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Art et designTranscription
00:00Hey what's up, MKBHD here, and this is the iPhone 12 Pro.
00:25It is by far actually my favorite iPhone ever to use.
00:30But, hot take, it's not really quite worth the money.
00:34So okay, I was working on all my thoughts for this full review of the 12 Pro,
00:38and all the ways that this phone could potentially be considered more pro than the iPhone 12.
00:44So it's a different camera system, a little bit better, could be better for pro creators.
00:49And it has more RAM, which could be considered more pro for multitasking,
00:53but it just started to kind of feel like a stretch.
00:56So I've done my review already of the iPhone 12.
00:58That's the full in-depth video, it's right below the like button, or it'll be right up there.
01:03And you should click it and watch it, it's a banger.
01:06And so this 12 Pro, it does have a few bits and advantages over the regular 12,
01:12but the more I've used it, and the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized,
01:17even though I've already used this title, this 12 Pro is a little bit of an awkward middle child going on here.
01:24See, almost everything that's better about the 12 Pro,
01:27that could be a real significant reason to get it over the 12,
01:31is going to be even better in the 12 Pro Max.
01:34And that phone's coming out a little bit later, yes.
01:36And that phone is going to be bigger, yes.
01:38And that phone is going to be even more expensive, yes.
01:42But it is a weird dilemma to find yourself in.
01:44So 12 or 12 Pro, that is the question.
01:48Well, okay, if we start off with the build,
01:50this is easily the most noticeable difference actually between these two phones.
01:53The 12 Pro comes in different, possibly superior colors.
01:56It's the only one that comes in gold.
01:58And it's also the only one that comes in this specific Pacific Blue color,
02:02that is, in my opinion, the best available color for any iPhone right now.
02:05It's sick.
02:06But also the finishes.
02:08So another year, another glossy iPhone with a matte camera bump,
02:11versus a matte iPhone with a glossy camera bump.
02:14And I still, of course, prefer the matte iPhone 12 Pro,
02:19but it's a little bit watered down instantly by the stainless steel sides,
02:24which gather more fingerprints than the CSI employee of the month.
02:28Meaning, they look pretty bad.
02:31Now, Apple's using stainless steel for a reason here.
02:33It's because it's actually more durable.
02:34It's more scrap resistant.
02:36It's just a higher quality material than aluminum, technically speaking.
02:39So that is nice.
02:41But the byproduct is definitely more fingerprints, more shininess.
02:45And actually, it's a little bit heavier than the other phone.
02:47So, okay, the build, maybe that's a wash.
02:49You can just pick whichever one you want from those two.
02:51Then there's the camera system.
02:53So the 12 Pro has an improved camera system over the 12.
02:57And by improved, I mean it's the same exact primary sensor.
03:00It's the same exact ultra-wide sensor.
03:03And it's an additional 2X telephoto zoom camera.
03:07Now, okay, there are going to be some people that do see that telephoto by itself
03:11as an advantage, people who take a lot of zoom photos.
03:14And it's not a space zoom.
03:16It's not a 3X or a 5 or 10X or anything crazy like that.
03:19But it's real.
03:21It's an advantage.
03:22Maybe you have kids that run far away or you're in the back row of a concert.
03:26Although in 2020, are you really?
03:28I don't know.
03:29But it is real.
03:30I'm not going to get down on optical zoom.
03:31It is fine.
03:32You will notice crispier shots at and beyond 2X zoom in good light.
03:37But I'm saying in good light for a reason.
03:41And that's because pretty much every smartphone that's ever had a second telephoto camera
03:45is using a worse, smaller, less light-gathering sensor for the telephoto.
03:51And the iPhone is included in that.
03:53So when your lighting starts to get shady or a little bit dark or it's nighttime,
03:57turns out the phone smartly realizes that the main camera with the bigger sensor
04:02and this brighter f1.6 aperture is actually still capable of better zoom shots
04:07than the telephoto camera.
04:09So it just keeps using that main camera anyway as you zoom in.
04:13You can try yourself.
04:14You can literally cover up the telephoto camera at night
04:17and typically everything still works the exact way you'd expect it to.
04:21So the extra 2X telephoto lens on the Pro, it's there.
04:24It's better sometimes in nice light for those telephoto shots.
04:27But it's probably not a reason by itself for you to upgrade, spend more money.
04:31However, if you do really care about a better camera system,
04:35the 12 Pro Max is coming out and it's going to have a bunch of things.
04:39It's going to have a bigger primary sensor for the first time in a while in an iPhone.
04:43That's a pretty big deal.
04:45And it also is going to have sensor shift autofocus,
04:47which is, you might have heard it called IBIS or in-body image stabilization
04:51instead of in-lens image stabilization in some mirrorless cameras.
04:55That should also make some pretty big improvements to low-light shooting,
04:58handheld shooting, and maybe even video stabilization.
05:01So that's a lot.
05:02By the way, the 12 Pro Max should also have a slightly longer 2.5X optical zoom
05:07on the telephoto for some reason.
05:09So this is the first year Apple is really divvying up the camera capabilities
05:13and only giving the best camera stuff to the big one.
05:16So I'm going to be testing that and figuring out if it's all worth it.
05:19It should be on the channel here very soon,
05:21but I think it's safe to assume that that's where the real camera upgrade is going to be.
05:26So, okay, build quality, pick your poison there.
05:29Extra cameras, not a huge deal.
05:31Then there's LiDAR.
