The Apple iPhone 12 has been sold since last fall, and the new iPhone 13 (or will it be the iPhone 12S?) will arrive as early as September. So does it really make sense to buy an iPhone 12 now? The simple answer is yes. And no. Depending on your specific situation, buying the current model months into its lifespan could work, but with the next version seemingly only a few months away, things get a bit more complicated.
So if you're on the fence as to which path to take, that's understandable. But don't stress. This guide spells out when you should go in one direction or the other. This way you can feel confident you've made the right call.
Using an old, outdated iPhone?
One of the best reasons to snap up a new phone is because your current one is hopelessly outdated. If you own an iPhone 11, upgrading to an iPhone 12 now probably isn't worth it. You won't see enough of a difference in performance and features, especially compared with what will likely come with the iPhone 13. However, if you can hang on until September your patience will have a chance of being rewarded.
The calculus is very different for owners of older iPhones like the iPhone X series. Going for the iPhone 12 gives you an advanced A14 Bionic CPU, plus an OLED screen. Just those two enhancements represent a massive upgrade over phones from just a few years ago.
The need for 5G speed
5G wireless isn't available everywhere, and its capabilities have been a little overhyped. That said, the iPhone 12 is the first and currently only iPhone compatible with 5G. So if you have a burning desire to connect to 5G cellular networks and have access to one, then the iPhone 12 will scratch that itch immediately. Of course the iPhone 13 will most likely also link to 5G so waiting is fine too.
Cracked screen, failing battery and other reasons to get that new iPhone now
Living with a device that's been damaged or functions poorly is rough. For example, it's hard to ignore a fractured screen since you see the defect daily. The same is true of a failing battery that can't hold as much charge as it once could. If your iPhone suffers from these types of frustrating issues, an immediate upgrade to an iPhone 12 is justified.
iPhone 12's got a ceramic shield display
One of the iPhone 12's big improvements is the material of its display. Apple calls it "ceramic shield" glass. Made by Corning, the ceramic shield glass covering the phone's display is harder than most metals. Indeed, we can confirm the iPhone 12's ceramic shield's toughness. When we put it to the test, the handset came through with flying colors. So if you're a huge klutz and are prone to slips and drops, springing for this current iPhone is a wise move. Those who feel they can avoid mishaps may want to wait until September though. The iPhone 13 will likely also come with a ceramic shield.
New features in the works
The iPhone 13 will definitely come with brand new features the iPhone 12 lacks. If the rumor mill is correct, the device will boast a 120Hz display and would be the first iPhone to do so. Right now the iPhone 12's screen has a 60Hz refresh rate. The faster refresh rate will translate to smoother, snappier scrolling through apps and websites. Apple will probably enhance the iPhone 13's camera too, something the company does every year. Also keep in mind that Apple only provides software updates to its phones for a finite amount of time. Waiting too long and eventually you'll be locked out of the latest OS.
Price may be the deciding factor
As the saying goes, money talks. If you can find a significant deal on the iPhone 12, it may be enough to ease your indecision. Perhaps you're planning to switch carriers. If so, the wireless provider you'd like to move to may offer trade-in specials. It could offset a lot of the cost of a new phone. Also consider holding out until the iPhone 13 is announced. Then, prices for the iPhone 12 will certainly plummet. Depending on what the iPhone 13 turns out to be, getting a heavily discounted iPhone 12 may be a better option.
And while we don't know for certain what the price of the iPhone will be, we've made educated guesses. Chances are good it'll follow a similar breakdown to what the iPhone 12 was. Then again, Apple could sell it for much less. Samsung and Google asked for less cash for the Galaxy S20 FE and Pixel 5 in 2020. The Samsung Galaxy S21 had a $200 discount compared with the model before it.
Is the iPhone 12 Worth Buying?
Apple is a popular brand that is sought-after by many people everywhere, mostly known for their updates on their products and huge price tags.
The iPhone 12, released Oct. 23, is the newest model of the iPhone’s by Apple. This phone is a very similar model to the previous iPhone, the iPhone 11, with a few new changes to the structure and software updates.
Apple has its own unique design, which draws people to the new iPhone 12. Other tech products aren’t bad, they are just not nearly as popular as Apple.
“[Apple’s] phones are so expensive; I honestly don’t know why people buy them. They make so many products and they can only improve on so many of them,” said Bolton.
Since Apple started, they have been known for their logo, and that eventually started to build up a great amount of popularity for the brand. Millions of people around the world have bought into the idea of always having the latest iPhone, as it is seen as the most popular in the world.
“People only buy it because they think it’s just a trend, and I definitely think people will buy it for the name,” said freshman Natalie Bolton, who owns a Samsung phone.
