The iPhone 12 & 12 Pro Review: New Design and Diminishing Returns
by Andrei Frumusanu on November 30, 2020 8:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Apple
- Smartphones
- Apple A14
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 Pro
Battery Life
Battery life of the new iPhone 12 series has been quite controversial. This is due to a couple of reasons, but primarily due to the fact that Apple has reduced the actual capacities of the batteries this generation. The new iPhone 12 and 12 Pro come with a very conservative 2815mAh unit, which is less than the 11 Pro’s 3046mAh or the 11’s 3110mAh capacity. It’s extremely unusual to see battery capacities regress like this, particularly in a time where the Android competition routinely use +4000mAh batteries. Apple does have a huge SoC efficiency advantage, but that only goes so far to bridge the battery capacity deficiency for the new iPhones.
Another controversial aspect is the 5G connectivity of the new devices. This generation, Apple made the move back to using Qualcomm modems as Intel seemingly wasn’t able to supply them with a satisfactory 5G option. Last year, Apple had purchased Intel’s modem division for $1B, but it’s likely we’ll have to wait a bit more to see the vertical integration of that acquisition.
iPhones in the US are the only models which also feature mmWave connectivity, as the rest of the world “only” gets sub-6GHz variants. Unfortunately the models I have for review here are European and mmWave isn’t an option, and I also don’t yet have any sub-6GHz 5G coverage in my area yet, and as such, I can’t really comment much on the cellular battery life of the new phones.
That being said, in our regular Wi-Fi web browser test, we’re seeing very good results for both the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro. Although the 12 Pro has a 7.5% smaller battery and a larger screen than the 11 Pro, it lasted only 3% less than its predecessor, meaning that the SoC and display power efficiency gains this generations were enough to mostly counteract the smaller battery.
The iPhone 12 lasted 11% less than the iPhone 11, but that was quite expected given the 10% smaller battery and also the move from a low-resolution LCD to a higher resolution OLED panel. At 12.53h it’s still an absolute excellent result.
Apple’s decision to stick with 60Hz panels this generation, while not great in terms of fluidity of animations compared to other competitor devices, at least made a lot of sense for the battery life of the phones. 120Hz really only makes sense on the newer Note20 Ultra with its new “HOP” panel, but even that has some quirks here and there. I expect the iPhone 13 generation to finally embrace higher refresh-rate displays, once all the power efficiency concerns have been fully resolved.
Overall, the new iPhone 12’s battery longevity looks to be in line with last generation’s devices, especially comparing 11 Pro vs the new 12 Pro. While 5G remains a wildcard, especially for US users which are on mmWave carriers, it’s always something you can disable, even though that’s a suboptimal option to resort to.
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PickUrPoison - Saturday, December 12, 2020 - link
5s and 6 are like $25-50 used, they’re 5+ years old.TelstarTOS - Monday, November 30, 2020 - link
yet another skip year with notch.PickUrPoison - Saturday, December 12, 2020 - link
Get used to it. Apple’s ok with it. Eventually it’ll get smaller and occupy minimal bezel space. Think 7-10 years and be happy if it’s faster.anonomouse - Monday, November 30, 2020 - link
Is there a pending Mate 40 Pro / Kirin 9000 review where all of the numbers for that are coming from? The GPU in particular for that looks very.... not great.tk.icepick - Monday, November 30, 2020 - link
Great review Andrei!A small error: On the GPU Performance & Power page, the performance drop from 11 Pro to 12 Pro is 64.78 fps to 56.06 fps. The following paragraph lists a 45% performance regression, but that would be comparing the peak performance of 11 Pro to the sustained performance of 12 Pro.
56.06/64.78 = 86.53%. Still a regression, but only ~14%, not 45.
dudedud - Monday, November 30, 2020 - link
Speaking of the throttling, do the 12 series employ the same graphene layer to disperse the heat as last year iPhones?I haven't seen any indication of using it this time (iFixit didn't mention it), and maybe that's the reason for the lower sustained performance even when the efficiency is better?
flyingpants265 - Monday, November 30, 2020 - link
$799 is high, but it's more reasonable than $1300.Always remember that the Realme X 4GB is $145 USD on AliExpress, that should be the price for all budget phones going forward.
Amandtec - Tuesday, December 1, 2020 - link
Unless you work in an industry where China engages in industrial espionage. Then the extra $600 is easily worth it.flyingpants265 - Tuesday, December 1, 2020 - link
No, that doesn't matter at all. The point is that phones are cheap to make, and we should seek an option between $145-300 USD. Not an artificially gimped or overpriced option, or "midrange plus" Samsung phones sold to clueless consumers for $600 or more with inferior specifications. $300 is a good price for a Nexus 5 type phone.FunBunny2 - Tuesday, December 1, 2020 - link
"The point is that phones are cheap to make"depends on why that is.
1 - they're still made with a high level of labor input (not so much automation), both the final assembly that most consider 'making the phone' and the same for all the constituent parts all the way down the BoM
2 - they're made with a high level of automation (not so much labor), ditto the rest
in the 1) case, all producers from final assembly down the BoM, can maintain minimum average cost for most levels of output simply by expanding or contracting the labor force, and thus preserve profit
in the 2) case, there's less flexibility to maintain minimum average cost at any level of output, since all that automation has to be paid for no matter the level of output. in fact, the only way to maximize profit is to run that automation 24/7/365, thus spreading capital cost as thinly as possible over maximum output. moving production to still more 'business friendly, labor antagonistic' jurisdictions means there's less and less money to be had by exploiting labor; just not enough in the BoM to exploit.
so, if the BoM for smartphones is closer to 2), it's in the companies interest to maximize output level at all times, thus increasing supply, thus competition for consumers, and thus a lowering of actual sale price.
perhaps one of the AT mavens could look into this?