The only real question we have here is whether you’ll want HDR on a phone screen – yes, the color reproduction and contrast ratios (the difference between the brightest and the darkest points) is excellent, but in HDR mode some detail can get lost in the ‘majesty’ of the display. While 5G might be the headline spec for many people looking at the iPhone 12, there’s something else added to 2020’s iPhone that actually has us a little more excited.

iPhone 12 review: a small phone with big potential | TechRadar iPhone 12 review: a small phone with big potential | TechRadar

If we saw such innovation with the Motorola range, imagine what will happen with a similar system that’s on some of the world’s most popular phones. In our video rundown test, playing a Full HD video for 90 minutes on loop, we found that the iPhone 12 only lost 8% of its battery, which is up there with some of the best battery life we've seen from an iPhone – but in day to day use we’re not seeing huge performance gains in terms of battery life. However, for the most part, and even with a small amount of motion from time to time, Night Mode brings a level of detail to night scenes that you would have scarcely thought possible.

But a look at what was achieved with Moto Mods gives us an idea of what we can hope to see from MagSafe: there was a snap-on games controller, a mini projector, an instant photo printer, and a whole new Hasselblad camera accessory that added a huge sensor to your phone. We haven't performed any drop tests on our units - mostly because we need them to keep reviewing throughout the year - but it seems clear there's an improvement with the material on the front of the iPhone 12.

iPhone 12 (Blue, 128 GB) - Flipkart APPLE iPhone 12 (Blue, 128 GB) - Flipkart

It’s also designed to make the rear of the phone twice as likely to survive a drop, even though it’s using the same glass as on the iPhone 11. But with Motorola’s phones not seeing the widespread adoption the iPhone enjoys, there wasn’t the takeup from third-party accessory makers that this cool idea deserved, and the feature has been quietly discontinued.While in the past it’s been easy to criticize Apple for not putting the best display technology in its phones, there’s very little to fault about the new iPhone 12’s screen. The new (to iPhones) MagSafe connector on the rear of the iPhone 12 is a really interesting proposition – this magnetic connection tech not only enables you to attach things to your phone, such as a charger or a case, but can also tell what's been connected through a special chip. If you're a fan of video, that's also been into the shop and given a performance boost. Apple has made a huge deal about the fact that its iPhone 12 range can record video in Dolby Vision on the fly, and can also process it before displaying it in HDR (high dynamic range) quality on the display.

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The results are genuinely startling, with shots taken in complete darkness looking as clear as day – literally. You need to get your framing right and keep the camera very still, though; you’ll find that a degree of blur will creep in if you jiggle the camera too much during the exposure. The difference is noticeable, especially when it comes to viewing photos, videos and movies encoded in HDR. The results do bear out the claim – low light performance is improved a touch, for brighter shots with more detail. If you think the 5G advantage is all about speed though, you’d be wrong. In one test we had one iPhone connected to 4G in central London, and tried to connect to Spotify to stream some music while on a run. Would it connect? Nope. Apple's clearly done some work here to ensure that things aren’t quite so, well, dire when it comes to power management, and in our time with the iPhone 12 we found that it lasted well enough on a full charge, especially compared to iPhones of a few years earlier. That said, it’s not another leap forward in battery life - it’s comparable to the iPhone 11 at best, and maybe a tiny bit worse.The A14 Bionic chipset at the heart of the iPhone is promised to be more power-efficient than before, while still achieving some of the best performance stats of any phone on the market. It’s an interesting design change from Apple, and one wonders if it’s been done to enable a stronger 5G signal (there is a small gap for the mmWave version in the US). That means we could see some cool clip-on accessories like games controllers, photo printers and huge extra batteries coming soon. If these MagSafe mounts turning your iPhone 12 into a proper camera are anything to go by, the sky's the limit.

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The camera setup on the iPhone 12 doesn’t appear to be much of an upgrade when you just look at the sensors – there's still the same wide camera (which most would call the regular sensor), and the ultra-wide snapper that allows you to zoom out when you want to get more scenery, or more people, in the frame. The performance of the iPhone 12 has been upgraded once again: the A14 Bionic chipset is the most powerful in any smartphone, and the benchmarks bear that out as it annihilates the competition - and weirdly, doesn't get outperformed by the theoretically more powerful iPhone 12 Pro. While we’re going to go into the more nuanced upgrades in the iPhone 12 compared to previous models later in this review, there are two key changes for 2020's model that will likely attract your attention. The iPhone 12’s display is a big step forward for a phone of this price – while 2019 Apple decided that fancy, high-contrast OLED displays were only for those willing to shell out for the Pro, now the Super Retina XDR Display has been brought to the cheaper iPhone 12. The iPhone 12 release date was October 23, 2020, so the phone has been out a while but you're able to buy it directly from Apple as well as a variety of retailers. The phone's sibling - the iPhone 12 mini - wasn't available until a few months later, but it's still available.You're also only able to record at 30fps in 4K, so if you want to make the most of Dolby Vision you'll be better off plumping for the iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max, which can handle it at up to 60fps, resulting in more buttery-smooth video for your home-made (or professionally-made) movies. In our lab tests, we certainly saw that the iPhone 12 battery life is compromised by the addition of 5G, lasting around 15-20% less time on the faster network in our rundown test. The latest iFixit teardown test also found that the iPhone design has has to shrink the battery to make way for that 5G modem - so that addition of 5G has come at a fairly hefty cost to the longevity of the iPhone 12. If you’ve had iPhones for a fair few years you’ll instantly be reminded of the feeling of using an iPhone 4 or 5, both of which had similarly squared sides, but the larger phone does push it into the hands a touch more.