The iPhone 12 mini and Pro Max are finally here

Mike takes the wraps off Apple’s latest iPhone 12 iterations, the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Big vs Small

Let’s start off talking about the size differences between these siblings and the middle children, the iPhone 12/Pro. The mini (note the small M) is the smallest and easily the most pocketable model yet still has a 5.4″ screen compared to the 6.1″ on the iPhone 12/Pro models and a huge 6.7″ on the Pro Max.

Despite being the smallest, the mini still has all the same features of the iPhone 12 including 5G support, an excellent camera array with a wide and ultra-wide lenses and the flat sided form factor that harkens back to the iPhone 5 days of old.

The Pro Max is of course, much larger than the mini and approaches iPad Mini size in the hand. Like the iPhone 12 Pro, the Max incorporates the telephoto lens. It does have a few new tricks over the 12 Pro including a slightly higher optical zoom (2.5x vs 2x) and also sports the new sensor stabilization method for video vs the more traditional lens stabilization method. Early tests seem to indicate it does a better job at stabilizing video but it’s a pretty subtle edge over the 12 Pro. More testing is still needed to say if it’s worth getting the Max solely for that reason.

Both the mini and Max are IP68 rated which means you can submerge them underwater for 30 minutes at a depth of 6m, not that you’d want to do that, it just means you don’t have to worry about these phones getting wet in most situations.

As with the iPhone 12/Pro previously, the mini and the Max both have minimal packaging and only include the USB to Lightning cable in the box.

The mini seems like it will be very popular with people preferring the smaller form factor while the Max enjoys a few more features packed into it’s larger size. What’s your preference with these different iPhone 12 models? Let us know in the comments!