Hey what's up, I'm KHD here and this is the iPhone 12. And I feel like we've all seen an iPhone before at this point. This is a pretty familiar iPhone. We've seen the rounded corners and the notch and the lightning port. But there are a couple key changes this year that are a first in the iPhone. So I've been using this iPhone 12 for a bit since my impressions video and it's my favorite iPhone ever, mostly because of this design. But if you're considering getting one, there's some stuff you should know. Now I'm going to do a separate video on the Pro in this sweet blue color. I think it's the best color, but these two phones are very similar. Same exact size, like a case that works for one works for the other. Same main cameras, almost the same screen, same battery, same charging. But there's a couple things that only apply to the Pro and I'll go over those in that video. But let's just start with the 12 with this new design, shall we? I love this super flat design. It is so flat. It's not the typical almost flat where the screen is flat right up to the edges and then it curves over the very edge and they call it like 2.5D. No, this is flat flat. Like the phone happens to be a little bit thinner and a little bit lighter than last year, but I'm not as concerned with that. But the square sides are actually the most efficient way to pack in those internals into the phone as efficiently as possible. And I happen to think it looks and feels super premium and and modern on top of all that. Now, this kind of red but also kind of salmon sometimes product red version. After seeing it in person, I'd probably not go for this. I'd go for either the blue or the black. But yeah, those aluminum rails are everything. They're more gripppable, maybe a little less comfortable at first. But hey, the buttons are clicky, the power button is a little bit bigger. It's still IP68 water resistant. You've got your 5G antenna cutout on the right hand side in some regions, which trust me, I'll get way into that in a second. And yeah, I just like holding this phone. Now if you put a case on it, I guess a lot of that doesn't matter as much. You'll notice it less obviously, but still even some cases are flattening out their dimensions for the iPhone 12. So that again will make it easier to grip, harder to drop. And speaking of dropping, all these new iPhones come with on the front something new called ceramic shield. And this is basically this specialty hardened kind of glass with crystal structure inside it and it's on the front of these phones over the screen and it's supposed to offer four times better drop protection. So, shatter protection, basically, which is great, but I typically care just as much if not more about scratch resistance, all the little micro scratches that your phone gathers over time. And the thing about scratch resistance is it's typically inversely proportional to shatter resistance. So if you think about it, the softer something is, the less likely it is to shatter, but then the easier it is to scratch it. And vice versa, the harder something is, the less likely you are to scratch it, but the more brittle it is and the more shatterable it becomes. So, I see the headline of better drop protection and that's great, but I'm not about to drop my phone to find out if it works. I'm sure people are already on that. I have no idea how they'll land on that 4X number, but all right. All I know is I already have a little gash in my screen on the left hand side here, which is so sad, but that's probably at a level six. No idea how that happened, but I'm feeling like the iPhone is not significantly more scratch resistant than before. Of course, Zach will probably tell us the truth there. So if it shatters a lot less when dropped, we'll see. That'd be nice. But I feel like a lot of the drop stuff is happen stance. Like if I happen to drop my phone a certain way, it's definitely going to crack, right? And if I happen to drop my phone another way, it's probably not going to. So, I don't know. I don't want to worry about it too much. Use a case if you want to, use a screen protector if you really want to. I'm just going to I'm just going to live my life. So the possibly the biggest external hardware feature of the new iPhones is MagSafe. and I think it has bigger implications for the future of the iPhone, but right now, MagSafe is the optional new magnetic charging accessory standard on the back, like right behind the Apple logo. So, the number one MagSafe accessory that Apple sells is the puck charger. It doesn't come with a brick, by the way. So if you buy the charger for 40 bucks, make sure you have a USB-C charging brick. But uh yeah, just kind of slaps onto the back of the phone. You line it up with the magnets. You kind of get used to where it places right over the Apple logo. and that's all good. This charges at 15 watts while every other wireless charger on the iPhone still charges at 7 and a half watts. And a couple of other FAQs on this. Number one, yes, it is still Qi charging, so you can still charge the iPhone 12 with other wireless chargers and you can charge other phones with the MagSafe puck if you're into that. Number two, the durability concern with MagSafe leaving marks on the iPhone. I have noticed that on mine too, but I don't think it'll turn out to be a long-term problem. It just seems to wipe off every time. Like you might remember how the HomePod was leaving these little white stained rings on certain wood tables, which is kind of understandable because not every table is the