Apple announced a slew of new iPhones at its latest event today. While the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini are targeted at the regular Apple consumers, the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max are aimed at the crowd of pro enthusiasts that are looking to pack some serious capabilities. And while the Pro models this year share the chipset and overall aesthetic and design with the regular models, Apple emphasized the phone’s camera capabilities as being a key differentiator.
Both the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max have three cameras – a 12 MP wide f/1.6 camera with a 7-element lens, a 12 MP ultrawide f/2.4 camera with a 5-element lens and a 12 MP telephoto f/2.0 camera with a 6-element lens. All cameras have Optical Image Stabilization and support Night Mode, which is also supported on Apple’s selfie cameras. They also support Deep Fusion – Apple’s Machine Learning based solution to enhance detail in photos through computational photography, a term that was coined surprisingly by Google when introducing the first Pixel.
The cameras on the Pro are also capable of recording video in Dolby Vision HDR, a first for any smartphone. The Pro phones will also come with Pro editing modes which Apple calls Apple ProRaw. Finally, the cameras will support LiDAR, the light sensing technology that’s at the center of autonomous / self-driving cars. Apple claims these have use cases such as setting up virtual office environments with more accuracy by placing digital models of furnitures across rooms.
Beyond these, the Pro iPhones come in 6.1” and 6.7” screen sizes and share many features and hardware specs with the regular models. They pack the same A14 bionic chip, come with 5G and Corning’s Ceramic Shield glass material and pack the same IP68 water and dust resistant ratings that let them be submerged under water for up to 6 meters. Apple didn’t mention anything about the battery life so that’s something that will be interesting to see once reviews start hitting the stores.
Lastly, the new Pro and Pro Max iPhones also have Apple’s MagSafe connector, again similar to the regular models. The connector now is a big magnet built towards the rear end of the phone that allows connecting a host of accessories ranging from wallets to charging ports. Strangely enough, Apple didn’t explicitly mention the presence of a physical charging port which is leading the internet fraternity to believe that they’ve removed the ports. This shouldn’t be the case seeing as traditional charging cables are being bundled with the box (speaking of which, the rumors were right: Apple has ditched providing the power adapter in the box).
The iPhone 12 Pro will cost $999 for the base 128 GB model (now doubled from 64 GB for the pro models), $1099 for the 256 GB model and $1299 for the 512 GB variant. The iPhone 12 Pro Max will start at $1099 for the base 128 GB model and cost $1199 for the 256 GB variant and $1399 for the 512 GB variant, the most expensive model of the bunch.
Much like the 12 and 12 Mini, the purchase situation is a bit mixed. Pre-orders for the iPhone 12 Pro begin on October 16 with the phone itself shipping to customers beginning October 23. On the other hand, pre-orders for the iPhone 12 Pro Max will begin on November 6 with the phone shipping to customers beginning November 13.
