Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 12
83
out of 100
VS
60
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max (with Apple A17 Pro) that was released on September 12, 2023, against the Apple iPhone 12, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 2 years and 11 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
- The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
- Delivers 176% higher peak brightness (1772 against 643 nits)
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Comes with 1626 mAh larger battery capacity: 4441 vs 2815 mAh
- Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
- Shows 49% longer battery life (31:37 vs 21:15 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
- Modern USB Type-C port
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
- The phone is 2 years and 11 months newer
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12
- Weighs 57 grams less
- Better grip in hands – the body is 5.2 mm narrower
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.7 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1290 x 2796 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 460 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 2000 nits | 625 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1600 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, Dolby Vision | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.8% | 87.1% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.8% | 99.4% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 226 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 16 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
iPhone 15 Pro Max
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
iPhone 12
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~20% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 159.9 mm (6.3 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 76.7 mm (3.02 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.25 mm (0.32 inches) | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 221 g (7.8 oz) | 164 g (5.78 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Silver, Blue | White, Black, Blue, Green, Red |
| Fingerprint scanner | No | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Apple A17 Pro | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Max clock | 3780 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 6 (2 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2.11 GHz: Sawtooth - 2 cores at 3.78 GHz: Everest |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm - 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 3 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Apple Neural Engine | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | 6 core Apple GPU | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 768 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 1398 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2147.2 GFLOPS | ~654.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 28374 | 17099 |
| Single-core score | 2974 | 1997 |
| Multi-core score | 7533 | 4665 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 374357 | 402035 |
| GPU | 463612 | 336490 |
| Memory | 184670 | 153915 |
| UX | 444831 | 449135 |
| Total score | 1467470 | 1341575 |
| Samples | [7 tests] | [10 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 71% | - |
| Graphics test | 10 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 1391 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 73% | 76% |
| Graphics test | 23 FPS | 10 FPS |
| Section 1 | 29 FPS | 13 FPS |
| Section 2 | 23 FPS | 10 FPS |
| Section 3 | 16 FPS | 7 FPS |
| Graphics score | 6089 | 2651 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 63% | 74% |
| Graphics test | 21 FPS | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | 3655 | 2155 |
Recent User Tests
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-01 (Zabza) | AnTuTu 11 | 1996792 |
| 📘 2026-09-28 (Kuan.28) | AnTuTu 11 | 1752198 |
| 📘 2026-09-23 (podsolnuh) | AnTuTu 11 | 1357765 |
| 📘 2026-09-11 (Zabza) | AnTuTu 11 | 1599694 |
| 📘 2026-09-10 (elio) | AnTuTu 11 | 1445771 |
Apple iPhone 12
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-12 (Z0tacxyz) | AnTuTu 11 | 1294739 |
| 📘 2026-10-04 (Timur) | AnTuTu 11 | 1199214 |
| 📘 2026-06-26 (Hellomt) | AnTuTu 11 | 1334721 |
| 📘 2026-03-25 (🇷🇺010) | AnTuTu 11 | 1384982 |
| 📘 2026-03-23 (Roma) | AnTuTu 11 | 1326030 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | - |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | iOS 17 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) | iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| OS size | 17.6 GB | 7 GB |
| OS updates | 7 years | - |
| Security updates | 7 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 4441 mAh | 2815 mAh |
| Max charge power | 23 W | 18 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (7.5 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes | No |
| Bypass charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (46% in 30 min) | Yes (58% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:49 hr | 1:30 hr |
| Web browsing | 12:36 hr | 08:00 hr |
| Watching video | 22:07 hr | 12:09 hr |
| Gaming | 06:58 hr | 04:35 hr |
| Standby | 139 hr | 112 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#32nd place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 48 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8064 x 6048 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 5x | Digital |
| Flash | Dual LED | Quad LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP 4) Depth |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 48 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | 24 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX803 | Sony IMX372 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/1.78 - 2.8 | - |
| Focal length | 120 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX913 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX633 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 80 | 55 |
| Preview | 86 | 74 |
| Zoom | 142 | 60 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/1.9 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX714 | Sony IMX514 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | No |
| Stabilization | Optical | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | Yes | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | 145 | 127 |
| Video | 156 | 140 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | No |
| USB version | 3.2 | - |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode |
| DisplayPort | Yes | - |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | - | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | eSIM | Nano |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | September 2023 | October 2020 |
| Release date | September 2023 | October 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1199 | $800 |
| Successor | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max | - Apple iPhone 17 |
| SAR (head) | 0.98 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 0.98 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | - |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 101