Whatever the difference I will be buying the 12 non pro version. I don’t agree with paying £1k+ for a phone if I can get as good of an experience for less and the 12 sounds like a good device from the rumour mill.
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Other iPhone 12 6.1" vs 12 Pro 6.1" - your thoughts ?
- Thread starter Lwii2boo
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It actually just uses digital zoom on the main camera in a lot of situations. Whenever there's just a little bit of a low-light situation it uses the main sensor. I agree that the telephoto isn't that good. Also: zoom can be achieved through software, ultrawide can not. That's why I'm glad that they switched to an ultrawide on the 2-camera models
It actually just uses digital zoom on the main camera in a lot of situations. Whenever there's just a little bit of a low-light situation it uses the main sensor. I agree that the telephoto isn't that good. Also: zoom can be achieved through software, ultrawide can not. That's why I'm glad that they switched to an ultrawide on the 2-camera models
Yes I agree. If I had to choose 2 sensors, I'd choose regular and ultrawide.
Don't get me wrong having a 2x optical zoom is cool but :
- My main goal with a smartphone camera is to capture memories (road trip, holidays, week ends, parties etc...) and with Ultrawide you can get thing you simply can't without it.
Telephoto is ofc nice when zoom needed but the thing is you can still capture the whole memory without it, you just lose a bit in quality.
For someone passionated about photo or use photo a lot for work, telephoto is very useful. But in my case, the value added is a lot more niche vs ultrawide.
- It's "only" 2x optical zoom and 2x digital is still very good quality in recent phones. I don't get why Apple don't increase the optical zoom (x3 or x5 for instance ?) it would increase the complementarity of regular and telephoto lenses.
I'm glad Apple gave ultrawide instead of telephoto on 2 cameras models
The camera on the 11 was the same as the 11 Pro minus the telephoto lens and in general they performed the same. I’ll be happy if the 12 has the same relation to the 12 Pro in that regard. I’m using the telephoto only occasionally these days so it’s not something i’ll miss hugely.
yeah it’s bs really they all should have telephoto in 2020.
It’s certainly a nice option I agree. These phones are already so close I think Apple need to hold some features off to justify the difference. It would be nice if Apple didn’t need to have two tiers and could just produce a sensibly price iPhone with all the best features like we used to see, but those days are gone sadly.
And then how do you sell "Pro" phones with very few things excluvise this year ?
Sure more for same price is good for customers but it's total non-sense from a business perspective.
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It’s a bit of the tough one for Apple as the vast majority of their consumers buy mid tier iPhones but many of the features on the Pro models are standard across the industry in devices of a similar cost to the mid tier Apple offers. This is where the brand power comes into play I suppose and perhaps the reason there isn’t a huge difference between say an iPhone 11 and an iPhone 11 Pro.
As technology progresses and parts become more off the shelf as the years pass, I do wonder how long the Pro series will be viable? You can’t force consumers to pay £1k+ as many simply won’t, so at some point maybe Apple will need to amalgamate their range? Time will tell.
i understand internal differences between regular and pro models do exist and are important spec bumps, but for a 3-year refresh cycle apple should've done a bit more to differentiate the Pros from the Non-Pros. Something that's more tangible to the consumer.
120Hz and a smaller/no notch are the first things that come to mind. i even remember initially hearing rumors that the non-pros would have the current rounded designs and the pros would have the squared off edges. something like that would've also pushed more people to the pros.
not that i want any of this to happen personally, i'm perfectly happy if i can get a similar experience for a few hundred dollars less. but from an objective standpoint, it becomes very difficult for apple to convince me to shell out that much more cash if i can't even really see the upgrades i'm getting after 3 years.
120Hz and a smaller/no notch are the first things that come to mind. i even remember initially hearing rumors that the non-pros would have the current rounded designs and the pros would have the squared off edges. something like that would've also pushed more people to the pros.
not that i want any of this to happen personally, i'm perfectly happy if i can get a similar experience for a few hundred dollars less. but from an objective standpoint, it becomes very difficult for apple to convince me to shell out that much more cash if i can't even really see the upgrades i'm getting after 3 years.
Does 120Hz really offer something attractive to a non techy consumer though? I think the difference in edges would stand out more but then how do you market something that obvious to be worth £300 more? I mean LCD vs OLED was a big difference to some here but many who were not tech savvy didn’t give a toss. It’s become very difficult to justify paying more for the Pro I think and is the reason they don’t sell as well on the whole. As manufacturing efficiency drives costs down and features become less obvious, I do wonder how Apple will continue to market their Pro models.
I think Apple will keep this "budget" (SE) / high tier (regular phones) / very high tier (pro phones) line up for many years.
From a business perspective :
- Some are simply ok to pay more to have some extra features, so Apple can increase their revenues for a same number of phones sold
- Marketing point : Having phone priced at over 1K give the illusion that the regular Phones at around 800 are "value". Don't get me wrong both are expansive options. But having a more expansive phone available give the impression to the customer to be reasonable about the purchase if it's not the most expansive one.
