Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max

Just to add a data point: my iPhone 12 Pro Max stands at 82% with optimised charging after 4 years. Not bad at all.

Unless you drop them very hard, cases are not needed anymore. Been using a Iphone 12 pro max for 4 years without a case, I don't even look twice and I drop it from the table.

I have a 12 Pro Max that I bought after years as an android user. This thing is almost 4 years old, I never used a case or any kind of protection. It has fallen from tables or slipped from my hand into hard tile floor too many times for me to count. Other than some slight chipping and scratches on the metal enclosure, nothing ever broke. I just assumed by now that waterproofing was caput because of all the falls and acted accordingly keeping it far even from splashes. Last weekend we had a party here at home, the whole family and friend at pool, barbecue and beer. I am in the pool, and "hey, someone dropped the phone in the pool, folks!". I retrieve, and it was my phone. Other than the annoying message that it couldn't charge because the charging port was wet until it got dry, no problems, so I think waterproofing is still working. Maybe I am lucky, but I had flagship Android phones that I paid as much for as I would pay for a flagship IPhone at the time, and none of them have been so durable, either I got a cracked screen, or didn't have updates anymore, or it got progressively slower around the 2 years mark. I think the only smartphone I had in my whole life as durable as this one was my Sony P910 that I got in 2004 only to replace it with a Motorola Cliq some 5 years later.

I’ve leveled with myself that this is the pace of future mobile device hardware releases. “Peak phone” has been a topic of discussion for a while now. Are we there yet? I think so. Apple has gotten a lot of flack for releasing “new” hardware and software features that aren’t really new or groundbreaking. I’m starting to see the genius in their planning. The slow trickle of improvements (I like how you call them “S revisions”) are for the sake of momentum, the long term survival of the company. Especially when Apple is already battling the longevity of their own products. I’m rounding off Year Two of my iPhone 12 Pro Max and will likely squeeze out a third year.

> Who is like, "damn I wish I had a tablet that I could fold up and still barely fit in my pocket"? Me. I get why people like small phones. But, I've have the iPhone Jumbo Huge edition for a long time now. I use my phone as a pocket tablet 10X more than as a phone. Looking at the Duo specs https://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/specs/ vs my current 12 Max Pro specs https://support.apple.com/en-us/111874 it looks like the differences I care about are 1) 1878 pixels over 4.64" vs. 1284 over 3.07" 2) Default camera mode is 48 MP vs 12. Other modes are surprisingly similar. 3) A much faster CPU I'm sure there are 1,000 more small differences. But, my 12 Jumbo Huge from late 2020 still runs great. If I were to upgrade, I'd get the Duo. We'll see how much longer I keep waiting, I guess.

iOS 26 runs surprisingly smooth on my iPhone 12 Pro Max though.

>it's an expensive power-hungry extra radio that doesn't work Yes, it requires more power. You have to consider power and the time the radio needs to be on to accomplish the task. If using mmWave you can transfer data at 2,000Mbps and using midband you achieve 500Mbps the baseband will be on for 4x the time with midband, and it will need to use less than 1/4th the power of mmWave to break even. Midband does not require 1/4th the power of mmWave. Closer to 1/2th. On 11/27/22 at 5:13pm I was in the St. Louis airport and ran a speed test on my iPhone 12 Pro Max. I was probably one of the first non-diagnostic users of their mmWave infrastructure and I must have been the only user at the time because I achieved a damn-near-practical-maximum of 3938Mbps down. The only reason I ran the speed test at all was that a notoriously sluggish web application I was using was performing spectacularly. Since then I have been running speed tests at concerts, sporting events, traffic jams, airports, shopping centers, and the Rennaissance Faire. All locations where, prior to 5G, cellular coverage was useless. On 10/13/24 at 1:14pm I was in a crowded terminal at Chicago O'Hare and ran a speed test on an iPhone 15 Pro Max. Connected via mmWave I achieved 1869Mbps down.

I’m sure Rossman has legitimate complaints that he can’t order thunderbolt controllers or whatever in bulk from Apple to conduct complex main board repairs in his repair shop, but the fact is that any repair that Apple themselves will perform at an Apple Store or service centre is performable at home with official Apple parts often with significant discounts over getting it done by Apple. I recently replaced an iPhone 12 Pro Max battery myself at home for £44 rather than the £85 Apple charges to do it for me. All I had to do was send them my old battery. No NDAs or sketchy agreements.

I am with you. I’m still on an iPhone 12 Pro Max. Not even Apple Intelligence is reason for me to upgrade and I use and pay for ChatGPT

I just replace the battery. I don’t treat my phones battery with kid gloves. That being said, the battery capacity of my iPhone 12 Pro Max bought when it was first introduced is still at 80%

> Speaking of accidental taps, when gripping the side of your phone to keep things stable, we found it too easy to accidentally tap buttons. I have this problem CONSTANTLY with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, not when filming, but when doing everyday tasks. Something about the edge of the phone is such that a bit of my palm goes over just enough of the screen to trigger gestures, and now the YouTube video I’m watching is double speed or something I’m reading scrolls to the top for no reason. I’m generally good about not dropping my phone (knock on wood) so I’d rather not get a case just to fix this weird touch sensitivity issue. As far as I recall this wasn’t an issue with my iPhone 12 Pro Max.

My iPhone 12 Pro Max looks pretty much brand new, despite never being in a case. I really wonder how much those cases really help these days

I never trusted/liked protective cases. Modern phones are already too big, and I feel like the added bulk makes it more likely that I will drop it. Having been using the same IPhone 12 Pro Max for a few years now without a case. It has survived quite a few falls from a table by now, no screen cracked, only some dents and scratches on the chassis.