To Buy or Not to Buy - Everything to Know About the Iphone 12 Series

Credit: Apple's Website

On October 13th, 2020, Apple hosted an event unveiling "the world's smallest, thinnest, lightest 5G phone": the iPhone 12 Mini. This phone was marketed for everything from its compact size and new designs to its impressive nighttime camera mode. In 2020, Apple has presented the world with four new iPhones to the public (impressive after the release of the iPhone 11 series in 2019), which are the iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max (only released as recently as November 13th).


This new iPhone series gained a lot of popularity due to its promise of insane bandwidth speed, but it is a wonder to most people how much Apple changed with this new iPhone release. Also, with the iPhone 12 Max Pro standing as the most expensive phone on the market currently, it is curious whether it would be worth the investment. In the month following its release, users have had plenty of time to try the new release and review whether it was a hit or not. Read on to see whether any of the phones in the iPhone 12 series are worth the purchase, or whether you should hold onto your current phone (and money).


5G Support

Each model in the iPhone 12 series is guaranteed to support "5G in the sub-6GHz spectrum," according to FastCompany's article "Only One of Apple's New iPhone's Supports the Fastest 5G." A big plus of this includes faster streaming, less lag, and FaceTiming using only cellular data instead of being connected to a WiFi network. Apple gives you the option to toggle between 5G and 4G network, which greatly impacts battery life.

Smaller, Faster, Advanced Processing Chip

Apple also totes the A14 Bionic, supposedly the fastest chip in any smartphone on the market. Combined with the 5G, this would make your new iPhone comparable to a new computer or iPad, processing 11 trillion operations per second. This chip claims to be the "first" of its kind in the industry by Apple. It is smaller, lower in power consumption per the amount of work output and 40% higher processing than its predecessor, the A13 Bionic.

Updated Camera

According to Apple's website, both the wide and ultra-wide cameras are complete with night mode - making for some incredible night pictures. The new wide camera mode captures 27% more light, creating brighter, clearer and sharper images in the daytime and at night. Apple has introduced a new camera that is on par with a Nikon DSLR, a feat many mainstream smartphones have been trying to achieve. "[The] first camera ever to record in Dolby Vision," Apple has announced on their website.

Battery Endurance

Considering their size difference and smaller batteries, the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 have both passed a battery test with decent battery life expenditure. A battery life test consists of playing back videos nonstop (on 5G) from 100% battery life until it dies and seeing how long the battery life lasted. The iPhone 12 mini lasted seven hours and twenty-five minutes, the iPhone 12 lasted eight hours and twenty-five minutes (ten hours and twenty-three minutes on 4G), the iPhone 12 Pro lasted nine hours and six minutes (eleven hours and twenty-five minutes on 4G) and the iPhone 12 Pro Max lasted ten hours and fifty-three minutes. The iPhone 12 Pro Max nearly beat the Galaxy S20 Ultra's twelve-hour and three-minute reign.


The Cons

With Apple raising the bar in just about every category of modern cell phone improvement, it still tried to combine the old iPhone design with the new one. With just about every smartphone trying to make their design bigger and thinner, the iPhone went back to its roots with a smaller design in the iPhone 12 mini. This could be a pro or a con but only time will tell.


However, it doesn't seem that people love the sleek metal design combined with the small size as this makes for a looser grip on your (very expensive) phone. Apparently, the new edges are also sharpened, and several users have reported gripping their phones too tight and scarred their palms.


While Apple has tried to improve the battery life of the iPhone 12, it appears that this has fallen through with the creation of a smaller battery. Several users have claimed they have needed to charge their phone several times during the day, most likely due to however they use their apps and functions. Many people have also reviewed that they haven't experienced a huge leap in faster processing with any of the iPhone 12's, except the iPhone 12 Pro Max.


Conclusion

Overall, it appears like most people can save their money on the newest addition to the iPhone family. Unless you are a diehard Apple fan who updates their phones with each new release, you might want to hold onto your iPhone 8 a little longer. On a sidenote, if your Apple device has trouble with oracle form migration, you might find your solution here and how to fix it!