Buy an Apple iPhone 12

Why buy an Apple iPhone 12?

Mozillion Apple iPhone 12 review

Ridiculously fast and smooth
Beautiful photos on a beautiful screen
Still can’t be beaten for style

Not convinced? Try one of these alternatives to an Apple iPhone 12:

iPhone 12 Pro - same phone, better camera, more storage
iPhone 12 mini - same phone, smaller size & screen, shorter battery life
Google Pixel 5 - less stylish and powerful, but still a great phone for less

Introduction

Apple’s new iPhone 12 is everything you’d expect from an iPhone, and more. Blistering performance, 5G connectivity, sumptuous screen - you can tick them all off. More than just a design icon, the new iPhone 12 is quietly practical too. It’s water resistant, has an all-day battery, and now supports a range of mag-safe accessories.

Design

The iPhone continues to set the benchmark for beautiful smartphones. The iPhone 12’s gorgeous Super Retina XDR screen extends almost right to the edge of the phone. Quite apart from looking stunning, it means the generous screen is wrapped in a barely bigger phone. It’s a good job it’s covered in Ceramic Shield - a glass Apple says is four times more resistant to drop damage.

With the new iPhone 12, Apple has kept its Lightning charging and data port, but also added support for new MagSafe wireless chargers. The MagSafe system supports a range of other accessories including cases and car mounts, helping keep wires out of the picture.

Camera

The iPhone 12 camera is one of the best you’ll find on any mobile phone. The 12 megapixel system has two cameras providing wide and ultra wide angles - but it misses out on the third, telephoto camera only found on iPhone 12 Pro models. There’s optical image stabilisation, with up to a 5X software zoom. The results are sensational in almost any lighting conditions.

Video

The iPhone 12’s video quality puts even pro video cameras to shame. It records 4K video at up to sixty frames per second (60fps), or HDR video with Dolby Vision at 30fps. There’s optical image stabilisation too, so you can get a steady shot even when you’re moving about.

Display

If you thought the iPhone 11 had a great display, wait until you see the iPhone 12. Apple has ditched LCD technology in favour of OLED, producing a crisper, brighter display with intense contrast. Dubbed Super Retina XDR, the new edge-to-edge screen packs in 460 pixels per inch (ppi) - a huge leap from the 326ppi on the iPhone 11. The result? Sharper text and crisper, vibrant images, in one of the best mobile phone screens you’ll find.

Processor

All the new iPhone 12 models benefit from the Apple A14 Bionic chip. Apple says it’s the fastest processor in any smartphone, and who are we to doubt it? Capable of one trillion operations a second, the A14 might seem like overkill for those group WhatsApp messages, but it helps make the iPhone 12 a formidable gaming, photography and filmmaking platform.

Battery

With its frankly bonkers processor, you might expect the iPhone 12 to struggle keeping the lights on. Fortunately, Apple has engineered everything to conserve energy, resulting in a phone that plays back video for up to 17 hours on a charge - or audio for more than two days.

Colours & Options

Apple remains one of the few smartphone makers to bother with more than a couple of colours. The iPhone 12 can be had in the traditional white or black, along with red, green, purple or blue. You can buy cases that clash or compliment, and other MagSafe accessories such as a wireless charging cradle for the car.

The cheapest iPhone 12 comes with just 64GB of storage - Apple will happily sell you a 128GB or 256GB version if you can afford it. iPhones have never had an SD card slot, so you can’t expand the storage later. Like other recent iPhones, you won’t find earbuds or a charger in the iPhone 12 box. The phone has no 3.5mm socket, so wired headphones are a no-no.