same, but I feel like, I guess I hope Apple's probably tested this like 100,000 times and probably determined that it's not an issue about the way they made this. So, should be okay. And then number three, I was getting a lot of questions about this. Yes, you can MagSafe charge through most non-MagSafe cases as long as they're thin enough. And even that magnet will actually still work through some thin cases. So, I didn't really have any non-MagSafe cases here to test, but of course, channel sponsor Dbrand sent over a grip case and I can confirm it's thin enough to work just fine with a MagSafe charger, kind of like it is a MagSafe charger. And yes, all the other benefits of a case, grippiness, protection, they all still apply. So, since I know most people end up looking for a good one, I'll leave a link to this case below. Now, at the beginning of this MagSafe bit, I said something. I said it was optional, which it is for now, but I feel like we can all sort of see where this is going, which is Apple is slowly moving towards eventually making a portless iPhone, which I think that's a whole separate video's worth of rant. But bottom line is their solution to wirelessly conveniently charging a phone that doesn't have a port is going to be MagSafe. This thing right here. So, it's not amazing, but I guess it's fine. The couple of accessories they've made for it so far, not bad. There's a regular case, of course, so you can continue to stack things through. There's a kind of weird-looking clear version of the case for some reason. There's a a wallet that I mentioned that doesn't have very strong magnets, but if you think about it, it's not so peculiar that the one accessory they chose to make outside of a case is a wallet. Like let me know if there's any flaw in this this series of logic, right? So Apple wants to get rid of the port on the iPhone and go totally wireless charging for everything at a certain point. Maybe next year, whatever, right? So they already see ahead of time this particular headline, which is people who use wallet cases can't wireless charge their iPhone. So they can't charge their iPhone at all. So Apple needs to invent a way for people who use wallet cases to continue to charge their phone. So they invented an accessory which is a removable wallet bit so you can charge the phone and when you don't need to charge it, you can put the wallet back on. That seems to check out. Like I said, it's a whole thing, but today, optional. Battery life on these phones has actually been pretty good, but not noticeably better than last year at all. Matter of fact, it's actually a slightly larger, higher res display and actually a smaller physical battery. So it's pretty impressive that the phone still does okay. You can kill it in a day with six hours of screen on time or just a lot of heavy use, but this isn't new with this standard size iPhone. If you want a real battery champ, you can go for the bigger phone. The actual best new piece of the iPhone 12 though is definitely the new display. It goes from being that 720p LCD with bigger bezels that was really easy to make fun of to this much better and even slightly bigger 6.1 inch 1080p OLED. It's like night and day. It's basically on par with the Pro, which is actually pretty surprising to me. Just a slightly lower peak brightness. Now, it's 60 Hz again, and while that's kind of a missing feature at this point on an $800 phone in 2020, I was actually kind of expecting that. I was just thinking the pros would get 120 Hz displays this year, but obviously none of them did, which is a bummer. But let's be honest, they probably saw that as a battery saving measure since this phone did also just get 5G. So, let's talk about 5G. I kind of love and hate 5G right now. So this slogan, Apple and I guess the carriers too really keep pushing that 5G just got real. 5G just got real. Really? Just now, 5G just now got real? Last time I checked, like this year I reviewed like 30 phones with 5G. So clearly 5G has already existed, but there's a reason they're saying it this way. So first of all, I did a video all about 5G where I went to a 5G area, testing it, explaining it, showing what's good about it and what its limitations are. I'm going to leave it linked right below the like button if you want to watch it, catch up on that. But the bottom line is it's really promising, but it's still being built right now. But carriers and I guess Apple really like the message that 5G just got real because now that all of the new iPhones have 5G built in, there's about to be millions and millions and millions more people walking around with 5G capable phones in a few very short months. And when that happens, that tends to accelerate development. That sort of makes it real, which I get it. But also, the carriers would very, very much like you to upgrade to their 5G plan, please. But we got to remember, 5G in 2020 has its ups and its downs. Like this iPhone 12 I'm using here has Verizon 5G, which is surprisingly actually in my area. It's not millimeter wave, it's not ultra wideband, but it can still give me roughly 20% faster download and upload speeds. But 5G radios are also pretty power hungry and the more time you spend on 5G, the more battery you bleed through. Now, Apple's thought a lot about this, of course. So their solution, and you might have caught it on stage during the announcement, is called smart data mode. And basically, it tries to only use 5G when you actually need it to save battery. So when you're in a 4G area, you're on 4G speeds, everything