Most iPhone owners don’t upgrade every year. If history is any indication, there will be a lot of iPhone 12 Pro Max owners looking to upgrade to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Here’s what has changed to the top model in three years.
Most iPhone owners don’t upgrade every year. If history is any indication, there will be a lot of iPhone 12 Pro Max owners looking to upgrade to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Here’s what has changed to the top model in three years.
The amount of time an iPhone owner waits between upgrades is lengthening, with surveys pointing to a three-year wait between purchases. That’s up from the previous typical upgrade cycle of every two years.
Under a three-year cycle, that would mean owners of the iPhone 12 collection will be seeking out replacement devices. For the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the obvious upgrade is to the modern-day equivalent, the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
A lot of change can happen over three years. Here’s what those iPhone 12 Pro Max owners will discover when they compare their daily driver against Apple’s top-of-the-range option.
iPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 12 Pro Max – SpecificationsiPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 12 Pro Max – Physical Dimensions
The first thing that should strike the iPhone 12 Pro Max owner is that there’s not really that much difference in the physical nature of the two devices. They are similarly styled, with a glass sandwich around a central metal chassis, and a glass camera bump with the lenses all in the same place.
But even here, there are subtle changes.
For a start, the materials used to make the smartphones has changed, with the 12 using a Stainless Steel chassis while the 15 has a Titanium version. There’s also the side Ring/Silent switch on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which has been switched out for the multi-functional Action Button for the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
At the bottom, the Lightning port from the 12 has been switched out for the 15’s USB-C.
Looking at the dimensions, the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a larger footprint than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, at 6.33 inches tall by 3.07 inches wide versus 6.29 inches by 3.02 inches. Apple did say that it had worked on shrinking the chassis of the iPhone 15 Pro Max without cutting the screen size down.
The thickness is also on the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s side, with it being a svelte 0.29 inches thin, against the latest model’s 0.32-inch thickness.
The Titanium comes into play with weight, with the older model at 8.03 ounces to the modern 7.81 ounces.
These are all small externally-visible changes, but it’s the components that count more.
iPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 12 Pro Max – Displays
Apple hasn’t changed the physical size of the 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR display over the years, but it has made some changes to the component.
Firstly, there’s a tiny bit more resolution on the latest edition, at 2,796 by 1,290 pixels versus 2,778 by 1,284 pixels on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. That’s a change from a pixel density of 458 pixels per inch to 460ppi.
Another missing feature on the older model is the Dynamic Island, Apple’s answer to the ever-complained-about notch that sits at the top of the three-year-old smartphone. That’s before you bring in ProMotion, which Apple introduced in the iPhone 13 Pro models, and continues to use in its latest Pro releases.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is also equipped with an always-on display, which the iPhone 12 Pro Max simply doesn’t have.
Other elements continue to be present in both models, such as HDR support, Wide Color (P3), Haptic Touch, True Tone, and a 2 million to one contrast ratio.
Then there’s brightness. The iPhone 12 Pro manages 800 nits of typical brightness, and 1,200 nits for peak brightness for HDR content.
These are high figures, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max now handles 1,000 nits of max brightness for typical usage and 1,600 nits of peak HDR brightness. It even goes up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness for outdoor usage.
Suffice it to say, Apple did a lot with the display while still keeping it looking similar to its older counterpart.
iPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 12 Pro Max – Cameras
The camera arrangement hasn’t changed for the Pro Max line in three years. But the cameras certainly have.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max has three LiDAR-assisted 12-megapixel cameras, with an f/1.6 aperture Main, f/2.4 aperture Ultra Wide, and an f/2.2 aperture Telephoto.
