With the imminent release of the iPhone 12 lineup, people are talking about the new colors (both Blues look awesome), new size (uhh, mini??) and most of all, increased feature parity between the standard 12 and the 12 pro models (hello 5G!). Going back to the first Plus model iPhone, there has usually been at least one feature that stood out as pretty awesome but I was always able to talk myself out of the top tier phone. Things like portrait mode, selfie portrait mode, Face ID, bigger screens, OLED, higher resolution, and the most convincing, the telephoto lens. I was able to be ok with a 7 vs 7plus and Xr over Xs or Xs Max.
This year it seems like more than any previous year, reviewers are recommending the standard 12 for most people. All models have 5G. All models have MagSafe charging. Great. The 12 is still nice and the color choices are excellent but with the introduction of the mini, the standard 12 is bumped up $100. Want more than 64gb storage? That’s another $50 bringing the standard iPhone12 to $850. So now the pricing is much closer than it’s been in the past, the size is the same (no more 5.8″ ‘pro’), 128gb storage standard, you get the telephoto lens as mentioned earlier AND… what I think could be the standout feature and the reason to ultimately go pro… the LiDAR scanner.
I know it seems gimmicky and on its own, there’s really little to get excited about. So it does AR faster and more accurate… yay. The REAL reason I think this is going to be a standout feature is the advertised 6 times faster low light autofocus and better portrait mode photos. Low light photography has been pretty good in the last few models of iPhone but with the addition of the LiDAR scanner, this could be a gamechanger. The biggest issue with trying to get that low light photo nice and crisp is trying to hold still long enough for the exposure to be accurate and sharp. The increased speed in low light will make taking great low light photos easier for more people. Whether this feature will turn out to be as good in practice as I believe it will remains to be seen and I suppose we’ll all find out in about a week.
4Kgaming 