05:32So there's this new little circle cutout down here at the bottom of the camera module
05:35that we first saw on the iPad Pro.
05:37Essentially, it's a depth sensor.
05:39So it has some niche uses for photography.
05:42It's actually pretty much inactive during daylight again,
05:45but at night and in poor lighting, it'll do up to six times faster autofocus.
05:48And I have actually noticed really impressive nighttime autofocus on this iPhone.
05:53So that's worth noting.
05:54And it'll also let you do portrait mode at night, which is sweet.
05:57And then there are some pretty massive benefits for AR.
06:00Now, augmented reality, you may or may not use that much at all.
06:04It depends on who you are.
06:05If you don't care, you don't care.
06:06If you're in the AR world, you kind of got to get this one.
06:09I'm using the Measure app as an example,
06:11but there's a pretty significant speed and accuracy improvement across everything AR related.
06:16Object permanence in space is way better.
06:19AR games are much more playable.
06:21And even in the Measure app, you can instantly measure someone's height with,
06:25I mean, an acceptable degree of accuracy.
06:28The 12 and 12 Pro, aside from that, are very, very similar.
06:32The displays, the notch, the haptics, the ceramic shield, the A14 Bionic,
06:38all this stuff is identical.
06:40Even a case for the 12 will work with the 12 Pro.
06:43But for some reason, the 12 Pro does have a slightly higher normal brightness on the display.
06:48And then 12 Pro also has six gigs of RAM instead of the four in the 12,
06:53which to me is interesting because Apple, as we know, never really talks about the RAM.
06:57So we kind of had to discover that they quietly added RAM to the phone,
07:01which to me suggests there was a reason for it.
07:03Maybe that's a little more future-proofing, a little bit better multitasking.
07:07Maybe that's what allowed it to do 4K Dolby Vision video at 60 FPS instead of at 30.
07:12And then weirdly, despite these phones being, like I said, identical in size
07:16and presumably having the same battery,
07:18the 12 Pro's battery has been consistently slightly worse than the 12.
07:25There are some theories about how this could be possibly just more RAM taking a little bit more power.
07:30Or maybe it does have a different battery or something's different inside.
07:33But I think it's safe to say both these phones don't have the most amazing battery life.
07:37And if you care about battery, again, the 12 Pro Max is going to have a bigger battery.
07:41So I think the moral of the story here is if you really care about these upgrades,
07:47if you care about a screen upgrade, bigger screen.
07:50If you care about a battery upgrade, bigger battery.
07:52If you care about a camera upgrade, bigger sensors.
07:56You got to go with the 12 Pro Max.
07:58But it will be, it will be a bigger price too.
08:01Really, I think this new Apple pricing strategy of offering a phone at just kind of every price
08:06has created this dilemma, this awkward middle child situation.
08:09See, now there's a whole spectrum of iPhones available anywhere from that iPhone SE starting at $399
08:14all the way up to $1,399 for the highest end 12 Pro Max.
08:18And so Apple's strategy, and it's kind of more clear and deliberate than ever,
08:22is to give you all those offerings at all those different prices
08:25and then see if they can try to upsell you a little bit inside of that chain.
08:29So that brings me to the last, maybe most interesting point, which is storage.
08:33The iPhone 12 starts at 64 gigs of base storage
08:37and the iPhone 12 Pro starts at 128 gigs of base storage.
08:41So, okay, I want you to go ahead and check on your phone.
08:44Maybe you're watching on it right now.
08:45Go into the settings app, check how much storage you're actually using on your phone.
08:49Maybe you're one of those people that's comfortably underneath 64 gigs.
08:53You only have 30 gigs of stuff on your phone.
08:55You'll have the phone for a few years and never hit 64.
08:58Maybe you're one of those people.
08:59But I have a feeling most of you, especially if you're watching this video, aren't that person.
09:04You're probably sitting a little closer.
09:06I went in and checked on my phone.
09:08Let me go ahead and actually see it again.
09:10But I was up around 60 gigs of used storage.
09:15Currently at 52 gigs.
09:17And so if I'm going to have this phone for a couple of years,
09:19I'm going to take a bunch of photos and videos.
09:21I can't get a 64 gig phone.
09:23I've got to go immediately with 128.
09:26And when you pay that 50 extra bucks, that brings this phone to 879,
09:32which is closer to this 999.
09:34And so now you're thinking, well, it's only 120 bucks to the next leap.
09:38Maybe I'll just make the leap and get the Pro.
09:40So I would say my advice is to just make sure.
09:43Are you sure about that?
09:44Do you actually have good reasons to get the Pro?
09:47Because there's going to be people who are just going to get the Pro because it's the better phone.
09:50It's got the extra thing.
09:52It's shinier.
09:53I'm going to get this one.
09:54That's cool.
09:55Maybe even the better colors are a reason you'd get it.
09:57But if you're looking specifically to get the best value,
10:00to get the most phone for your money,
10:02and you're considering getting the Pro,
10:04I don't think it's a good buy.
10:06And I think you'd be better off waiting for the 12 Pro Max
10:09and possibly actually getting more phone for that money.
10:12Waiting for the review to see if that's actually worth the 1100 bucks it starts at.
10:17But now you know.
10:19Those are my thoughts on the 12 Pro in this world.
10:22The 12, that review is already up.
10:24Feel free to check it out.
10:25But that's been it.
10:27Thanks for watching.
10:28Catch you guys in the next one.
10:30Peace.