The day has finally arrived. At Apple’s “Hi, Speed” event, the company has officially unveiled the latest flagship smartphone in its iPhone 12 lineup.
During the October 13 online event, Apple unveiled the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max to the world. Of course, for anyone who’s been keeping tabs on the rumor mill as of late (especially earlier today), there isn’t much surprising here. But now it’s official, which means we can finally get excited about Apple’s incoming smartphones.
The Pro in the iPhone 12
As you might expect, the iPhone 12 Pro features a lot of the same elements that are in the standard iPhone 12. You’ll get the great display, and you’ll get the great camera systems. You’ll even get the fastest processor in a smartphone ever with the A14 Bionic chip.
However, it’s the differences that matter.
That starts with the premium materials. It has precision-milled back glass. These phones are engineered to make the colors have a built-in luster, and the stainless steel band will pop in its own way, too. The displays feature the Ceramic Shield display technology.
IP68-rated for water and dust resistance. It also supports the MagSafe magnetic wireless chargers and accessories. And yes, it supports 5G.
It has the Super Retina XDR display. It starts with a 6.1-inch display, with the 6.7-inch display (with 3.5 million pixel support) going with the iPhone 12 Pro Max. The form factors are nearly identical.
Camera
The Deep Fusion feature will work with all the compute engines with the A14 Bionic processor, capturing multiple images and processes them nearly instantly. The GPU pre-processes the images before running them through the Neural Engine, and the. GPU will also handle post processing as well. Deep Fusion is in all four cameras, including the TrueDepth front-facing camera.
The Pro camera system is “unlike any other device”. iPhone 12 Pro features the ultra wide camera with 120 degree field of view. f/1.6 aperture that allows in 20% more light. 4X optical zoom range. The larger sensor size goes beyond that, too.
iPhone 12 Pro features the new seven-element lens Wide camera with an ƒ/1.6 aperture, the fastest ever on an iPhone, for 27 percent improved low-light performance in photo and video; the Ultra Wide camera with a 120-degree field of view, perfect for capturing more scene in tight spots or epic landscapes; and a 52 mm focal length Telephoto camera, great for framing portraits, bringing the optical zoom range to 4x.iPhone 12 Pro Max takes the pro camera experience even further. The new ƒ/1.6 aperture Wide camera boasts a 47 percent larger sensor with 1.7μm pixels for a massive 87 percent improvement in low-light conditions. It also includes the expansive Ultra Wide camera and a 65 mm focal length Telephoto camera for increased flexibility with closer shots and tighter crops. Combined, this system offers 5x optical zoom range.
Apple says this is the best camera to date. It has a reworked telephoto lens, and can bring better portrait photos. It supports 5X optical zoom. It also supports optical image stabilization. Apple says it has an 87% improvement in low-light photography.
Apple worked a new system for OIS, too. It offers support for sensor shift. It will maintain sharpness, cancelling low and high frequency movements and vibrations, keeping the image stable. Stabilized exposure times are up to 2 seconds in low-light photos. This means a full F-stop increase in photography. Video recording should offer a truly “cinematic feel”, according to Apple.
Featuring Apple ProRAW
Pro users are getting more control, too. Apple is building a new feature that will let photographers combine the computational photography and RAW photo capture. This will be a built-in feature later this year for the Pro models called Apple Pro Raw. It will allow photographers to capture photos in RAW format, but also use the Neural Engine and other features. All four cameras support this, and there is no shutter delay.
White balance, tone balance, are now instructions, rather than baked in. This gives ultimate control to the photographer. Apple ProRAW photos can be edited in third-party professional photo editing apps, as well as the stock Photos app.
Don’t forget video recording, now with Dolby Vision
Apple didn’t forget video capture, too. We know the iPhone is used for recording content all the time, including TV shows and films. And Apple is taking pro video further.
HDR video recording is now available in the iPhone 12 Pro, with support for 10-bit recording. That’s 60x more color capture than previous models. What’s more, the iPhone 12 Pro can record in Dolby Vision HDR. The A14 Bionic makes this possible in real-time. This means photographers can edit in Dolby Vision right from the Photos app.
LiDAR
The iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max supports the LiDAR Scanner. This feature first landed on the scene with the iPad Pro earlier this year. It makes it possible for better, more precise placement for objects in augmented reality. It will make the pro camera system even better, too.
The LiDAR Scanner will reduce capture time in low-light photos because it works in the dark. It works in photos and videos. It improves focus time in low-light scenes up to 6X. It improves Night Mode, too, including Portrait photography.
Pricing, availability, and colors
The iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max are available in several colors, including the brand new Pacific Blue. You can also pick up the pro smartphone in Gold, Graphite, and Silver. Pricing starts at $999 for the iPhone 12 Pro and $1,099 for the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Built-in storage starts at 128GB for each model, with 256GB and 512GB models also available.
The iPhone 12 Pro can be ordered starting Friday, October 16. It starts shipping on October 23.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max can be ordered on November 6, and it ships November 13.
Here’s the fine print in that regard:
- Customers in Australia, China, Germany, Japan, the UK, the US, and more than 30 other countries and regions will be able to pre-order iPhone 12 Pro beginning at 5 a.m. PDT on Friday, October 16, with availability beginning Friday, October 23, and pre-order for iPhone 12 Pro Max will begin at 5 a.m. PST on Friday, November 6, with availability beginning Friday, November 13.
- iPhone 12 Pro will be available in India, South Korea, and more than a dozen other countries beginning Friday, October 30