iPhone 12 vs 12 Pro: Real-World Differences after 1 Week

It's been over a week since we got our iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, and after using both of them extensively and testing them side by side, I have to say that I was wrong about which one I think most should buy. In this video I'll tell you the real world differences that I noticed, both the things that stood out and surprised me, and others where I was expecting the Pro to be better but it wasn't. I have to be honest and say that after testing them both it's an even tougher choice than when I just read the spec sheet, but if you watched through this whole video I'm confident that you'll have a much easier time choosing which one is best for you. Let's start out with the first area I was surprised by, and that is the displays and display brightness. I have to say that these displays are amazing and a good step up from last year's screens not only compared to the low res LCD in the iPhone 11 which was bad off axis in terms of brightness, but even against the OLED in the 11 Pro which shifted to blue if you viewed it from the side. This year's screens are identical but Apple did artificially limit the brightness on the iPhone 12 and that really concerned me, but I was wrong. Now yes you can tell a difference if you're viewing them side by side, but once I was out in the real world, not once did I think the display was too dim and I wished I was using the Pro instead. If you're watching HDR video it looks just as good since both share the same 1200 nit peak brightness, so if that was a reason you were considering the Pro, don't worry about it. I also want to let you know to subscribe if you haven't already since we're really trying hard to hit 500K subs before the end of the year, and if you're already a MaxTec fan why not pick up one of these ultra comfy MaxTec tees to help support our efforts, thanks guys we really appreciate it. Now let's talk about possibly my favorite thing about the regular 12 compared to the 12 Pro, and that's the design. When I first unboxed the 12 I already had used the 12 Pro for about 24 hours, and when I got this beautiful blue slab of aluminum and glass in my hand I was shocked by how much lighter it was even though the dimensions are exactly the same. If you read the specs on Apple's site the difference may not seem like much, but trust me every time I picked up the iPhone 12 this last week and a half I definitely noticed it, and even though Vadim loves the noticeably heavier weight of the 12 Pro I much prefer the regular 12. It doesn't feel cheap at all like the 11 did compared to the 11 Pro, maybe it's because the bezels are now the same between them and maybe it's because of the flat sides that make it feel a lot more solid. If you are holding your phone out for a long time like I often do when I'm watching videos hanging out with my kids, you definitely can start to feel the difference comfort wise, and not only because of the extra weight, also because the square edges are much sharper this year compared to the curved edges before, and because of that they kind of dig into your hand after a while and it's much more noticeable with the heavier weight pushing against your hand compared to the lighter 12. Along with that, the glass on the back of the regular 12 is glossy compared to matte on the 12 Pro. I have to say that the Pro does look and feel more premium because of that and also because of it's stainless steel frame, but I actually prefer the glossy back of the 12 because it provides much more grip overall. Because of all of this, the regular 12 is definitely more comfortable in your hand even if you have larger hands like I do, and especially if you have smaller hands. Now I also want to briefly mention the colors, the 12 has more color options and I have to say that I love this blue, and that's weird for me because I'm not typically a blue kind of guy. Now before I share some more differences, I want to briefly mention some similarities that really shocked me when the iPhone 12s were announced because last year the 11s were much more different. First off, both phones waterproofing is rated at the same 6 meters for 30 minutes, and for the US guys out there like me, that's 20 feet which is crazy. Last year the 11 Pro was rated 4 meters but the 11 was only 2, so both having 6 meters of waterproofing is a really nice jump, and these phones are the top of the line now with the S20 and Note 20 being rated for just 1.5 meters. Now what's more relevant for many of you are the antennas. Apple didn't cheap out and both have the very best Qualcomm X55 modems which are much faster than the previous Intel modems, but what you may not know is last year the iPhone 11 only had a 2x2 antenna instead of a 4x4, which meant that you would get slower speeds and worse reception with the cheaper 11 last year but not this year. Both are incredibly fast not only for 5G but even with standard 4G LTE. One difference I didn't expect