works with LTE, no problem. You're good. It'll feel normal. When you're in a 5G area and you're doing a lot of bandwidth intensive stuff, you're downloading a bunch of videos and music, you're FaceTiming in crispy HD, you're doing a lot of that high bandwidth stuff. That's going to use 5G and that's going to improve that experience a lot. But if you are in a 5G area but not really doing anything that benefits from 5G, then your phone will actually switch off and stick with 4G. And as the Verge reported, it'll actually still show you the 5G indicator in the corner, but you'll get 4G speeds, which will probably be fine, but that also explains this sort of weird speed test result. So look, my take is, I get it. The best technologies are supposed to be invisible. Like you shouldn't even notice they work. You go to download something while walking around, you're in a 5G area, boom, 5G turns on, your downloads go super quick and then it turns off to save battery. It's kind of like promotion on the iPad Pro. It goes up to 120 Hz when you're scrolling and playing games and actually using it. But when you're not, you're just sitting on the home screen or watching a video, it will go down to 24 Hz to save battery. So it's sort of not there when you don't need it. It's there when it helps you. It's just weird that the whole messaging has been in your face 5G, 5G, 5G. So yeah, I would say don't buy this phone now because you want to get a 5G phone. But if you do get this phone now, then maybe it'll be a nice bonus if you're in a 5G area or in the future when you end up in a 5G area, you'll be able to use that too. All right, new iPhone equals new best camera ever in an iPhone, right? Well, sure. iPhone 12's got a slightly updated dual camera system with a standard and an ultrawide. The standard has a slightly wider aperture at F1.6 instead of F1.8. And to be honest, it's not really much of a difference in the camera. Like it's just not. Same as the Pixel, they're not really doing anything too drastic. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Really, the hardware improvements are almost impossible to notice in regular photos, but they will get you an improvement in like the edge cases, the most difficult photo and video taking scenarios. So like handheld in low light, that'll be better. Night mode will be better. Autofocus on fast moving subjects, super high dynamic range shots, like shooting straight into the sun, thanks to Smart HDR 3, stuff like that. Other than that, it still looks like iPhone photos, which is to say some of the absolute best and most consistent crisp photos on any smartphone. So that's not a letdown. But iPhone video though, firmly in a league of its own. Firmly, like every time I test a new iPhone camera, it it's just the video camera is so much better and people care a lot about video, they take a lot of videos, so you'd want to know, yeah, the iPhone takes great video. And that's despite not shooting 8K and not having a huge new sensor or anything crazy like that. It's just so fine tuned and so reliable. But I want to save my full analysis of that for the video about the pros because I think pros care even more about video stuff and there's potentially, well, there's even new hardware of the sensors in the 12 Pro Max. So that could be interesting to see. My one knock is it does seem like there's more flaring in low-light video. Like just a ton of little orbs for every little point light source, but it's still very usable though. Now, you might have heard about Dolby Vision HDR. These new iPhones are the first cameras, the only cameras in the world to shoot 10-bit high dynamic range Dolby Vision 4K video. And that's awesome. HDR video is awesome. Higher, brighter brights, deeper shadows, overall better images, even better perceived quality. I love HDR. But here's the thing, Dolby Vision is just one HDR standard or format by Dolby and there are other HDR standards that have been out. You might have heard of HDR 10 is one of them and that some other smartphones have actually started enabling you to shoot. You might have a smartphone in your pocket right now that is already capable of shooting HDR 10 video. But the issue with new formats is always compatibility. So some TVs are HDR 10 certified, some aren't. Some displays are Dolby Vision certified, some aren't. So you can look at the display, the video you take on the iPhone and it's Dolby Vision certified and it looks amazing. And if you send this video to another iPhone 12, it'll look amazing on that iPhone. But as soon as you upload it to Twitter or Instagram or Tik Tok or kind of anything at this point, even YouTube, it doesn't show up as that HDR on most people's screens. It's back to SDR. But the big deal here, again, is kind of like 5G, because there's about to be so many iPhone 12s in the world, there's about to be millions of new devices and new people out there shooting tons of HDR video and looking to share it. And so now there's more incentive for places and and apps like Twitter and Instagram and Tik Tok to support HDR. So maybe the tagline should have been HDR just got real. Anyway, the rest of the iPhone is pretty familiar and that's a good thing for most people. iOS 14, we've all seen it by now. It's familiar, even though there's a couple bugs in apps that will probably get updated pretty soon. Face ID, it's completely unchanged. Even performance is familiar since there's nothing super new like high refresh rate. There is the new A14 Bionic inside, which is one of the very first 5 nanometer