The biggest and the smallest: iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Mini at your fingertips

The larger and smaller models of the iPhone 12 series, namely iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Mini, will be on sale soon. Our Chinese version Engadget is also the first to have these two phones, to share with readers and friends the practical experience of this new generation of iPhone with two extremes.

The biggest difference in appearance between the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the iPhone 12 Mini is size – the former is the largest in iPhone history, and the latter is a surprisingly small platform. Specifically, the screen size of the iPhone 12 Pro Max has increased by 0.2 inches over the previous generation, reaching the level of 6.7 inches, but the body thickness is only 7.4mm and it weighs only 226. g, so friends who upgrade from the previous generation probably won’t I think the grip is very different. Also because the iPhone 12 Pro Max has to be dual-handheld, I believe there will be less chance of encountering the problem of being pressed by the center frame at a right angle when the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro come out. operated with one hand.

The iPhone 12 mini on the other side is an ultra-mini phone and looks like the iPhone 4 of the year. Compared to last year’s iPhone SE 2 with a 4.7-inch screen (pictured below), the iPhone 12 Mini has a smaller body, but the screen got bigger thanks to the full-screen design, reaching the 5.4 in. At the same time, the specifications of the iPhone 12 Mini are the same as those of the iPhone 12. It uses the A14 Bionic processor and Super Retina XDR screen, so this is also a rare 5G mini flagship phone on the market.

Besides the size, the specifications of the iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Mini are obviously very different. Although the two phones are also iPhone 5G, equipped with A14 Bionic processors and support MagSafe, the iPhone 12 Mini’s camera is a normal 12MP wide-angle + ultra-wide-angle dual camera combination, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the system combination. More powerful triple camera pro. Expected. In addition, the iPhone 12 Mini also has only one SIM card slot.If you need to use two cards, you can only choose eSIM.

Although the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s triple camera remains at 12MP, the lens and CMOS have evolved considerably. Except for the ultra wide-angle camera with the same specifications, both the wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle cameras have been significantly improved. The first is the most commonly used wide-angle camera. It not only uses the new 7P lens design like iPhone 12 Pro, but the pixel size is also 1.7μm, which can absorb more light and bring clearer and sharper images. There is also an anti-shake function of the optical moving image of the sensor.This is a reference to the design of a digital camera to compensate for image flickering by shifting CMOS, and the anti-shake effect will be more detailed and natural . The telephoto lens is replaced by a longer focal length, equivalent to a 65mm telephoto lens, which equates to a 2.5x optical zoom effect, which can see farther than the 12 Pro’s 2x optical zoom.

In addition to the camera, when I tested the iPhone 12 Pro Max, I was particularly concerned about the battery life. As mentioned in the previous iPhone 12 Pro evaluation, the 5G battery life is very short and won’t last a day. Coming to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which is supposed to have a larger battery, the hours of use have increased significantly. The editor was using the machine directly at noon and it had about 80% battery, so I kept taking pictures, scrolling through Facebook, watching YouTube, etc. And I deliberately didn’t connect to Wi-Fi, all over 5G. As a result, there is still about 30% of electricity at night, and after I wake up in the morning, I will use it for a while before reaching 20% ​​red. That’s right, it’s just that amount of electricity.

Finally, let’s take a look at the newly purchased MagSafe leather wallet, which is also an accessory I can’t wait to make myself. Just like some small cell phone wallets on the market, the card can be stored and glued to the back of the phone, but the Apple family uses magnetic pull to fix it instead of ordinary pasting.

MagSafe leather wallets are made of genuine leather like Apple’s other leather products, so they are quite durable and have solid workmanship. Its width is similar to that of the iPhone 12 Mini (above) and it fits perfectly after installation and hides in the arch of the palm of your hand when you hold the phone.

Previously, foreign media claimed that MagSafe’s magnetic pull was insufficient, making it easy to drop the leather wallet when the iPhone 12 was stowed in the trouser pocket. The editor also tested in the previous evaluation, MagSafe’s magnetic pull isn’t really great, which probably serves to balance the suction and facilitate the user removal experience. At the same time, since the magnetic attraction force occurs only in the vertical direction, the lateral force, that is, if it is taken from the side, the leather wallet will be released. Therefore, friends who use MagSafe leather wallets should pay special attention that the accessory is locked when storing the iPhone, otherwise there is a possibility of losing it.

Generally speaking, iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Mini cater to two extreme groups: those who like big screen phones and the strongest setup and those who like small phones but don’t want to sacrifice too much performance, so they aren’t like before. The iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 twins are hard to choose.