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Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 12 Pro

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Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 12 Pro

89 out of 100
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
VS
71 out of 100
Apple iPhone 12 Pro
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Apple iPhone 12 Pro

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max (with Apple A17 Pro) that was released on September 12, 2023, against the Apple iPhone 12 Pro, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 36 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Comes with 1607 mAh larger battery capacity: 4422 vs 2815 mAh
  • The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
  • 83% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1530K versus 838K)
  • Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
  • Modern USB Type-C port
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • Supports higher wattage charging (30W versus 18W)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  • Weighs 32 grams less
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 5.2 mm narrower

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Pro crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk ( * ) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
iPhone 15 Pro Max
vs
iPhone 12 Pro

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1290 x 2796 pixels 1170 x 2532 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 460 ppi 460 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 2000 nits 800 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1600 nits -
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Ceramic Shield Ceramic Shield
Screen-to-body ratio 89.8% 86%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display 		- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.6%
PWM - 277 Hz
Response time - 3.6 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)

Design and build

Height 159.9 mm (6.3 inches) 146.7 mm (5.78 inches)
Width 76.7 mm (3.02 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 8.25 mm (0.32 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 221 g (7.8 oz) 189 g (6.67 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Silver, Blue Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue
Fingerprint scanner No No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and Apple iPhone 12 Pro in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Apple A17 Pro Apple A14 Bionic
Max clock 3780 MHz 3100 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.02 GHz:
- 2 cores at 3.78 GHz: 		- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm
- 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm
Lithography process 3 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Apple A17 GPU Apple A14 GPU
GPU shading units 768 256
GPU clock 1398 MHz 1278 MHz
FLOPS ~2147.2 GFLOPS ~654.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 420892 235725
GPU 553020 264025
Memory 219823 152158
UX 328863 182343
Total score 1530820 838760
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature - 38.1 °C
Stability - 76%
Graphics test - 44 FPS
Graphics score - 7430

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 256, 512, 1024 GB 128, 256, 512 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iOS 17 iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17)
OS size - 14 GB

Battery

Capacity 4422 mAh 2815 mAh
Max charge power 30 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (7.5 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes No
Fast charging Yes (50% in 30 min) Yes (59% in 30 min)
Full charging time - 1:30 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing - 09:54 hr
Watching video - 12:40 hr
Gaming - 05:29 hr
Standby - 104 hr
General battery life

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 48 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8000 x 6000 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 5x Optical, 2x
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 4 (48 MP + 12.7 MP + 13.4 MP) 4 (12 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 48 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 24 mm
- Sensor: 1/1.28", Sony IMX803 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.6
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX372 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 12.7 MP
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Focal length: 85 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.9" (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.0
- Focal length: 52 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.4" (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Ultra-wide lens - 13.4 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55"
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Sensor: 1/3.6" (CMOS)
Depth lens Yes Yes
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support 		- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples - Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 Pro from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4290 x 2800
Aperture f/1.9 f/2.2
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor type - Exmor-RS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.6" -
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display 		- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.3 5
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C No
USB version 3.2 -
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG 		- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
NFC * Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM * 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
eSIM support * Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 20 18
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2023 October 2020
Release date September 2023 October 2020
SAR (head) - 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) - 0.99 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor 		- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included -
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.

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