chips in any device, which is a more powerful CPU and GPU and is paired with 4 gigs of RAM and everything's great. But that's mainly for speed that you're going to notice later down the road when the phone is two, three, four years old and hopefully still feeling really fast. But fundamentally, there isn't really that much of a difference in these iPhones and the performance you get this year versus what last year didn't already do. Just a little bit faster. But yeah, even at a somewhat premium 830 bucks, that's the actual price. Apple's website shows carrier pricing at first, so it's a little misleading, but even at that price, yeah, this phone with best-in-class cameras, best-in-class performance, much better screen is pretty damn good. This is the one to get for most people. Here's the too long didn't watch version for those of you lazy people that I know just went down to the chapters and skipped to this. It's a great phone. The best new parts of it are definitely the display, which was a huge knock up from last year. Knock up? Why did I say it like that? The display is better, battery life is about the same, cameras are a little bit better, build quality and design are also an awesome improvement, and MagSafe, it's optional for now, but might as well start getting used to it. And the worst part is the price is a little higher because also 5G is built into the phone even for people who are never going to use it. But that being said, there you have it. Great work, Apple. And definitely stay tuned for the review on the Pro. I want to dive into what makes it a Pro. You know, as a as a YouTuber, I think a lot about this. As a content creator, am I a pro iPhone user? I don't know. There's a lot to talk about there, but that's been the iPhone 12. Thanks for watching. Much coming up very soon because you know, Techtoweber, guys. Techtoweber. Catch you guys in the next one. Peace.
An animated logo for MKBHD appears on a white background with a grid of black dots.
Setting: graphic animation — bright, even
A man wearing a black face mask walks towards the camera while looking down at a red iPhone 12 he is holding.
Setting: outdoor industrial area — overcast, natural daylight
People (1):
• walking towards camera, wearing maroon and blue hooded windbreaker over a black shirt, short, black, faded on the sides hair — eyes focused on phone, bottom half covered by mask
The host, Marques Brownlee, introduces himself and holds up a red iPhone 12 to the camera.
"Hey what's up, I'm KHD here and this is the iPhone 12."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — smiling, speaking to the camera
The host gestures with both hands while talking about the familiarity of the iPhone design. On-screen text appears.
"And I feel like we've all seen an iPhone before at this point. This is a pretty familiar iPhone."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking, neutral expression
Text: "Apple logo iPhone 12"
The host points his right index finger upwards to emphasize a point about the new changes in the iPhone 12.
"But there are a couple key changes this year that are a first in the iPhone."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking with emphasis
The host holds the red iPhone 12 and turns it in his hands, showcasing the new flat-edged design.
"it's my favorite iPhone ever, mostly because of this design."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — smiling, looking at the phone
The host picks up a blue iPhone 12 Pro and holds it up, comparing it to the red iPhone 12.
"Now I'm going to do a separate video on the Pro in this sweet blue color."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking to camera
An overhead shot shows the host's hands holding the red iPhone 12 and the blue iPhone 12 Pro side-by-side to compare their identical dimensions.
"Same exact size, like a case that works for one works for the other."
Setting: desk setup — bright, even
People (1):
• hands only, not visible hair — not visible
The host winks at the camera while holding the red iPhone 12, teasing a future video about the Pro model.
"But there's a couple things that only apply to the Pro and I'll go over those in that video."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — winking with his left eye, speaking
A close-up beauty shot of the red iPhone 12 standing vertically on a wooden block. A red neon 'MKBHD' sign is glowing in the background.
"I love this super flat design."
Setting: studio set — dramatic, red-tinted lighting
Text: "MKBHD"
The host emphasizes the flatness of the design with his hand gestures while speaking.
"It is so flat. It's not the typical almost flat where the screen is flat right up to the edges and then it curves over the very edge and they call it like 2.5D."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, leaning forward, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking animatedly
A macro shot compares the bottom edge of an older, silver iPhone with curved glass to the new red iPhone 12 with its perfectly flat edge.
"No, this is flat flat."
Setting: studio table — bright, clean studio light
A close-up, slow-motion shot shows a hand pulling the red iPhone 12 out of a jacket pocket.
"But the square sides are actually the most efficient way to pack in those internals into the phone as efficiently as possible."
Setting: outdoors — overcast, natural
People (1):
• person is standing, wearing maroon and blue windbreaker, not visible hair — not visible
The host holds the red iPhone 12 and discusses its specific color, turning it in the light.
