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Camera Comparison: Apple iPhone 12 Pro vs iPhone 11 Pro

How big are the differences between the iPhone 11 Pro's and 12 Pro's cameras?
How big are the differences between the iPhone 11 Pro's and 12 Pro's cameras?
Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro has finally arrived, and it does everything better. How well does, for example, the camera perform? And how much better is it than last year’s iPhone 11 Pro’s? Do the minor differences found on the spec sheet really justify switching? Let’s find out!

Beim Ultraweitwinkel kommt das neue Modell ohne chromatische Aberrationen an den Gebäudekanten aus und bleibt auch zu den Bildrändern hin ein wenig schärfer. 

According to the spec sheet the Apple iPhone 12 Pro only features a handful of improvements over its predecessor. Among others, the triple-camera is now supported by a LiDAR sensor supposed to assist the autofocus in low-light situations. It also collects additional depth-of-field information for improved portrait photos. The main 26-mm wide-angle camera features a slightly improved aperture of f/1.6, and the ultra-wide angle and telephoto lens remained practically unchanged.

During our tests, the new iPhone’s wide-angle camera turned out to create more balanced photos and performed better in situations with backlight, see our palace photo. It lacks the 11 Pro’s slight haze, and the sky turned out to be more pronounced and richer in contrast than on the iPhone 11 Pro.

Macro performance was almost identical to the 11 Pro. The only difference you may notice is ever so slightly bokeh.

The ultra-wide angle photos taken with the 12 Pro lacked the chromatic aberrations usually found along the edges of buildings, and photos remained a tad sharper towards the edges and corners.

Image Comparison

Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.

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Both Apple smartphones come with a 2x optical zoom and a 10x digital zoom. In both cases the iPhone 12 Pro produced a slightly better and clearer image albeit zoom quality remains in need of improvement.

In low-light situations the iPhone 11 Pro’s photos turned out brighter. In return, the iPhone 12 Pro produced photos richer in detail and a more fitting overall atmosphere. When using the optional night mode, the iPhone 12 Pro’s photos were slightly brighter with a finer grain.

Image Comparison

Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.

Zoom (5-fach)Zoom (10-fach)Low-LightNachtmodus
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All things considered the Apple iPhone 12 Pro produced better images in all cases. More often than not the differences are very minor. That said those who insist on top quality are unlikely to be using a smartphone camera anyway. If you already own an iPhone 11 Pro you may find that the improved camera quality is not enough to make you switch. If, however, you use an older iPhone it may turn out to be rather enticing.

iPhone 11 Pro (green) and iPhone 12 Pro (blue) cameras
iPhone 11 Pro (green) and iPhone 12 Pro (blue) cameras
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Camera Comparison: Apple iPhone 12 Pro vs iPhone 11 Pro
Daniel Schmidt, 2020-11-18 (Update: 2020-11-18)