absolutely must have a telephoto lens, there’s the iPhone 12 Pro. For those who have tiny hands, you’ve got the iPhone 12 Mini and for those who want something that’s best of all three worlds; specifications, price and size, there’s the iPhone 12. Sure, you could argue that the iPhone 12 has only 4GB of RAM while the iPhone 12 Pro comes with 6GB, but then again, the iPhone 12 manages to do everything the iPhone 12 Pro can without any hitch, be it record 4K video in Dolby Vision HDR or edit that footage, without any problems. Of course, I’m going to be backing this up with our in-depth review of the iPhone 12, which will be dropping in the next few days, so stay tuned!

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Swapnil Mathur

Swapnil was Digit's resident camera nerd, (un)official product photographer and the Reviews Editor. Swapnil has moved-on to newer challenges. For any communication related to his stories, please mail us using the email id given here. View Full Profile