"Now, this kind of red but also kind of salmon sometimes product red version."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — thoughtful expression, looking at the phone
A close-up shot of a hand holding and interacting with the red iPhone 12, running a thumb along the flat aluminum edge.
"But yeah, those aluminum rails are everything. They're more gripppable, maybe a little less comfortable at first."
Setting: outdoors — overcast, natural
People (1):
• standing, wearing maroon and blue windbreaker, not visible hair — not visible
The host points to the side of the red iPhone 12, indicating the 5G antenna cutout.
"It's still IP68 water resistant. You've got your 5G antenna cutout on the right hand side in some regions, which trust me, I'll get way into that in a second."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking directly to camera
The host mimes putting a case on the phone and then gestures to explain how cases are also changing shape.
"Now if you put a case on it, I guess a lot of that doesn't matter as much. You'll notice it less obviously, but still even some cases are flattening out their dimensions for the iPhone 12."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking to camera
The host transitions to a new topic, holding the phone and pointing to its screen.
"And speaking of dropping, all these new iPhones come with on the front something new called ceramic shield."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking directly to camera
A 3D animation shows crystalline structures forming a hexagonal pattern, illustrating the concept of Ceramic Shield.
"And this is basically this specialty hardened kind of glass with crystal structure inside it and it's on the front of these phones over the screen"
Setting: animated graphic — internal glow from animation
The host explains the difference between shatter protection and scratch resistance, gesturing for emphasis. Text appears on screen.
"So, shatter protection, basically, which is great, but I typically care just as much if not more about scratch resistance,"
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — serious expression, speaking
Text: "Shatter Protection", "Scratch Resistance"
The host continues to explain the trade-off between scratch and shatter resistance, using his hands to illustrate the inverse relationship.
"And the thing about scratch resistance is it's typically inversely proportional to shatter resistance."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — focused, explanatory expression
Text: "Shatter Protection", "Scratch Resistance"
The host points out a small scratch that has already appeared on the screen of his review unit.
"All I know is I already have a little gash in my screen on the left hand side here, which is so sad, but that's probably at a level six."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — slightly disappointed expression
A macro close-up shot shows the small scratches on the iPhone 12's screen, which is resting on a blue denim-like surface.
"No idea how that happened, but I'm feeling like the iPhone is not significantly more scratch resistant than before."
Setting: studio — soft, directional light highlighting the scratches
The host introduces the MagSafe feature. A b-roll shot shows the iPhone 12 home screen with various app icons.
"So the possibly the biggest external hardware feature of the new iPhones is MagSafe."
Setting: studio set — warm, stylized lighting
A hand brings the red iPhone 12 down onto a white MagSafe charging puck, and it snaps into place magnetically.
"and I think it has bigger implications for the future of the iPhone, but right now, MagSafe is the optional new magnetic charging accessory standard on the back,"
Setting: studio table — bright, even studio light
People (1):
• hand only, not visible hair — not visible
The host holds the white MagSafe puck in one hand and the red iPhone 12 in the other, preparing to demonstrate them.
"So, the number one MagSafe accessory that Apple sells is the puck charger."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking to camera
The host holds up the long white cable of the MagSafe charger, showing the USB-C connector at the end.
"It doesn't come with a brick, by the way. So if you buy the charger for 40 bucks, make sure you have a USB-C charging brick."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking to camera, informative expression
The host repeatedly snaps the MagSafe puck onto the back of the red iPhone, demonstrating the magnetic connection.
"But uh yeah, just kind of slaps onto the back of the phone. You line it up with the magnets. You kind of get used to where it places right over the Apple logo and that's all good."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — smiling, focused on the action
The host holds the MagSafe puck up to the camera. Text appears on screen indicating the charging speed.
"This charges at 15 watts while every other wireless charger on the iPhone still charges at 7 and a half watts."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking to camera
Text: "MagSafe 15W"
An overhead shot shows the red iPhone 12 being placed on a regular Qi wireless charger next to a blue Android phone.
"Number one, yes, it is still Qi charging, so you can still charge the iPhone 12 with other wireless chargers."
Setting: studio desk — bright, even
People (1):
• hands only, not visible hair — not visible
An overhead shot shows a hand placing a blue Android phone (OnePlus 8 Pro) onto the white MagSafe charging puck.
"and you can charge other phones with the MagSafe puck if you're into that."
Setting: studio desk — bright, even
People (1):
• hands only, not visible hair — not visible
An overhead shot shows a hand wiping the back of the red iPhone 12, revealing a faint circular mark left by the MagSafe charger.
