Home > Smartphone comparison > iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 12 Pro Max – which one to choose?

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 12 Pro Max

90 out of 100
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
VS
75 out of 100
Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max (with Apple A16 Bionic) that was released on September 7, 2022, against the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 23 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 (6)

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Delivers 103% higher peak brightness (1762 against 868 nits)
  • Shows 30% longer battery life (45:54 vs 35:25 hours)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Comes with 636 mAh larger battery capacity: 4323 vs 3687 mAh
  • 27% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1474K versus 1165K)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5
  • The phone is 1-year and 11-months newer

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Pro Max 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
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Choose the importance of each parameter to more accurately identify the smartphone that best meets your particular needs.
Adjust priorities
Feature
Priority (Weight)
Display:
Camera:
Performance:
Gaming:
Battery Life:
The higher the priority, the more it will affect the final NanoReview score.

Value for money

You can enter your local prices of these phones (in USD or other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
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Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
iPhone 14 Pro Max
vs
iPhone 12 Pro Max

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1290 x 2796 pixels 1284 x 2778 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 460 ppi 458 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 1000 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 88.3% 87.4%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display		 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% 99.4%
PWM 240 Hz 238 Hz
Response time 1 ms 8 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
iPhone 14 Pro Max +103%
1762 nits
iPhone 12 Pro Max
868 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 160.7 mm (6.33 inches) 160.8 mm (6.33 inches)
Width 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) 78.1 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 7.85 mm (0.31 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 240 g (8.47 oz) 226 g (7.97 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Purple Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue
Fingerprint scanner No No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Apple A16 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
Max clock 3460 MHz 3100 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 3.46 GHz: Everest		 - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm
- 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm
Lithography process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Apple A16 GPU Apple A14 GPU
GPU shading units 640 256
GPU clock 1398 MHz 1278 MHz
FLOPS ~1789.4 GFLOPS ~654.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
iPhone 14 Pro Max +27%
1474807
iPhone 12 Pro Max
1165199
CPU 310783 298720
GPU 514249 375412
Memory 234912 179130
UX 404558 300670
Total score 1474807 1165199
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 46 °C 45 °C
Stability 82% 75%
Graphics test 58 FPS 47 FPS
Graphics score 9851 7880
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]
Submit your AnTuTu result

Memory

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

Software

Operating system iOS 16 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17) iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17)
OS size - 16 GB

Battery

Capacity 4323 mAh 3687 mAh
Max charge power 27 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (7.5 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (48% in 30 min) Yes (55% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:52 hr 1:32 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 15:02 hr 12:04 hr
Watching video 21:10 hr 14:25 hr
Gaming 07:04 hr 07:09 hr
Standby 156 hr 122 hr
General battery life
iPhone 14 Pro Max +30%
45:54 hr
iPhone 12 Pro Max
35:25 hr
Phones With the Best Battery Life (5th and 121st place)

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 48 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8000 x 6000 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 2.5x
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 MP + 12 MP) 4 (12 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 48 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 24 mm
- Pixel size: 1.22 micron
- 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: 1.7 micron
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Focal length: 77 mm
- Sensor: 1/3.5", Sony IMX713 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 65 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX613 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Ultra-wide lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX633 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX372 (Exmor-RS 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 14 Pro Max from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max 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
Pixel size 1.12 microns 1 microns
Sensor type Exmor-RS CMOS 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 6 (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 - No
USB version 2 -
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* - 1
Type of SIM card eSIM 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 2022 October 2020
Release date September 2022 November 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 14 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
535 (52.7%)
480 (47.3%)
Total votes: 1015

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User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
Avatar
Ram S 25 October 2022 09:01
Thanks for the comparison. I am planning to hold my iPhone 12 Pro Max for another year or even more (depending on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and its price) by replacing its batteries which have degraded so much (82% Max). Otherwise, I do not see any big differences between the two. I can pay $60 and get the battery replaced seems to be a prude decision than buying a very expensive 14 Pro Max 512 GB.
+23 Reply
Avatar
iPhone apple care hack 05 January 2023 03:30
So pay for Apple care plus £12.50... when your battery health hits 79% they change it so it'll cost you £12.50 for a new battery and cancel it once you're done with it.
+2 Reply
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Kelly 11 October 2022 14:10
I upgraded from iPhone 12 Pro Max to iPhone 14 pro max because of the new camera. It’s the camera I almost always have with me and the difference in indoor/low light pictures is HUGE! I feel it’s worth it.
+17 Reply
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itsky 15 September 2022 18:54
The lack of a physical SIM slot on the 14 pro max is a deal breaker for me. :/
+22 Reply
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Bobby 10 September 2022 07:15
Looking forward to the actual experience review. I agree that from the 12 Pro Max, the differences are not crazy, but with the decent trade-in after 2 years, I still retrieve the value for what I have for a minimal delta vs waiting another year(s) to lose most value. See you in 2 or 3 years.. or more right… went from 6S plus to 12 Pro Max, so we’ll see how long this one holds.
+8 Reply
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frenchtoasted 09 September 2022 00:59
what a wonderful and complete comparison of the 12 pro max and the 14 pro max. The differences are so slight that upgrading (to me) is just a waste of money at this point. Unless someone can't be without a purple phone, the basic differences just don't amount to much. Even the "upgraded" photo specs - are not all that. (a plus is that the iphone 12 pro max holds its battery longer and actually charges faster than the new 14 pro max!)
+25 Reply
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SusiW 08 September 2022 10:32
Just wanted to thank you for this amazingly useful site. You helped me decide to keep my 12 Pro MAX for another year. Why? 1. I keep my iPhones until I have the new ones that have a feature that makes an upgrade worthwhile. The 14 Pro MAX doesn't have one for me. (Past iPhones, 4S and 6S+) 2. Although I pass my iPhones on to my husband when I upgrade, and even though the 6S+ has reached its EOL as regards iOS upgrades, I cannot afford the financial hit in this economy from the cost of a new phone.
+24 Reply
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Gary 10 September 2022 19:08
Crash protection, 120 Hz display, better battery, and awesome purple make it a go for me!
+25 Reply
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