Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs iPhone 12
85
out of 100
VS
61
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.3-inch Apple iPhone 16 Pro (with Apple A18 Pro) that was released on September 9, 2024, against the Apple iPhone 12, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 3 years and 11 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16 Pro
- The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
- Delivers 174% higher peak brightness (1769 against 646 nits)
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
- Shows 33% longer battery life (28:13 vs 21:15 hours)
- Modern USB Type-C port
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Comes with 767 mAh larger battery capacity: 3582 vs 2815 mAh
- 34% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1801K versus 1341K)
- Compatible with the latest Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
- The phone is 3 years and 11 months newer
- Supports higher wattage charging (30W versus 18W)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12
- Weighs 35 grams less
Review
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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.3 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1206 x 2622 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 458 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 2000 nits | 625 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1600 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, Dolby Vision | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 91.1% | 87.1% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.9% | 99.4% |
| PWM | 239 Hz | 226 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 16 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 149.6 mm (5.89 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.25 mm (0.32 inches) | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 199 g (7.02 oz) | 164 g (5.78 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Silver, Gold | White, Black, Blue, Green, Red |
| Fingerprint scanner | No | No |
| Repairability | Average (2.83/5) | - |
| Drop resistance | Good (C) · 90 drops | - |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Apple A18 Pro | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Max clock | 4040 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 6 (2 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth - 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm - 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 3 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Neural Engine | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | 6 core Apple GPU | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 768 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 1490 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2289 GFLOPS | ~654.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 33278 | 17099 |
| Single-core score | 3591 | 1997 |
| Multi-core score | 9090 | 4665 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 555276 | 402035 |
| GPU | 546980 | 336490 |
| Memory | 176885 | 153915 |
| UX | 522035 | 449135 |
| Total score | 1801176 | 1341575 |
| Samples | [9 tests] | [10 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 71% | - |
| Graphics test | 13 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 1732 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 76% |
| Graphics test | 29 FPS | 10 FPS |
| Section 1 | 35 FPS | 13 FPS |
| Section 2 | 30 FPS | 10 FPS |
| Section 3 | 21 FPS | 7 FPS |
| Graphics score | 7585 | 2651 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | - | 74% |
| Graphics test | - | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2155 |
Recent User Tests
Apple iPhone 16 Pro
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-21 (Neuron) | AnTuTu | 1500141 |
| 📘 2026-07-04 (Lks jaay) | Battery life | Battery report |
| 📘 2026-06-15 (Anton) | AnTuTu | 1782199 |
| 📘 2026-06-04 (Rain) | GeekBench CPU | 3656 / 9628 |
| 📘 2026-05-20 (013gafurov) | AnTuTu | 1891085 |
Apple iPhone 12
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-06-26 (Hellomt) | AnTuTu | 1334721 |
| 📘 2026-03-25 (🇷🇺010) | AnTuTu | 1384982 |
| 📘 2026-03-23 (Roma) | AnTuTu | 1326030 |
| 📘 2026-03-06 (RuL) | AnTuTu | 1365684 |
| 📘 2026-02-16 (hypothetic nuisance) | AnTuTu | 1341575 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR4X |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | iOS 18 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) | iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) |
| OS size | 18 GB | 7 GB |
| OS updates | 7 years | - |
| Security updates | 7 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 3582 mAh | 2815 mAh |
| Max charge power | 30 W | 18 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes | No |
| Bypass charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (58% in 30 min) | Yes (58% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:38 hr | 1:30 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1000 cycles | - |
| Web browsing | 11:41 hr | 08:00 hr |
| Watching video | 17:46 hr | 12:09 hr |
| Gaming | 05:35 hr | 04:35 hr |
| Standby | 132 hr | 112 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#84th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 48 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8064 x 6048 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 5x | Digital |
| Flash | Dual LED | Quad LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP 3) Ultrawide: 48 MP 4) Depth |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 48 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | 24 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX803 | Sony IMX372 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.8 | - |
| Focal length | 120 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX913 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
| Image resolution | 48 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX972 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.7 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 80 | 55 |
| Preview | 93 | 74 |
| Zoom | 142 | 60 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 16 Pro from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/1.9 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX714 | Sony IMX514 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | No |
| Stabilization | Optical | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | Yes | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 127 |
| Video | - | 140 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) | 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 |
| DisplayPort | Yes | - |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | - | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | eSIM | Nano |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | - | 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 2024 | October 2020 |
| Release date | September 2024 | October 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $999 | $800 |
| Successor | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro | - Apple iPhone 17 |
| SAR (head) | 1.24 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.48 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | - |
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16 Pro:
- In the US, the smartphone only supports eSIM, while the international model comes with 1 physical SIM slot plus eSIM capability.
*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 16 Pro is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 82