"Number two, the durability concern with MagSafe leaving marks on the iPhone. I have noticed that on mine too,"
Setting: studio desk — bright, even
People (1):
• hands only, not visible hair — not visible
The host discusses a past issue with another Apple product. A screenshot of a news article titled 'HomePods are staining wooden furniture with a white ring' is shown on the right side of the screen.
"Like you might remember how the HomePod was leaving these little white stain rings on certain wood tables, which is kind of understandable because not every table is the same."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking, referencing the article
Text: "circuit breaker - HomePods are staining wooden furniture with a white ring"
An overhead shot shows a red iPhone 12, a blue Apple case, and a black leather wallet accessory on a white marble desk.
"Yes, you can MagSafe charge through most non-MagSafe cases as long as they're thin enough."
Setting: studio desk — bright, even
People (1):
• hands only, not visible hair — not visible
An overhead shot shows a hand putting a blue iPhone 12 Pro into a tan leather case.
"And even that magnet will actually still work through some thin cases. So, I didn't really have any non-MagSafe cases here to test, but of course, channel sponsor Dbrand sent over a grip case"
Setting: studio desk — bright, even
People (1):
• hands only, not visible hair — not visible
Text: "Non-MagSafe"
An overhead shot shows a hand placing the MagSafe puck onto the back of a phone that is inside a tan leather case. The charging animation appears on the screen.
"and I can confirm it's thin enough to work just fine with a MagSafe charger, kind of like it is a MagSafe charger."
Setting: studio desk — bright, even
People (1):
• hands only, not visible hair — not visible
Text: "Non-MagSafe"
The host holds the red iPhone and the MagSafe puck, looking thoughtfully at the camera as he discusses the future of charging.
"Now, at the beginning of this MagSafe bit, I said something. I said it was optional, which it is for now, but I feel like we can all sort of see where this is going,"
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — thoughtful, speaking to camera
The host gestures with his hands, emphasizing the idea of a future portless iPhone.
"which is Apple is slowly moving towards eventually making a portless iPhone, which I think that's a whole separate video's worth of rant."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking with a slightly wry expression
The host attaches the MagSafe charger to the red iPhone and holds it up, looking at it with a slightly unimpressed expression.
"is going to be MagSafe. This thing right here. So, it's not amazing, but I guess it's fine."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — shrugging, looking at the phone
A person wearing a mask and jacket is sitting on outdoor metal stairs, scrolling through their red iPhone 12.
"Battery life on these phones has actually been pretty good, but not noticeably better than last year at all."
Setting: outdoor stairs — overcast, natural
People (1):
• sitting on stairs, wearing maroon and blue windbreaker and black pants, short, black hair — focused on phone, covered by mask
A person is sitting on outdoor stairs, holding a red iPhone 12 and swiping through the home screen.
"Matter of fact, it's actually a slightly larger, higher res display and actually a smaller physical battery."
Setting: outdoor stairs — overcast, natural
People (1):
• sitting and black pants, not visible hair — not visible
The host discusses battery life in the studio, gesturing to emphasize his points.
"So it's pretty impressive that the phone still does okay. You can kill it in a day with six hours of screen on time or just a lot of heavy use,"
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking to camera
A hand holds the red iPhone 12, showing the bright, colorful home screen in a modern, white office-like setting.
"The actual best new piece of the iPhone 12 though is definitely the new display."
Setting: office — bright, natural light
People (1):
• hand only, not visible hair — not visible
Two iPhones, a red iPhone 12 and a black iPhone 11, are shown side-by-side on a windowsill, displaying the same photo gallery to compare screen quality.
"It goes from being that 720p LCD with bigger bezels that was really easy to make fun of to this much better and even slightly bigger 6.1 inch 1080p OLED."
Setting: studio — bright, natural backlight
The host talks about the display's refresh rate, looking slightly disappointed but not surprised.
"Now, it's 60 Hz again, and while that's kind of a missing feature at this point on an $800 phone in 2020, I was actually kind of expecting that."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking with a knowing expression
A shot of a presenter on a large stage with a giant '5G' logo behind him.
"So, let's talk about 5G. I kind of love and hate 5G right now."
Setting: Apple event stage — stage lighting
People (1):
• standing on stage, wearing dark t-shirt and dark pants, short, light brown hair — speaking
Text: "5G"
A montage of different speakers from the Apple event saying the word '5G' repeatedly.
