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iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro….worth the upgrade?

22:02 video

Everybody’s getting an iPhone 15 Pro while you’re stuck with your old 12 Pro and wondering if it’s worth upgrading. I compared everything: design, cameras, displays and more.

Design

The iPhone 12 Pro was the first of the newer generation with flat, sharp edges, in shiny stainless steel that’s elegant but heavy, which led to many complaints about how it feels in the hand. I never had much of an issue. For the 15 Pro, Apple moved to titanium with a slightly matte, brushed finish and rounded edges, which does make it more comfortable. Between the lighter material and the smoother edges, it just feels better all around.

  • Both have the same frosted glass back, three cameras (main, ultra wide, zoom), and similar size; the 15 Pro is ever so slightly shorter and narrower.
  • It feels a lot lighter, but actual weight is nearly identical.
  • Fingerprints show on both, but far less on the matte titanium than the shiny steel.
  • The 12 Pro has the mute toggle and a physical SIM tray; the 15 Pro has the Action button and no SIM tray. I use mine as a press-and-hold camera button.
  • Lightning versus USB-C.

After three years, the 15 Pro still looks a lot like the 12 Pro, just more refined. One looks like jewelry and one like a refined tool.

Pitaka sponsored this video, with its MagEZ Case 4 and MagEZ Case 4 Pro. Both are made of aramid fibers like those used in aerospace, woven into a case Pitaka says is five times stronger and five times lighter than steel. The MagEZ 4 is the thinnest, lightest MagSafe aramid-fiber case, with a metal camera lip; the 4 Pro blends aramid fiber and TPU for more protection, with metal buttons and a front lip. Both have a smooth chamfered back edge and an NFC chip for verifying authenticity and getting wallpapers.

Displays

Both are 6.1-inch, 460 ppi OLED, with a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio.

  • Typical brightness: 800 nits (12 Pro) versus 1,000 nits (15 Pro).
  • Outdoors: 1,000 versus 2,000 nits.
  • HDR: 1,200 versus 1,600 nits.
  • ProMotion on the 15 Pro ramps from 120 Hz down to about 10 Hz, so scrolling is faster and video plays at its exact frame rate; the 12 Pro is stuck at 60 Hz. People argue about whether 120 Hz is needed. A 60 Hz display looks fine once you’re used to it, but I can see ProMotion and prefer it.
  • Dynamic Island: I didn’t use it much at first, but it’s there for flights, an Uber or a pizza delivery, and for controlling a podcast or timer. In full-screen content it’s actually more noticeable than the notch, because of the pixels on the other side of the island.

Performance

The 12 Pro has the A14 with 6 GB of memory and a 6-core CPU and 4-core GPU; the 15 Pro has the A17 Pro with 8 GB and a 6-core CPU and 6-core GPU.

Geekbench 6 12 Pro 15 Pro Gain
Single-core 2,065 2,952 about 43%
Multi-core 4,171 7,362 about 76%

The GPU gain was about 71%. But benchmarks don’t tell the whole story. Opening apps felt the same on both, and the 12 Pro sometimes opened apps faster. In Call of Duty Mobile at the highest settings, the 12 Pro ran smoothly with no lag, slowdowns or dropped frames. The real improvement may come later with ray tracing in more games, using less CPU and generating less heat.

I was surprised Apple didn’t limit USB-C on the 15 Pro: it uses the full speed of an SSD, with high read and write speeds, and connects monitors, speakers, microphones and more (see my separate video).

Speakers

It’s not your ears: the 12 Pro is actually a couple of dB louder than the 15 Pro, which I didn’t expect.

Battery

Apple says up to 17 hours of video playback for the 12 Pro and 23 hours for the 15 Pro, with new batteries. A two-year-old 12 Pro will be worse. Apple says the 15 Pro matches the 14 Pro, and I’ve gotten over 5½ hours of screen-on time and ended the day with 5–20% left. If your 12 Pro doesn’t last a day, it’s probably an aging battery.

Wireless

Bluetooth 5.0 versus 5.3, and Wi-Fi 6 versus Wi-Fi 6E. On my Wi-Fi 6E router and 10 Gb network, the 15 Pro averaged about 606 Mb/s and the 12 Pro about 576 Mb/s, so you won’t notice much. Both support gigabit LTE, and the 15 Pro has the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, for more precise tracking at longer distances.

Cameras

  • Ultra wide: 12 MP, f/2.4 (12 Pro) versus f/2.2 (15 Pro).
  • Main: 12 MP at f/1.6 (12 Pro) versus 48 MP at f/1.8 on the 15 Pro, producing 24 MP images with noticeably more detail when zoomed in.
  • Zoom: 2× at f/2.0 versus 3× at f/2.8, more reach. The 15 Pro also offers sensor crops at 24, 28, 35 and 48 mm (2×) without digital zoom’s quality loss.
  • Portraits: both find the outline of my head, with the 15 Pro sharper around it, and the 15 Pro captures depth automatically so you can change focus and aperture later.
  • Night mode: both do it. The 15 Pro also has macro (I use it for text on medicine bottles, bugs and splinters), and Pro RAW in 48 MP or 12 MP.
  • Video: both do 4K 60 with HDR and 1080p at 240 fps. The 15 Pro adds Cinematic mode, Action mode (insanely good stabilization) and ProRes Log.
  • Front camera: the same 12 MP on both, though the 15 Pro gets Cinematic mode and ProRes Log from it too.

Overall, a slight edge to the 15 Pro in detail, contrast and color.

Concerns you’ve heard

  • Heat: I haven’t had any with the 15 Pro, Pro Max or Plus. Reports suggest software, like Instagram’s background refresh, and Apple is addressing it in an update; disabling background refresh seems to fix it.
  • Fingerprints on titanium: sure, but there are far more on the 12 Pro’s stainless steel. The blue shows more, as dark colors do.
  • Durability: the JerryRigEverything bend test aside, don’t bend your iPhone, and most people will use a case, which adds rigidity. If you go caseless, consider AppleCare for a while.

Should you upgrade?

Good reasons: a great carrier deal (a free or very cheap trade-in is a no-brainer), poor battery life, or the camera. The camera is the reason I upgrade every year: I get one shot at my daughter doing something funny, and I want the best camera that fits in my pocket.

If your battery’s fine, performance doesn’t suffer, and you don’t care about the latest camera, there’s no reason to upgrade; even with battery trouble you could just replace the battery and go another two or three years. USB-C isn’t a reason either; you can connect more things, but will you? Probably not.

In this video

  • 0:00 design and action button
  • 5:12 display
  • 7:44 CPU and performance
  • 9:58 USB-C and speakers
  • 11:33 battery
  • 12:39 wifi, bluetooth and ultra Wideband
  • 14:12 cameras!
  • 18:06 iPhone 15 “controversies”
  • 19:45 should you upgrade?

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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