Apple iPhone 14 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.1-inch Apple iPhone 14 Pro (with Apple A16 Bionic) that was released on September 7, 2022, against the Apple iPhone 12 Pro, 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.

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 14 Pro
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Delivers 124% higher peak brightness (1795 against 802 nits)
  • Shows 21% longer battery life (36:11 vs 29:49 hours)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Comes with 385 mAh larger battery capacity: 3200 vs 2815 mAh
  • 29% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (944K versus 730K)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5
  • The phone is 1-year and 11-months newer
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  • Weighs 17 grams less
We may receive a commission from Amazon for purchases made using the links below, but this has no bearing on our assessment methodology.

Review

Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Performance
CPU/GPU performance in apps and games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

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

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.1 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1179 x 2556 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 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 87% 86%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.8% 99.6%
PWM 240 Hz 277 Hz
Response time 1 ms 3.6 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1795 nits
802 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 147.5 mm (5.81 inches) 146.7 mm (5.78 inches)
Width 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 7.85 mm (0.31 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 206 g (7.27 oz) 189 g (6.67 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 and Apple iPhone 12 Pro 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 GPU Apple GPU

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
1871
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
5355
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
944325
730122
CPU 253169 201506
GPU 394023 276492
Memory 149281 119935
UX 145972 129653
Total score 944325 730122
3DMark Wild Life Performance
9874
Max surface temperature 41.2 °C 38.1 °C
Stability 79% 77%
Graphics test 59 FPS 44 FPS
Graphics score 9874 7407
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

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 16.4) iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.4)
OS size - 14 GB

Battery

Specifications
Capacity 3200 mAh 2815 mAh
Charge power 23 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 (60% in 30 min) Yes (59% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:41 hr 1:30 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 12:35 hr 09:54 hr
Watching video 15:45 hr 12:40 hr
Gaming 06:03 hr 05:31 hr
Standby 120 hr 104 hr
General battery life
36:11 hr
29:49 hr

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, 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 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: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX372 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Focal length: 77 mm
- Sensor: 1/3.5" (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- 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 - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55" (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- 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 14 Pro from DxOMark 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 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 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
89.5 dB
92.3 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2022 October 2020
Release date September 2022 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
*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 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

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Total votes: 647

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