"So this slogan, Apple and I guess the carriers too really keep pushing that 5G just got real."
Setting: Apple event stage — stage lighting
People (1):
• standing on stage, wearing various dark shirts and sweaters, various hair — speaking on stage
The host reacts to the marketing slogan with a skeptical and slightly amused expression.
"So clearly 5G has already existed, but there's a reason they're saying it this way."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking with a raised eyebrow
The host gestures towards the bottom of the screen, referencing a previous video he made.
"So first of all, I did a video all about 5G where I went to a 5G area, testing it, explaining it, showing what's good about it and what its limitations are."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking to camera
A graphic with the words 'Smart Data Mode' appears on a black background.
"So their solution, and you might have caught it on stage during the announcement, is called smart data mode."
Setting: graphic — n/a
Text: "Smart Data Mode"
An animation shows a circular progress bar labeled '5G' that then transitions to 'LTE' to illustrate the Smart Data Mode feature.
"And basically, it tries to only use 5G when you actually need it to save battery."
Setting: animated graphic — n/a
Text: "5G", "LTE"
The host explains the conditions under which the phone will use 5G, gesturing with his hands.
"When you're in a 5G area and you're doing a lot of bandwidth intensive stuff, you're downloading a bunch of videos and music,"
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking to camera
Text: "5G"
The host explains when the phone will revert to 4G to save battery, even in a 5G area.
"But if you are in a 5G area but not really doing anything that benefits from 5G, then your phone will actually switch off and stick with 4G."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking to camera
Text: "4G"
A close-up shot of the top right corner of the iPhone 12 screen, showing the 5G status bar icon.
"And as the Verge reported, it'll actually still show you the 5G indicator in the corner, but you'll get 4G speeds, which will probably be fine,"
Setting: studio — soft, even light
Text: "5G icon"
The host gives his final take on the Smart Data Mode, explaining Apple's philosophy behind it.
"So look, my take is, I get it. The best technologies are supposed to be invisible. Like you shouldn't even notice they work."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — nodding, speaking thoughtfully
The host explains the seamless switching of 5G with an animated graphic appearing over his shoulder.
"You go to download something while walking around, you're in a 5G area, boom, 5G turns on, your downloads go super quick and then it turns off to save battery."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking energetically
Text: "Animated 5G/LTE switching graphic"
The host expresses his confusion about the heavy marketing of 5G, given its smart switching feature.
"It's just weird that the whole messaging has been in your face 5G, 5G, 5G."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — confused, questioning expression
The host gives advice to viewers, shaking his head slightly.
"So yeah, I would say don't buy this phone now because you want to get a 5G phone."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — serious, advisory expression
The host gives a thumbs-up to the camera, concluding his thoughts on 5G.
"But if you do get this phone now, then maybe it'll be a nice bonus if you're in a 5G area or in the future when you end up in a 5G area, you'll be able to use that too."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — smiling
A person holds a red iPhone 12 horizontally, framing a shot of two large camera lenses resting on a yellow surface.
"All right, new iPhone equals new best camera ever in an iPhone, right?"
Setting: outdoors — overcast, natural
People (1):
• standing, wearing maroon jacket, not visible hair — not visible
A macro shot focuses on the dual-camera module on the back of the red iPhone 12, with a blurry background.
"Well, sure. iPhone 12's got a slightly updated dual camera system with a standard and an ultrawide. The standard has a slightly wider aperture at F1.6 instead of F1.8."
Setting: studio — soft, diffuse light
A person wearing a mask is filming two large cinema lenses on a yellow ledge with the red iPhone 12.
"And to be honest, it's not really much of a difference in the camera. Like it's just not. Same as the Pixel, they're not really doing anything too drastic. If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Setting: outdoors — overcast, natural
People (1):
• crouching, wearing maroon jacket, short, black hair — focused, partially obscured
The host explains the subtle nature of the camera improvements.
"Really, the hardware improvements are almost impossible to notice in regular photos, but they will get you an improvement in like the edge cases,"
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking, explaining a technical point
A photo taken with the iPhone 12 is shown. It's an outdoor construction site with the bright sun in the sky, demonstrating HDR capabilities.
"super high dynamic range shots, like shooting straight into the sun, thanks to Smart HDR 3, stuff like that."
Setting: outdoors — bright sunlight, high contrast
A montage of still photos taken with the iPhone 12 is shown, including a shuttle bus and a close-up of purple flowers.
