Picking the the Right-Sized iPhone: Not Letting Myself Get Taken Away by the 12 Pro Max FOMO
So, after a lot of back and forth this week, I decided to go with the iPhone 12 Pro over the 12 Pro Max. Right now, I am using the iPhone XS, which is a 5.8” screen and the iPhone 12 Pro is going to be bumping me up to a 6.1” screen. It was a really hard decision as somebody who loves to take photos on their iPhone that the iPhone 12 Pro Max is going to have a significantly larger sensor, but at the end of the day I had to just accept that I’m going to have to wait a few years to get the larger sensor in my right-sized iPhone. At the end of the day, I have been very happy with the one-handed size of the iPhone and with my current set-up of using multiple devices, an iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, and soon an iPhone Pro. I rather have the best form factor for me, even if it means that I have to wait for the next generation camera. I am still excited though; this is going to be a great upgrade for me. Here are the things I am excited about:
A14 Processor: This chipset looks like its going to be a nice upgrade. As I do more and more with my smartphone, having it serve as a hub for my Apple Watch, Smart home automations, working on the move, portable gaming machine, etc. I have noticed that my XS’s more limited RAM is becoming a problem. The extra RAM will be nice so that the processor has to do less work to shuttle apps back and forth from the SSD. The single core performance on the new processor is supposed to be a significant upgrade over my A12 processor so its going to be good now that we’re getting some high-end games on the iPhone such as Genshin Impact and the Apple Arcade titles.
Camera System: The iPhone 12 Pro has the same camera systema as the iPhone 11 Pro from last year, but with updates specs, including a better telephoto lens and ultrawide lens. I’ve had the telephoto for a few years ago and have come to find it useful, but I have been jealous of the iPhone 11’s ultra-wide lens because that’s simply something you cannot replicate digitally. Yeah, the Pro Max is going to be much better at low light, but the iPhone 11 Pro was no slouch last year with its highly touted night mode and sweater mode (Aka Deep Fusion). For me, the camera is going to be a nice bump and while it’s probably not going to be as earth-shattering as the Pro Max, I’m willing to wait a bit to have a phone that I can use with one hand
Battery Life: Apple made some nice battery life improvements with the 11 Pro last year with the chipset optimizations and its looking like I am going to benefit from that as well. An extra 2–3x hours of battery life would be greatly appreciated. I am sure this is going to be great for long days and Pokémon Go session
Screen: My iPhone is a very pocketable 5.8” and the iPhone 12 Pro is going to be a step up to a 6.1” screen, partly because of the smaller bezels and partly because a physically large body. I have played with my family’s iPhone XR’s over the last two years enough to appreciate the screen size difference between there phones and my iPhone. I always found the XR/11 to be the limit of what I am comfortable using with one hand and I think the iPhone 12 Pro is going to be the sweet spot for me. Also, there are practical considerations such as fitting the phone in my jean pockets, walking around campus replying to a message with 1x hand while carrying tech for others, and fitting in my cup holder in my car.
MagSafe: I am really excited about MagSafe. MagSafe on the Mac was one of the things that attracted me to the hardware, and I have always bemoaned them removing it from the Mac. I have also had a lot of issues lately with hitting the wireless charging sweet spot on my new Anker charging station. I really love how the magnet just snaps to the iPhone like the Apple Watch charger does. I really dig the Belkin 3-in-1 charging station and I may splurge this Christmas and get one. Its not as technologically cool as Airpower was supposed to be, but their presentation with the Apple Watch and iPhone just floating in the air like that looks awesome. I am really looking forward to what other accessories like car adapters, case, gimbles, etc. that other OEMs come up with. I feel like this is pathing the way for a port-less iPhone and I think I may be OK with this going forward since they are giving us something arguably cooler and really useful in exchange for taking away the Lightening port. They took away the headphone jack a few years ago and replaced it with AirPods and the U1 chip (And also sparked a huge amount of competition in the Bluetooth headphone market) and 4x years later I can say that I do not miss wired headphones. I have AirPods on the go, Bluetooth audio for my car (Hopefully CarPlay one day), and Airplay speakers in my home in the form of the HomePod.
So, overall, I know people are going to be really excited about the camera system in the iPhone 12 Pro Max, but I just couldn’t bring myself to deal with a surfboard of a phone and make every other experience in my daily life that much more awkward just to have tomorrow’s camera today. The rest of the iPhone is going to be such a big upgrade that I am okay with having to wait on the camera system until my next upgrade. I am getting a great power jump, a fantastic camera upgrade, MagSafe accessory options, better battery life, and a bigger screen. All things considered; I consider that one hell of an upgrade.
