At its special event yesterday in the US, Apple finally unveiled the iPhone 12 series. The company launched the successor to iPhone 11 and also a smaller iPhone 12 mini, apart from the Pro models, which we’ll talk about later. The new iPhone 12 mini and 12 both come with support for 5G, and this is the highlight of the new iPhones this year. Other key features include OLED Super Retina XDR displays, A14 Bionic 5nm Chip, IP68 water resistance, 12MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide secondary camera, 12MP front camera, and fast charging as well as MagSafe wireless charging support.
The iPhone 12 Mini starts at Rs. 69,900 in India. Meanwhile, Apple has also announced a price cut on its previous iPhones including iPhone 11. So, which iPhone should you buy now? Lets check out some reasons to buy and not to buy iPhone 12, to get an idea.
Reasons to Buy
Glass and Aluminum Body
The new iPhones come with a Glass back and aluminum frame design in Black, Blue, (PRODUCT) Red, Grey and White colors. Basically, at the first look, the iPhone 12 reminds the flat edge design of the old iPhone 4.
iPhone 12 Mini’s dimensions are 131.5×64.2×7.4mm and its weight is 133grams. So it is even smaller than the iPhone 8, plus it has an edge-to-edge display.
iPhone 12 Mini (Left) vs iPhone 8 (Right)
While iPhone 12’s dimensions are 146.7×71.5×7.4mm and its weight is 162grams.
Talk about the front, these new iPhones come with the new Ceramic Shield protection with 4x better drop performance. The manufacturing involves a new high temperature crystallization that grows Nano-ceramic crystals within the glass.
The phones also feature IP68 water resistance (6 meters for up to 30 minutes) for those oops moments.
OLED Super Retina Display
The new iPhone 12 mini sports a 5.4-inch (2340×1080 pixels) OLED display with 476ppi. While iPhone 12 has a similar 6.1-inch screen with 2532×1170 pixels resolution and thus 460ppi.
It is a Super Retina XDR display that supports HDR and Dolby Vision. The screen offers up to 1200 nits brightness, and also has a Ceramic Shield protection.
A14 Bionic Chip
The new iPhone 12 series is powered by the latest A14 Bionic 5nm chip with 64-bit architecture, and quad-core graphics. The new chip comes with 11.8 billion transistors and a 6-core design.
These phones come in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB storage options.
The highlight of the new Apple phones are 5G support. They come with 5G (sub‑6 GHz) networks, and Gigabit-class LTE support.
Other connectivity features include Wi‑Fi 6 with 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC with reader mode, and GPS with GLONASS.
Improved Camera Features
Apple promises 27% improvement in low-light performance on the new iPhone 12 compared to last year’s iPhone. There is a 12MP wide-angle (f/1.6) primary camera with 7P lens, OIS, True Tone flash, and a 12MP 120° Ultra Wide secondary camera.
The rear camera supports 4K video recording at 60 fps, and Slo‑mo 1080p at 240fps, just like before.
Also, there is a 12MP TrueDepth front camera with f/2.2 aperture, Retina Flash, and FaceID support. The front camera also supports 4K recording at 60 fps, and Slo‑mo 1080p at 120fps. All the cameras have night mode and a new night mode time-lapse feature.
MagSafe Wireless Charging
The new iPhones come with built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery that has MagSafe wireless charging as well as fast charging support. To recall, Apple introduced MagSafe as a safety feature on the MacBook earlier.
Now this comes to iPhones as a wireless charging accessory. The new wireless charging tech has an array of magnets around the wireless charging coil which is optimized for alignment and efficiency.
There is another reason to buy the new iPhone 12 which is not so much worth mentioning here- the iOS 14. The new OS update does bring some useful features to the iPhones, however, the update will be received by the older iPhones as well.
Reasons Not to Buy
No Accessories in the Box
As rumored earlier, Apple will not include any accessory inside the box with iPhone 12 series. There will no headphones, no charging bricks inside the box. There will only be a USB Type C to Lightning cable alongside the phone.
You can get a 20W USB C adapter separately for Rs. 1,900. Also, the new MagSafe wireless charger is priced at Rs. 4,500 in India. Apple didn’t even lower the prices of the new iPhones to compensate for not offering any accessory.
No Touch ID
Apple also didn’t provide a feature that many of us have been asking for – the TouchID. The new iPhones come with Apple’s FaceID, which has faced some issues in terms of security and accuracy. Also, with the coronavirus pandemic when people have been using face masks, it has also faced unlock failures.
Also, read | How to Unlock Your iPhone While Wearing a Face Mask
No Improvement in Battery Life
Apple itself claims that iPhone 12 battery life is almost the same as the iPhone 11. Moreover, including 5G support will also drain more battery. Although 5G is not yet available in India, but someday it will be.
If we talk about the mini’s battery, it will last 2 hours less than the iPhone 12 (up to 15 hours video playback for iPhone 12 mini and 17 hours video playback for iPhone 12).
iPhone 12 Price in India & Availability
The iPhone 12 mini price in India starts at Rs. 69,900 for the 64GB model. The 128GB model is priced at Rs. 74,900 and 256GB version costs Rs. 84,900.
The regular iPhone 12 is priced at Rs. 79,900 for the 64GB model, and the 128GB model costs Rs. 84,900. The 256GB model is priced at Rs. 94,900.
The iPhone 12 will be available in India via Apple Authorized Stores starting from October 30. The iPhone 12 mini will be available from November 13.
Wrapping Up
Apple revamped its iPhone lineup with the new iPhone 12 series, while offering improvements in processor & cameras, and changing design a bit.
This year marketing team at Apple really focused on the need of 5G phones in 2020. But, for India, the reality is that the “5G” networks aren’t even available here. So, it’ll not be a selling point here. Moreover, not providing any accessories in the box is definitely a blow up for many.
Talking about the other improvements, those using iPhone X or later, will hardly feel any upgrade with the iPhone 12. So these new phones will only seem a big upgrade to anyone who has been using an iPhone 8 or older.
But they can also get a cheaper upgrade by buying last year’s iPhone 11 for Rs. 54,900 (after price cut) or the recent iPhone SE for Rs. 39,900. Interestingly, these older iPhones will also get discount in upcoming Amazon and Flipkart sales.
