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iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro: Should You Upgrade?

On October 13, Apple unveiled four new iPhones, including iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Soon after the launch, it discontinued the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max while reducing other variants’ price. Now, those who already own the older Pro or still have an option of buying one may get confused over which one to opt for. Therefore, here’s a detailed iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro comparison for you to decide which is a better value for your money and if it’s worth upgrading to the latter.

Also, read- Apple iPhone 12 Mini & iPhone 12: Reasons to Buy & Not to Buy

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro: The Differences

Design: Curved vs Flat Frame

iPhone 12 Pro's Flat Frame

iPhone 12 Pro’s Flat Frame

Both the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro have a glass rear with three cameras at the top left in a square module. However, the iPhone 12 Pro has a flat frame, unlike the curved ones on the former- both are made of Surgical-grade stainless steel material.

The front of the iPhone 12 Pro is protected by Ceramic shield glass, which is Apple’s equivalent to the Gorilla Glass Victus used on Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. It’s also marginally taller, wider yet thinner than the older model while weighing almost the same.


Note that the iPhone 12 Pro doesn’t come with a charger or earphones in the box. You only get a USB-C to lightning cable. The two devices use lightning ports for charging and are IP68-certified for dust and water resistance.

iPhone 11 Pro is available in Midnight Green, Silver, Space Gray, and Gold colors. Whereas the iPhone 12 Pro is being offered in Pacific Blue, Gold, Graphite, and Silver finishes.

  • iPhone 11 Pro: 144 x 71.4 x 8.1mm, 188g
  • iPhone 12 Pro: 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.4mm, 189g

Display: iPhone 12 Pro has a Larger Panel

The iPhone 11 Pro has a 5.8-inch Super Retina XDR display with a 2436 x 1125 pixel resolution at 458 PPI. Whereas the iPhone 12 Pro has a slightly larger 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display with 2532 x 1170 pixel resolution at 460 PPI.

Both panels support 60Hz refresh rate, HDR, Wide color (P3) gamut, TrueTone, and a contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1. The typical maximum brightness is 800nits, while the HDR peak brightness sits at 1200nits.

Apart from having a larger display, the iPhone 12 Pro also has thinner bezels all around. This is how Apple managed to fit a larger panel on a similar-sized chassis.

Performance: A13 Bionic vs A14 Bionic

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro: Performance

The iPhone 11 Pro is powered by the A13 Bionic chip built on a 7nm process. It gets a third-gen 8-core neural engine. In comparison, the iPhone 12 Pro comes with the new 5nm-based A14 Bionic chip with a next-generation 16-core neural engine.

The A14 Bionic offers a 15% improvement in performance and a 30% improvement in power efficiency. However, you may not notice the difference in real-world use, given that A13 Bionic is still a very powerful chip.

Cameras

iPhone 12 Pro vs iPhone 11 Pro Camera

Both the models have 12MP Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras at the rear and a 12MP TrueDepth camera upfront. The iPhone 11 Pro’s main sensor has an f/1.8 aperture, followed by f/2.4 for the ultra-wide shooter and f/2.0 for the telephoto lens. In comparison, the iPhone 12 Pro’s main 12MP sensor has a wider f/1.6 aperture.

Features like night mode, front portrait, portrait lighting, deep fusion, OIS, and more are present on both phones. Plus, you get a total optical zoom range of 4x between the ultrawide and telephoto cameras.

The main difference lies in the camera features. The iPhone 12 Pro gets a LiDAR scanner, which helps with AR and night portraits. It also supports Deep Fusion and Night Mode on the front camera and will soon be getting ProRAW format for professional raw images.

The two iPhones can record 4K videos at 60fps from both front and rear cameras. However, the new Pro can record HDR videos with Dolby Vision from the front (up to 30fps) and rear cameras (up to 60fps).

Battery & Charging

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro

The iPhone 11 Pro is said to offer up to 18 hours of video playback on a full charge. In comparison, the iPhone 12 Pro falls short by an hour at 17 hours. So, the battery life is slightly better on the older iPhone 11 Pro.

Do note that iPhone 11 Pro comes with a USB-A to lightning cable and an 18W fast charging adapter. Whereas the iPhone 12 Pro gets a USB-C to lightning cable, and the 20W charger needs to be bought separately. Both phones charge up to 50% in 30 mins using the fast chargers.

The duo also supports 7.5W Qi wireless charging. However, the iPhone 12 Pro additionally supports MagSafe, which aids faster 15W charging and a slew of new accessories. It also features magnets to align your phone and the charger properly.

Connectivity: 4G vs 5G

The iPhone 12 Pro gets a major advantage in the form of 5G connectivity. While 5G cellular is not yet available in India, it still makes it a future-proof device for people who plan to use it for two years and more.

Anyway, both the models support dual SIM, working with one physical nano-SIM and an eSIM. The iPhones use lightning connectors for charging.

Price

The iPhone 11 Pro is discontinued but can be bought from various channels till the stocks last. In the Big Billion Days sale, Flipkart is offering it for a discounted price of Rs. 79,999, Rs. 92,999, and Rs. 1,09,999 for 64GB, 256GB and 512GB variants, respectively.

In comparison, the iPhone 12 Pro starts at Rs. 1,19,900 for 128GB version. Furthermore, it costs Rs. 1,29,900 for 256GB model and Rs. 1,49,900 for the top-end 512GB variant. The device will go on sale in India starting October 30.

Wrapping Up

As evident, the new iPhone 12 Pro easily beats the last year’s model with the new A14 Bionic chip, 5G connectivity, and MagSafe charging. It also gets well-improved cameras; plus, features like Night Mode and Deep Fusion now work with the front camera, too.

However, the iPhone 11 Pro is still a mighty phone with amazing cameras- if you already have one, you may comfortably skip the iPhone 12 Pro. That being said, new buyers should make the decision based on their priorities and budget.

Also, read- Editorial: How Apple Became Hypocrite With The iPhone 12 Launch.

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Ritik Singh

Ritik is the Managing Editor at GadgetsToUse. He manages the website and oversees the content to ensure it's as informative as possible. He also heads the sub-sites in the network. Putting work aside, he has a great interest in personal finance and is also a keen motorcycle enthusiast.