Looking to upgrade my 6s, potentially in my price range is the 11 and the 12. Why one over the other? AND what about the Pro versions… so what does Pro get me for either model?
12 > 11 so will last longer in theory (mainly because it has a processor that’s more modern by one generation). I can’t remember the specifics of the 12 Pro but the main differences tend to be that it gets you a better camera and more boring colour choices.
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The 11 was an incremental upgrade from the XS and XR, especially in display terms. The 12 was a substantial jump up in display quality.
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I agree with the previous comments. If you find an iPhone 11 and an iPhone 12 in the same price range (say within ~$50 for the same amount of storage), you should go for the 12.
The 12 will feel faster than the 11 and perhaps will get a year more of support than the 11. (In contrast, I think it is very hard for a casual user to notice a performance difference between an iPhone 12 and an iPhone 13.)
When they were new, the 11 counterintuitively had better battery life than the 12, but that advantage may have vanished now that the batteries are several years old. Simply because of age, there probably is a greater likelihood that an iPhone 11 will need a battery replacement than an iPhone 12, but both models are old enough that the odds are high that you will need a new battery for either within a year or two regardless of your choice.
As others have said, the Pro models have better cameras than the non-Pro models. They also have higher maximum storage capacities, e.g., 512 GB for the Pro models vs 256 GB for the “standard” models.
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Thanks all, that was exactly what I was looking for… anyone else, feel free to chime in.
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You can use this comparison tool from Apple. The link is preconfigured for your 6s, 11 and 12, but change as needed.
https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/?modelList=iphone-6s,iphone-11,iphone-12
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Wow, had no idea something like that exists, even for models they consider 100% dead to them. Thanks… now my problem is looking for good deals as I am very tight financially. The first one I looked at had a huge number of specific complaints filed with the BBB.
I think the main factor there was that the 12 added 5G support; the 5G modem is much more power-hungry. I rarely need 5G, and there’s an option in Settings to restrict it to 4G to save power. (There’s also an automatic setting which dynamically enable 5G based on activity.) I leave it off almost all the time.
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The 12 along with 5G also had a much higher resolution and brighter screen. I would imagine that could also increase power draw even when 5G was switched off (or not in use by the network).
And Apple says so (at least on the iOS 17 settings page):
But this surprises me. One of the technical advantages of the 5G-NR radio technology is that it uses less power than 4G-LTE. But maybe Apple’s chipsets also allow boosting the gain higher than their LTE modems in order to connect to more distant towers.
Or maybe it’s because 5G chipsets typically use two radios at once - one in the FR2 (“millimeter wave”, aka “ultra wideband”, “ultra capacity”, etc.) range and one in the FR1 (aka “sub-six” because most of these bands are below 6 GHz) range. Even if you are out of range of any towers offering FR2 connections, your phone will probably keep that radio active so it can connect to one when it becomes available
Surprisingly, there’s no option (that I know of) to turn off 5G millimeter wave without disabling 5G altogether.
That would be my guess WRT higher power drain.
It was widely reported at the time that the power draw of the radio circuitry Apple used on its entry to 5G with the iPhone 12 (Qualcomm X55) was higher than on the previous iPhone 11. Only once the iPhone 13 rolled in with its improved X60, it was reported that the power draw of the 5G circuitry Apple was using had once again returned to previous (“4G”, “LTE”) levels observed up to the iPhone 11 (read: Intel’s XMM 7660).
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After a suitable amount of back and forth in my head I went with the 12. Friend turned me onto Woot and I found a great refurb bargain. Friend turned me on to Woot (Amazon company). I really could care less about 5G, I make VERY few outgoing calls… and take in very few calls. My intentions are:
- getting out of being stuck at 15.x iOS (my password manager just locked me out, sez I must have 16 min)
- portable music player when I am out and about
- uses my smart ring to its fullest (some of its functions depends on the phone’s GPS)
- more storage to load more of my music onto it
Started another thread about dealing with music given what I have (2010 cMP, running HS due to GTX 980 GPU).
Thing that has me at the edge of my seat is that it’s an unlocked phone so my carrier SHOULD take it (Tracfone). I know they sell 11s and I think a 12. BUT the fat lady won’t utter a note until I get the phone and have the IMEI to tell Tracfone about and they tell me it’s good to go. I know there are other possible options, but the deal I have going costs me $60/year and I have over 5k minutes and 6k texts on my account.
Again, thanks for the advice & discussion.
They’re still selling the SE. Mine is going on five years old. I’m just hoping they’re still selling it when I’m ready to replace. I don’t need all those fancy bells and whistles.
Aren’t they just about coming out with an updated SE?