was performance. The iPhone 12 routinely scored lower in tests like Geekbench 5 than the iPhone 12 Pro. I'm not certain exactly why, maybe it's Apple downclocking the A14 for the 12 for some reason, or maybe it's just because the iPhone 12 has 4GB of RAM instead of 6 in the iPhone 12 Pro. And this is where we start going into the benefits of the Pro. Not once did I have an issue trying to pull up an app I was using a few hours ago, but I did notice that happening with the regular 12 just like I did with my iPhone 11 Pro Max last year which also has 4GB of RAM. This is especially the case if you have a big app open and then you want to take a quick photo since the camera app uses a lot of RAM and can be frustrating if whatever you were doing didn't get saved. If you're someone that gets annoyed with this on your current phone, then definitely get the Pro, but as far as performance, everywhere else like UI smoothness, app launching and gaming, I couldn't tell a difference. On the plus side, it did seem like the regular 12 was a little bit better as far as battery life than the 12 Pro, maybe because the screen was running slightly dimmer and the CPUs might be clocked slower and there's less RAM to power. And now let's talk about the big difference, the cameras, and how much that will matter to you. The most obvious difference is that the regular 12 lacks a telephoto camera, but it keeps the ultrawide which I think is the smarter choice if you're just going to have two because you can always crop into a photo, but of course you can't crop out. So how much does this matter in the real world? Well, I definitely found myself missing the extra camera on a number of occasions, and not only for zoom shots. We had a rabbit run into our yard and I tried to zoom in with the 12 and I can only zoom in 5x so he was still small in the frame, then I ran to find the 12 Pro and with that I can zoom in 10x. Here's both side by side with a crop, you guys let me know what you think of the difference in quality down below. The same thing goes for video, but here the 12 can zoom in even less. I think for video it matters even more because as soon as you zoom in, you no longer have 4K video. Not only that, but for video I'm much more tempted to zoom because that 50mm lens is much more natural for video shooting. If you're going to do a lot of video, especially recording yourself like I am right now, you definitely want that 50mm lens because zooming in just 2x ruins the quality of video, but this is the kind of perspective you want when you're shooting things like this. Other than zoom, the camera quality is almost identical, but there are a couple more things that stand out. The first thing is that with the 12 you can't do telephoto portraits, you have to shoot the wide portraits which the Pro can do both, and that means if you want that same 50mm perspective you have to crop in afterwards which ruins the quality. Along with that, I was shocked by the quality of night time portraits with the iPhone 12 Pro. It blew away the 11 Pro Max, and when I went to take one with the regular 12, unfortunately I couldn't, and that's because it lacks the LiDAR sensor of the 12 Pro. To me, this is a deal breaker because I love taking these kinds of shots when I'm out in the evenings, and the 12 just won't do it, and in many cases it won't even take a portrait shot if it's dark enough, and if it does, it doesn't look great. LiDAR also helps for AR, but I rarely use that, and you can also scan objects with it as well. Along with that it also helps for autofocus at night which does make a difference for me. Surprisingly, I have to say the 12 focuses really well, better than I expected even though it doesn't have LiDAR. There's one more difference with the 12 Pro, and that's the ability to shoot Dolby Vision HDR at up to 60 frames per second instead of 30 with the iPhone 12, which is really nice. Now personally, if I wanted to shoot video with an iPhone, I would absolutely get the 12 Pro, even just for the video capabilities alone. And now let's talk about prices. Right out of the bat, there is a $200 difference, but if you want to buy an unlocked iPhone 12, that will cost you $30 more. Then we have the difference in storage, 64GB compared to 128GB. Personally I feel like in 2020, 128GB is the sweet spot if you regularly take photos, and especially if you want to shoot videos. Thankfully, Apple lets you upgrade the 12 for $50 more, but that also means the difference between the two could be as low as $120. For that price difference, it's really tough not to buy the Pro, especially if you're going to keep it for many years. If you don't take a lot of photos and video, and you want to have a more comfortable phone, then go for the 12. But unlike what I thought just a week ago, I think most people should spend the extra money on the Pro because you get a lot more bang for the buck with this device. Thanks for watching, this has been Max and I'll see you in the next video.