Lining up the suspects
With the announcement of the iPhone 12 series and the lead-up to the pre-order season comes a natural question for users who swear by the iOS ecosystem: which is the right iPhone 12 for your needs?
After all, the iPhone 12 mini , iPhone 12 , iPhone 12 Pro , and iPhone 12 Pro Max sit at different price points, despite the same A14 Bionic chipset and similar OLED panels across the board. Choosing the right iPhone boils down to user priorities and understanding exactly what you’re getting in return for your chosen device.
iPhone 12 local prices compared
Model
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max
64GB
$1,149
$1,299
–
–
128GB
$1,219
$1,369
$1,649
$1,799
256GB
$1,389
$1,539
$1,819
$1,969
512GB
–
–
$2,149
$2,299
In this guide, we look at what Apple brings to each model, and we propose an ideal iPhone 12 variant based on your expected usage patterns. Of course, we’re going by what each phone offers on paper since they’ve yet to hit retail, so actual user experience may vary from the recommendations here.
What do all iPhone 12 models have in common?
Apple’s OLED Revolution: How the iPhone 12 Turns Every Screen Into a Show
Forget the old days when only the “Pro” cousins got the fancy OLED panels. Apple’s iPhone 12 lineup has shut that loophole wide open—every single model gets the coveted Super Retina XDR display. It’s like giving every family member a front‑row seat at a concert.
Dive Into the OLED Difference
- Full‑Color, Bloody‑Black night mode that photoshops your living room into a starry sky.
- Contrast That Screams louder than a mariachi band—white pops, black dives into oblivion.
- Because you’re paying for a premium experience that’s as smooth as a silk phone case.
The old iPhone 11 series, by the way, used OLED sparingly. Only the Pro and higher‑tier variants strut their way onto the top, while the rest kept to the more budget‑friendly LCDs. Apple decided it’s time to level the playing field.
The “Why” Behind the “Every” OLED
Apple knows a display’s quality can make or break an app’s feel. OLED chips deliver a lifetime of crisp visuals—especially on true black backgrounds—making scrolling, gaming, and video binge‑ing a delight. The tech slightly tips the price scale, but the payoff is worth every pixel.
Bottom line: pick the size that fits your wrist, and you’ll get a display that keeps your thumbs and eyes happy.
All iPhone 12 models, regardless of variant, will use the A14 Bionic chipset. While Apple’s chipset practice for iPhones remains consistent, it’s the first-ever, commercially-available 5nm phone chipset in the world.
To put it very simply, the ‘5nm process’ is a breakthrough since 2018, where chipsets of the last three years were made using a 7nm process. Smaller transistors made via the 5nm process meant having the ability to squeeze more transistors into the same physical space.
This translates into having more transistors, which becomes more processing power while using the same real estate.
This is partly why Apple made such a big deal about being able to fit 11.8 billion transistors on the A14 Bionic, and why they were able to boldly claim it’s 50 per cent faster than any smartphone chip’s CPU in the current market.
The A14 Bionic’s processing power also opened up the doors to new processing capabilities, such as computational photography.
All iPhone 12s: The 5G Ticket to Anywhere
Great news for Apple fans: every iPhone 12 model now rocks sub‑6GHz 5G. In the U.S., the same models get the extra high‑speed bonus of mmWave 5G—must know, that’s the fancy, lightning‑fast kind of 5G reserved for the big cities.
In Singapore, the three heavyweight telcos (Singtel, StarHub, and M1) are already putting their trial non‑standalone 5G plans to the test. And guess what? They’re all in the sub‑6GHz range, which means your iPhone 12 will play nicely with the local 5G waves.
Bottom line for you: no need to sweat about whether your new iPhone 12 will be 5G‑friendly on Singapore’s network. It’s all good‑to‑go for the next few years.
But when it comes to mmWave stepping into the global mainstream, it feels like a “wait for the next decade” kind of deal. China, for instance, slated mmWave demos for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics—so don’t expect it to flood the street corners anytime soon.
So grab that phone, enjoy the speed, and stay patient while the global 5G crew cements that cutting‑edge wave.
What’s new across the board, in summary:
All iPhone 12 models get OLED-quality panels
All iPhone 12 models get the same cutting-edge A14 Bionic chipset
All iPhone 12 models get 5G connectivity that works with our telco’s 5G networks
This doesn’t factor in other iPhone 12 features available across the board, like MagSafe wireless charging for all models, equal fast-charging speeds across the board (wired and wireless, 20W adapter sold separately), the extra layer of Ceramic Shield for heightening glass durability, and an improved IP68 rating with up to 6m submersion for up to 30 minutes.
Now we know where the commonalities lie, let’s look at the differences in features between each model.
This article was first published in Hardware Zone.
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