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Phones · Apple iPhone

Apple iPhone 12 Pro

24owners with an opinion
79%of verdicts positive
12/4positive/negative since 2024
5 yrslongest happy owner
2happy after 3+ years

Praised for reliability and durability; criticized for performance and software.

What owners wrote

Doesn’t like itOwned 5 years
If you've never used an iPhone near it's storage limit, I wouldn't wish it on you. Performance nosedives, then it starts bootlooping randomly, and eventually you can't even delete stuff because there's no space to delete things. You resort to randomly trying to remove apps, but sometimes that fails because of the stability issues. - The only reason I replaced my 12 Pro was storage, and I made up my mind never to skimp on storage again. That phone lasted me 5 years and could easily have gone several more, so I see it as an extremely cheap investment across the lifetime of the phone.
Likes itOwned 5 yearsStill going
I have a 12 Pro, I am definitely going to be upgrading, I've had my phone for 5 years now (since 2020) that's actually longer than I've owned any other cell phone without upgrading. I think I could probably squeeze more life out of my phone, but the 17 has a nicer camera, me and my wife are noticing our relatives with newer iPhones have photographs that look slightly (I meant to write NOTICEABLY here) better. As we raise our first child, having a quality camera is definitely important to us. I was really tempted by the iPhone Air, but the Pro has better camera features. I am actually really excited to see what they will do for the iPads. If they release a thin iPac Mini similar to the iPhone Air, I would immediately buy it. I am not usually a fan of thin, but something in me has always wanted a thin iPad Mini, not sure why, but I'm waiting for it still. Great demo, the most impressive demo had to have been the Airpod Pros translation piece. Edit: Needed to annotate that I wrote 'slightly better' but its not just slightly, we both visually noticed a different in quality. One last note, the 12 Pro was my first iPhone ever. I was on Android since 2009, every Android I had lasted about 2 years. My last one probably would have lasted me 5 years but I was tired and wanted a change at my 2 year mark. I have not regretted my decision to date.
Likes itOwned 3 yearsStill going
Shit like this is why I went full Apple after using android for 10 years or so. You pay a premium for Apple products but at least you get the proper support and build quality. I have an iPhone 12 Pro that’s coming up on 3 years. I have zero desire to upgrade it and I have feeling it’ll last at least another 3 years.
Recommends it
Upgrading the battery on my iPhone 12 Pro has been a fucking revelation. I just don't run out of battery any more. I'm sure Apple was telling me it was only 20% degraded or something too, but I would strongly, strongly recommend this if thinking about battery life is currently an issue for you.
Neutral
I tried the Samsung one with the same form factor in a store , and that is pretty nice. As someone traveling via plane or train, I can easily see myself using this and not carrying my tablet with me. However, just too expensive for my taste. I get a lot of new batteries for my current 12 pro for that price .
Doesn’t like it
Their problem is that it looks great and all, but there's just zero reason to upgrade my M2 MBA -- until I'm forced to install Tahoe. When it's time to buy, I'll grab one of these or whatever's latest, I'm sure, and I'll get another Mac without thinking twice about it, but I'm not even sure I'd notice the giant speed difference? I did get tricked into putting Tahoe (or whatever the iOS version is called) on my iPhone 12 Pro though, and my phone is now sluggish and sad, so I am going to have to upgrade it, which I'm carrying quite a lot of resentment about. Hoping I can hold off until the fold phone.
Doesn’t like it
I have a fun one: my iPhone (12 Pro) refuses to acknowledge that it has eSIM functionality, even though the hardware exists. I'm fairly sure I know what the problem is! It was restored from a backup taken on an iPhone X that had two physical SIM slots (Chinese version). The new phone now seems to think it has two physical SIM slots: it shows an IMEI2 in About, but any attempt to use the eSIM functionality just fails (scanning a code does "nothing"; no "add" button is visible, etc.). If this was an Android phone, I'd root it and just fix the offending network configuration file. I believe it's possible to tamper with a backup of the phone to fix the issue, but this would mean a full backup+restore cycle and some specialized tooling to go mucking with the backup. I filed a Radar on it ages ago, but I'm assuming nobody ever picked it up.
Likes it
That's been the case for several years now. Gone caseless with iPhone X, 12, and 13 Pros for years now and have gotten some scratches to the sides and a small crack on the back glass here or there, but no significant screen scratches or breaks. Some scuffing around the edges is it. Last time I broke the front screen of a phone was an HTC Evo.
Likes it
I don't get why Apple doesn't do consistent colors. I loved the blue of my iPhone 12 Pro, but I can't even get that anymore... I would have upgraded a few generatiosn back if they had kept consistent colors.
Likes itStill going
I still have my iPhone 12 Pro that I preordered and got in release day and it still does everything I can ask of it, though the latest Call of Duty runs a bit slow, which is making me want to upgrade. Them not releasing a smart Siri that answers to more than just basic prompts is really hurting them and I can see why investors sued them. There's no reason for me to have to use ChatGPT on an iPhone, I should be able to talk to Siri like she's an actual personal assistant and not just an easier way to check the weather and set a timer.
Doesn’t like it
In my own experience, I have noticed that Apple's software 'breaks' more on older hardware, be that Mac's, iPhones or iPads. For all the credit apple gets for supporting older devices, those devices are definitely not treated as first class citizens. For example, the touch keyboard on my (work) iPhone 12 Pro works decidedly worse than on my (private) iPhone 16 Pro. The error rate is much worse, and I believe it's due to the amount of useless features that get added with each new installment of iOS. Whether that's intentional or not (I believe it is), Apple should focus more on delivering a stable experience, on both new and old devices. I echo the sentiment a lot of people have already expressed. That is, using Apple products is like being a junkie. You need to use their products because there is no real alternative, but you feel kind of dirty because of their practices.To me, that sounds like it should be a huge red flag for Apple execs.
