Apple iPhone 7 Plus vs iPhone 12
40
out of 100
VS
60
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 5.5-inch Apple iPhone 7 Plus (with Apple A10 Fusion) that was released on September 7, 2016, against the Apple iPhone 12, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 4 years and 2 months after. 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 7 Plus
- The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
- Fingerprint scanner
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12
- 2.4x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1341K versus 557K)
- Thinner bezels – 19.4% more screen real estate
- Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Shows 17% longer battery life (21:15 vs 18:07 hours)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5)
- Handles wireless charging up to 7.5W
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- More energy-efficient CPU – Apple A14 Bionic
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR4X
- Supports higher wattage charging (18W versus 5W)
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
- Has 33% more RAM: 4GB versus 3GB
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 | IPS LCD | OLED |
| Size | 5.5 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 1920 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 16:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 401 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 625 nits | 625 nits |
| HDR support | No | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Tempered glass | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 67.7% | 87.1% |
| Display features | - | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.9% | 99.4% |
| PWM | Not detected | 226 Hz |
| Response time | 26.5 ms | 16 ms |
| Contrast | 1591:1 | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
iPhone 12
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
iPhone 7 Plus
5.5″ (16:9 ratio) = 12.9 in2
~9% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 158.2 mm (6.23 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 77.9 mm (3.07 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 188 g (6.63 oz) | 164 g (5.78 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP67 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Metal | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Gold, Red, Pink | White, Black, Blue, Green, Red |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-button | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Apple A10 Fusion | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2340 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 4 (2 + 2) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 2 cores at 1.05 GHz: Zephyr - 2 cores at 2.34 GHz: Hurricane |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm - 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 16 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | No | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | PowerVR Series7XT Plus | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 192 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 650 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~249.6 GFLOPS | ~654.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 4352 | 17099 |
| Single-core score | 882 | 1997 |
| Multi-core score | 1484 | 4665 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 211158 | 402035 |
| GPU | 99111 | 336490 |
| Memory | 75344 | 153915 |
| UX | 171500 | 449135 |
| Total score | 557113 | 1341575 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | [10 tests] |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 76% |
| Graphics test | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 13 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 7 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2651 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 66% | 74% |
| Graphics test | 3 FPS | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | 663 | 2155 |
Recent User Tests
Apple iPhone 7 Plus
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2025-08-15 (hellz1) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 4352 |
| 📘 2024-02-21 (Cap1bara_tech) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 882 / 1484 |
Apple iPhone 12
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-04 (Timur) | AnTuTu 11 | 1199214 |
| 📘 2026-06-26 (Hellomt) | AnTuTu 11 | 1334721 |
| 📘 2026-03-25 (🇷🇺010) | AnTuTu 11 | 1384982 |
| 📘 2026-03-23 (Roma) | AnTuTu 11 | 1326030 |
| 📘 2026-03-06 (RuL) | AnTuTu 11 | 1365684 |
Memory
| RAM size | 3 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4 | LPDDR4X |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 32 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | iOS 10 (Can be upgraded to iOS 15.8.5) | iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| OS size | 12.5 GB | 7 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 2900 mAh | 2815 mAh |
| Max charge power | 5 W | 18 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No (7.5 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Bypass charging | - | No |
| Fast charging | No | Yes (58% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 4:01 hr | 1:30 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:20 hr | 08:00 hr |
| Watching video | 10:24 hr | 12:09 hr |
| Gaming | 04:07 hr | 04:35 hr |
| Standby | 98 hr | 112 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 2x | Digital |
| Flash | Quad LED | Quad LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | - | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | 28 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Apple iSight Camera | Sony IMX372 |
| Sensor size | 1/3" (≈ 0.33 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.8 | - |
| Focal length | 56 mm | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
| Image resolution | - | 12 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | - | 13 mm |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Stabilization | - | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | - | 55 |
| Preview | - | 74 |
| Zoom | - | 60 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 7 Plus from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 7 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3088 x 2320 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 32 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | BSI CMOS | Sony IMX514 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | - |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 127 |
| Video | - | 140 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi Hotspot |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 4.2 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE, A2DP | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | No | No |
| USB version | 2 | - |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 12 | 18 |
| 5G support | No | 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 2016 | October 2020 |
| Release date | September 2016 | October 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $769 | $800 |
| Successor | - Apple iPhone 8 Plus | - Apple iPhone 17 |
| SAR (head) | 1.24 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- 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 12 is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 96