From a product perspective :
- Exclusive features on Pro models to justify the difference. Depending on years it can be focused on differents specs (screen, camera but probably in future could be mainly refresh rate, notch size etc.)
- After ~2 years those excluvise "pro" features are on all models, and Apple would add a new thing excluvive again for the Pro for ~2 years to keep a difference.
I agree with what you say about 120Hz for the regular consumer. But apple has historically been incredible at taking a feature with niche appeal and blowing it into something that is demanded & followed by the mainstream. Think removing the 3.5mm jack + promoting wireless earbuds, or removing everything but USB-C ports on the Macs. I feel like 120Hz could've fit that bill if they marketed it right.
Either way, I don't disagree. I was just playing devil's advocate since I do like it when apple manages to innovate. It sucks to see the Pros seem so neutered next to their far better valued non-pro counterparts that seem like more potent devices despite having lesser specs across the board. That is probably why the regular 12s are rumored to start at 64gb, so that there is at least some concrete separation that might make even a regular consumer (someone who takes lots of photos, or loves downloading tons of music) notice and shell out extra.
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I bought a iPhone 11 Pro and I think compared to the iPhone 11, it offered poor value for money.
I want to get a 12 , but there doesn't seem to be anything compelling about the Pro model.
Apple need to convince me why i need a Lidar scanner - they failed to do that with the latest iPad pro.
I want to get a 12 , but there doesn't seem to be anything compelling about the Pro model.
Apple need to convince me why i need a Lidar scanner - they failed to do that with the latest iPad pro.
You raise some good points, especially the perception of value. As long as the difference is so small, I can’t see myself being interested in paying the extra premium on what is already an expensive device. I do wonder if the technology will close up more and we’ll see a similar strategy to what Apple employ with the Apple Watch? The exact same internals but with clever marketing to give the consumer The impression the case and screen materials are worth the premium. I’m only guessing here.
I have a similar mindset in that I can afford the Pro but am not convinced by what it offers for the price point. From the rumours this year with the mid tier getting OLED, it feels like the gap could be narrower again. I’ll be interested to see how the pro is unveiled and what emphasis is put on the differences. I wasn’t convinced with the transition from Apple Watch S5>S6 with very minimal difference, so I expect the iPhones to be a little further apart in the spec department. Lidar and 120Hz wouldn’t be deemed big enough for me personally, neither would a smaller notch.
These are my sentiments exactly. I dont want a larger phone, 6.1 is big enough for me. but I want the features that are rumored to come in the max. I think it sucks if we have to buy a larger brick to have those same features.
There are no such credible rumors though.
The only advantage the 6.7" model is expected to have is sensor shift image stabilization for the ultra-wide lens.
Hope you’re right! I will admit that I don’t follow things like I used to so I’m not the most informed person, I just read that in a few articles and took it as ‘where there’s smoke there’s fire’. Guess the only thing to do is sit back and wait until Oct 13!
True. If you don't care about telephoto or LiDAR and want a 6.1" OLED iPhone, the non-pro should be a better option.
I feel a bit embarrassed for this year 6.1 pro vs the non-pro I feel like it is too close to the non-pro despite having a price gap.
Next year, the pro model could be way better and have more visible difference vs non-pro just by getting a full 120 Hz experience with LTPO.
If I wanted the 6.1 and they have similar screen quality, I would go with a 6.1. The zoom and lidar aren’t important to me.
However I want the 6.7 screen. If they had a regular 12 max in a 6.7 with similar screens quality I’m going for the non pro 6.7.
I agree with both that based on rumors the gap between the Pro and non-Pro is narrower in terms of features. However, based on rumors, the price gap is also getting narrower, which could partly explain it. The non-pro is expected to start at $749 for 64gb. Once you add $50, you have the non-Pro 128gb at $799 and the 128gb Pro is expected to start at $999. If rumors are true, the price gap will now be $200 when it is now $300 with iPhone 11 series (at a 64gb capacity).
This is a smart pricing move by Apple as it is essentially making the non-Pro more expensive while making the Pro appear as a better value given that they charged $999 for 64gb last year, and now your getting twice the storage capacity (all else being equal). For the non-Pro, your getting noticeable upgrades from the iPhone 11 (starting with the OLED screen), but your also paying more for it.
I'm still hoping that the reason for the delay of the Pro version to November is that there is something new that has not leaked yet that takes more time to manufacture (smaller notch, Touch ID on power button, etc.). A big way Apple could differentiate the Pro from the non-Pro would be a smaller notch, it would look more modern (and keep it that way a couple of years). If I'm mistaken and we know everything about the Pro, I suspect the non-Pro will be more popular, even with a narrower price gap.
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I have the exact same view as you. Let's see next week if Apple surprise us a bit more than expected on the Pro