Likes it
I do have my phone in an apple silicone case, and a cheap screen protector. However, my previous phone a 12 pro in the same setup survived flying out of my pocket at 65 mph on a motorcycle with 0 damage. (I think it got very lucky, and landed flat, screen side down, where the edges of the case somehow protected it). Thankfully it narrowly avoided being run over by a car when I turned around to find it. I’ve been amazed at what iPhones after the 6 have been able to survive. My 7 which I have kept as a backup is still kicking except for the camera being destroyed by vibration. However, I do keep my phone in a back pocket usually and mostly take it out of my pocket if I sit down.
Likes it
This is great, and most of the comments here seem to either miss the days of the StarTAC _or_ would gladly enjoy a physically bigger device. So, I can now change the battery on my iPhone 12 Pro _and_ reset its status in the Settings->Battery field, which is great. I already have all of the tools apart from the Apple specific ones, which to be fair are very useful for someone that does this everyday, I don't - so I can replace them with manual alternatives. Apple did the good thing and y'all still act like children.
Doesn’t like it
My personal upgrade cycle has been every 4 or so years for the last few iPhones. You really don't need to upgrade more often. I'm on a 12 Pro and I only want to upgrade to get more memory and faster processors. My current phone easily pages apps out of memory too often these days and it gets a bit tiring. Also, I already replaced the battery once after 1.5 years and the current battery is already back to about the same health/capacity as the first one was in the same amount of time.
Likes it
I’ve have photos on this phone (12 pro) dating back to 2012 through a series of iPhones. The pictures they take when you press the button have gotten better and better. That’s not even considering the live photos, which are a new thing entirely. Maybe this is the upgrade cycle it’ll flatten out, but I sort of doubt it.
Neutral
I have a 12 Pro and was thinking I'd upgrade. Usually I'd opt for the Pro tier but this cycle I think I'll actually go for the regular 16. There just doesn't seem to be enough there for someone like me. Which is maybe the point? I liked having the better camera system but these days they show all this extra stuff I don't use my phone camera for anyway. I have a Sony a7iii for the fancy stuff.
Likes it
If we focus on compute, the cores in the A14/M1 are excellent still, even in terms of efficiency. Mine holds up excellently. The iPhone 12’s 4GB RAM (6 on Pro) is its bottleneck. The reason nearly no one wants the iPhone 12 is due to marketing, preferring to buy from Apple, and the 14’s new design, plus 13’s bigger batteries and 13 Pro’s 120Hz. I sold a refurbished 12 Pro to a friend for very cheap and it should do well for a long time.
Likes it
On the other hand, every Apple device I’ve had has been usable for longer (and mostly with no repair) than the non-Apple laptops or phones I’ve had. For example, my old MacBook Pro was from mid-2015, I only replaced it with a new M2 Pro early last year - it was my primary machine for almost eight years, with just one battery replacement. The current iPhone I’m writing this on is from late 2020 (12 Pro) and still in fine working condition, I can’t see myself having any reason to upgrade this year.
Neutral
This actually kind of happened to me. My iPhone 12 Pro was stolen out of my hands last year in July. I had an Apple watch, but decided to replace the iPhone with a Pixel 7 Pro [1] since it was a bit cheaper than replacing the iPhone and I didn't have a job, and as a result my watch didn't work. Initially I was happy enough to use a dumb analog watch, but shortly after this happened, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and wanted something that would track sleep. I ended up getting a Garmin Instinct (per a recommendation on HN actually). I gotta admit that it would have been pretty nice to not have been forced to buy a new smartwatch, and just use the one I already had. I love the Garmin Instinct, more than I liked the Apple Watch [2], it's a very good, well-made product, and I'm happy that it appears to work fine on iOS and Android, but I really didn't need another watch. If there hadn't been an artificial limitation forcing me to get another watch, I would probably still be using the Apple Watch. [1] I don't have that phone anymore because the Pixel 7 Pro is a horrible product that Google should be ashamed of themselves over. [2] In no small part because the battery is like 16 days instead of the 1.5 days I was getting with the Apple Watch.
Likes it
This is a good time to upgrade. The X->15 transition is worth it. My 12 Pro (upg from 6S) is still perfectly adequate -- there's nothing I miss. Keep your X and use it as a webcam. I recommend using Camo, but you can just use Apple's built-in software for this.
Likes it
Yes. My 'normal' camera kit for a wildlife shoot is now my Nikon D850 + 200-500mm lens and my iPhone 12 Pro. The iPhone is great for capturing snaps of people, nice locations, etc, during the shoot although if I was doing a dedicated non-wildlife shoot I'd pack alt lenses for the D850. I think the iPhone is actually better for capturing casual video and I use LumaFusion to give myself an on-phone video editing capability that is comparable with (say) Premier Elements. Again, if was shooting wildlife video I'd pack a tripod and a dedicated video head, but this is a massive weight commitment.
Likes itHasn’t owned it
I hope Ternus can turn this ship. Apple wasted the last 5 years without any significant innovation/revolution or even without significant evolution. No groundbreaking change from iphone 12 pro in current iphone 17 pro. Before we had many groundbreaking features that redefined how you use smarphone: - gps - flashlight (yes everybody with flashlight in the pocket!) - front selfie camera + video calls - compass + accelerometer + gyroscope - good wide and ultrawide (video) camera - nfc + apple pay - fingerprint / faceid - esim - magsafe Now you can have iphone 12 pro and don't miss much from iphone 17 pro.