"Other than that, it still looks like iPhone photos, which is to say some of the absolute best and most consistent crisp photos on any smartphone."
Setting: outdoors — natural daylight
The host speaks with great emphasis and conviction about the quality of the iPhone's video camera.
"But iPhone video though, firmly in a league of its own. Firmly, like every time I test a new iPhone camera, it it's just the video camera is so much better."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, leaning forward, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — very expressive, speaking with conviction
A point-of-view shot shows a hand holding a small, red RED Mini-Mag SSD card.
"And that's despite not shooting 8K and not having a huge new sensor or anything crazy like that. It's just so fine tuned and so reliable."
Setting: studio floor — indoor lighting
People (1):
• standing and jeans, not visible hair — not visible
A low-light video clip shows several people on bicycles at a street intersection at night. There is noticeable lens flare from the streetlights.
"My one knock is it does seem like there's more flaring in low-light video. Like just a ton of little orbs for every little point light source."
Setting: industrial area at night — dark, with bright streetlights
People (1):
• riding bicycles, wearing various casual clothes, indistinct hair — indistinct
The host introduces the topic of Dolby Vision HDR. Text appears on screen.
"Now, you might have heard about Dolby Vision HDR."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking to camera
Text: "Dolby Vision HDR"
The host enthusiastically explains the benefits of HDR video.
"And that's awesome. HDR video is awesome. Higher brighter brights, deeper shadows, overall better images, even better perceived quality. I love HDR."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — smiling, excited expression
Text: "Dolby Vision HDR"
The host explains the compatibility issues with different HDR formats.
"But the issue with new formats is always compatibility. So, some TVs are HDR 10 certified, some aren't. Some displays are Dolby Vision certified, some aren't."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking with a serious expression
A shot shows two members of the production crew, wearing masks, filming outdoors. Text appears on screen.
"But as soon as you upload it to Twitter or Instagram or Tik Tok or kind of anything at this point, even YouTube, it doesn't show up as that HDR on most people's screens. It's back to SDR."
Setting: outdoors — bright, overcast
People (2):
• walking towards camera, wearing black t-shirt and gray pants, dark, wavy hair — covered by mask
• walking behind the first person, wearing black t-shirt and light blue jeans, dark, parted hair — covered by mask
Text: "Or as this compressed, tone mapped garbage"
The host explains the potential impact of mass adoption of HDR video capture.
"But the big deal here, again, is kind of like 5G, because there's about to be so many iPhone 12s in the world, there's about to be millions of new devices and new people out there shooting tons of HDR video and looking to share it."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking with conviction
A person is leaning against a concrete barrier outdoors, using the red iPhone 12.
"Anyway, the rest of the iPhone is pretty familiar and that's a good thing for most people. iOS 14, we've all seen it by now. It's familiar, even though there's a couple bugs in apps that will probably get updated pretty soon."
Setting: outdoors — overcast, natural
People (1):
• leaning against a barrier, wearing maroon and blue windbreaker, short, black hair — partially visible, looking at phone
The host addresses the camera directly, offering a quick summary for viewers who skipped ahead.
"Here's the too long didn't watch version for those of you lazy people that I know just went down to the chapters and skipped to this."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — smiling, looking directly at camera
The host rapidly summarizes the key points of the review, using quick hand gestures for each point.
"The display is better, battery life is about the same, cameras are a little bit better, build quality and design are also an awesome improvement, and MagSafe, it's optional for now, but might as well start getting used to it."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — speaking quickly and directly
The host concludes his summary by discussing the price increase and the mandatory inclusion of 5G.
"And the worst part is the price is a little higher because also 5G is built into the phone even for people who are never going to use it."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — serious expression
The host gives his final verdict on the iPhone 12 and teases the upcoming review of the iPhone 12 Pro.
"But that being said, there you have it. Great work, Apple. And definitely stay tuned for the review on the Pro."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — smiling, speaking to camera
The host signs off, smiling and looking at the camera.
"Thanks for watching. Much coming up very soon because you know, Techtoweber, guys. Techtoweber."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — smiling
The host gives a peace sign to the camera as he finishes the video.
"Catch you guys in the next one. Peace."
Setting: MKBHD studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing dark gray t-shirt with a red and white geometric logo, short, black, high-top fade hair — smiling
The MKBHD logo animation plays as the outro music begins.
Setting: graphic animation — n/a
The video ends on a black screen with the channel's URL.
Setting: end screen — n/a
Text: "YOUTUBE.COM/MKBHD"