Apple is usually favored over other brands, causing its popularity growth. However, it deserves the credit given because, “the software is clean and efficient,” said freshman Kevin Seery, who has the latest iPhone 12.
But Apple might not be as great as everyone thinks it is because of its quality. There might not be a need for such high prices if Apple products are not improving.
“I saw no difference between the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 8 in quality,” said Seery, but the software is starting to improve as new products develop.
Even though the design may not drastically change in the models, Apple still makes improvements to the features they provide on every phone that is made, making it unique to the last one.
“Each time a new Apple product is made, they make more sturdy and durable models, but they should still make them less expensive with a longer battery life,” said Seery.
With the iPhone 12 release, Apple has come out with an additional software, the iOS 14, which allows you to totally rearrange your phone screen to look any way you would like it to look. This is a smart move for Apple to get people to buy their new phone or an Apple phone in general, because only with Apple is this new feature provided.
“I don’t think [Apple phones] are 100 times better than Samsung; I just think they beat other brands to it,” said freshman John Michael Carter, who has an iPhone 8.
Carter said he thinks that Samsung is not a bad brand compared to Apple, but it just doesn’t quite beat Apple to the different updates that are created to make their brand more profitable.
“I originally had an android; it’s not the best, but I still like the products,” Carter said.
Some of the defects in Apple’s products are minor, but Android phones do not carry the defects that Apple products may carry, like having limited storage and only being able to use AirPods, Apple’s wireless earbuds, on Apple devices.
“It’s shocking how many people are in Apple stores. Even if another brand released a better phone at a better price, Apple would still sell more,” said Bolton.
Apple’s stores are always lined up outside, and their lines will most likely always be larger than the stores next to it, no matter what the brand is. It also overshadows brands like Samsung and Google, which are still very well-known brands.
Bolton, Seery, and Carter all came to a collective opinion that while Apple’s brand is nice, the company over-prices their products. However, even if they didn’t lower prices, the iPhone 12 would still be hugely profited off by Apple.
Review: Apple iPhone 12
YOU’RE PROBABLY STRESSED out as you’re reading this. Most people I know right now are stressed out. Maybe the last thing you’re thinking about is the new iPhone. Or maybe you are thinking about it because you want or need a new iPhone, but you don’t want to spend any more time than you need to deciding which iPhone to buy.
This is a review of the new iPhone 12. I’m going to make this as straightforward as possible, so you can get back to the other things you need to do, whether that’s working, relaxing, sleeping, eating, homeschooling, watching, walking, Zooming, distantly socializing, or voting. This should be the least stressful part of your day. It’s an iPhone.
If you have last year’s iPhone 11, as I do, or the iPhone 11 Pro, then you probably don’t need to upgrade to the iPhone 12. If your current iPhone is a few years old, you really want a better camera, and you have the disposable income for a new phone, then the iPhone 12 is a good choice. If you are considering upgrading to the iPhone 12 because you think having a 5G phone is going to change your life, you should absolutely not upgrade to the iPhone 12.
Playing the Field
The iPhone 12 starts at $799 if you choose a wireless carrier at the time of purchase. It’s $829 if you buy the phone unlocked from Apple.com. So we’re back to this bullshit. That’s for 64 gigabytes of internal storage. The price of the iPhone 12 goes up to $979 if you configure it with 256 GB of internal storage.
Apple is also selling two different iPhone 12 Pro models. These vary in size, have better cameras than the iPhone 12, and are more expensive—up to $1,399 for a fully loaded iPhone 12 Pro Max. My WIRED colleague Julian Chokkattu is reviewing the iPhone 12 Pro. Julian is awesome and so is his review, so you should read that if you think you want the most advanced, most expensive iPhone.
While reviewing the iPhone 12, I compared it mostly to last year’s iPhone 11, which now starts at $599. I also have a new $699 Pixel 5, made by Google, and I’ve used that for camera comparisons, since Pixel’s cameras are usually top notch. This spring I also reviewed the iPhone SE, and I have used or reviewed virtually every iPhone since the iPhone 4S.
A lot of you are probably curious about the iPhone 12 Mini, the new $699 iPhone with a 5.4-inch display. Unfortunately that phone is not shipping until later this year, and Apple hasn’t handed out review units, so I can’t advise you on that yet. I will say that if you already know you want a smaller phone, you should hold out for reviews of the Mini.
Also, Samsung makes stellar phone hardware, so I usually try to compare at least one new Samsung Galaxy phone to new iPhones, mostly for the cameras. (The operating systems are a whole separate thing, and most people who ask me for phone advice are already committed to either Android or iOS.) But I didn’t have a Samsung loaner on hand for direct comparison at the time of this review. Julian has reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S20 here.
Bright Eyes
The iPhone 12 looks and feels more refined than the iPhone 11. They appear to be roughly the same size, with a 6.1-inch display, but the iPhone 12 has less volume, feels lighter, and has flat, polished aluminum edges. I love the flat edges. The phone ships in a couple of new colors. I have the blue iPhone 12, a pretty but unexciting blue undoubtedly inspired by the color of the year, which was supposed to inspire calm (lol). The new phone also has a brighter OLED display, a nice upgrade from the less brilliant LCD on last year’s iPhone 11.
The display on the iPhone 12 is hardened with something called Ceramic Shield, a new kind of composite made by Apple and glass-maker Corning. The bits of ceramic infused into the glass are supposed to make the phone more durable. And the flat edge design offers a little more protection for the phone overall. I hope this is the case, because I’ve dropped almost every iPhone since the iPhone 8 directly on concrete, and they’ve all cracked. I have not yet dropped the iPhone 12. (And now I’m using a case.)
You can do pretty much everything on the iPhone 11 that you can do on the iPhone 12. The 12 just has a little more zip to it.
The iPhone 12’s new chipset is its most significant internal upgrade. It’s the same chip that powers the new iPads. It’s an impressive piece of silicon, with the same number of CPU and GPU cores as the chip in the iPhone 11, but faster. There are double the number of cores in the chip’s Neural Engine, which powers things like Face ID, Animoji, and augmented reality apps.
The new iPhone 12 is a speedy phone. Launching apps, searching for apps, and downloading new apps, like Tetris, was noticeably faster on the iPhone 12. Same with augmented reality apps, like the delightful Big Bang AR app made by CERN and Google. But I could run the app just fine on both my iPhone 11 and iPhone 12. You can do pretty much everything on the iPhone 11 that you can do on the iPhone 12. The 12 just has a little more zip to it.
A more efficient chip also improves photo and video capture, and tees the phone up for more advanced software features that might be rolled out in the future. That’s always the case when you buy any kind of flagship smartphone—you can expect the cameras to be better, and you can expect there to be some features that you won’t really utilize every day but they might matter at some point down the road.
So we should probably talk about 5G.
Radio Waves
All four of Apple’s new iPhone 12 models support 5G. This is not the primary reason to get a new iPhone 12. There are at least 17 Samsung mobile devices out there that support 5G. LG has released 5G phones. So has Sony. Even Google, which has a small hardware business compared to Apple and Samsung, released 5G phones before Apple did.
But 5G networks aren’t yet widespread enough in the US for you to experience the benefit of these faster wireless speeds. And there are different flavors of 5G being rolled out around the world. Verizon, one of Apple’s launch partners for this phone in the US, has been touting its expansion of ultra-wideband 5G, which has fast speeds but limited range. This will someday be useful in places like crowded train stations, stadiums, and parks, and experts say 5G could revolutionize entire industries, like healthcare and transportation. But again, it’s not especially useful right now, despite analysts frothing at the mouth over 5G.
Only once during my six-day test of the iPhone 12 did the phone briefly connect to Verizon 5G, on the beach in Half Moon Bay, California. I got so excited I took a screenshot of "5G" popping up in the upper right corner of my phone's screen. But it wasn’t really a good opportunity to test 5G, or compare, say, Netflix streams on a 4G phone versus a 5G phone. The sun was setting, and I was more interested in testing the new phone’s camera. (Julian tested the iPhone 12 Pro’s 5G capability in New York City; read about his experiences too.)
Snap Tight
The iPhone 12 has the same camera design as the iPhone 11. The rear camera module has a wide camera and an ultrawide camera, while the selfie camera is a single wide lens. They’re all 12-megapixel cameras—same as last year’s iPhone 11.
However, taking photos in low light and at night is supposed to be better on the iPhone 12, because the wide-angle camera lens on the back has a wider aperture. And Apple is wielding some of its machine learning tricks to make all photos, including selfies, look brighter and more crisp. In recent years, the iPhone display itself would cast artificial light when you were taking selfies in a dark bar. Now the camera is good enough that you don’t necessarily need that artificial light (also, RIP dark bars). Some people have suggested that these phones have larger sensors too, but that’s only in iPhone 12 Max Pro. The advancements are largely due to improvements in software.
I’ve taken more than 100 photos on the iPhone 12, iPhone 11, and Pixel 5 over the past several days. My takeaway is that if the iPhone 12 existed in a vacuum, its camera would be spectacular. Compared to the iPhone 11 camera, it’s not a huge leap forward.
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