Apple iPhone XR vs iPhone 12: What Will The 12 Add?

Introduction

Should you upgrade already? Should you wait for another year? Is it OK to get an iPhone XR?

We'll soon find out all the answers to those questions and much more.

Let's start.

While Apple's iPhone 12 hit stores in October of 2020, Apple's iPhone XR went on sale two years sooner.

With this article, you'll be able to compare every feature of the iPhone XR and the iPhone 12. Then, you can decide what model better suits your needs. Let's start.

If you have the time, click here to skip the spoilers and continue to the full comparison.

The price round is no contest. The iPhone XR sounds like a bargain compared to the iPhone 12. That is something worth considering when comparing them.

You'll also see down below a "Tek-Score" for every section that we analyze. All the specifications were examined to allow you a faster discerning of the variation between the phones. The global score will help you compare them to other phones if you're interested in other than these two.  ? 

We've based our rate on a study from Globalwebindex.com about the most desired smartphone features by consumers. But you can customize how each section contributes to the global score according to what you value. You can skip to the end, but keep reading because there are many things to unveil about these two and their rivals.

For additional information regarding our smartphone comparisons, check this FAQ.

You'll also see a progress bar underlining some features. That can help you understand how they sit side by side with equivalently priced phones.  ? 

Here's our contestant panel: i  but we've only included smartphones within a 40% price range.

Some items are underlined, and you can tap to access the top 10 phones for that feature for every spending plan.

Price*			vs.
Device	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
Release Date	2018, October	2020, October	2y.
OS Updates	6 years	6 years	0y.
Security Updates	6 years	6 years	0y.

*Reference: 100: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Which One Has The Best Performance?

In terms of performance, Geekbench 5 scores the iPhone 12 58% ahead of its sibling on the multi-core rankings. If you value performance, be aware of that difference, as it will be noticeable daily.  ? 

The iPhone 12's performance does stand out if you consider related priced phones. While the average sits at 2966, this one is 37% above them.

It's safe to say that the iPhone 12 can be tagged as high-end.

The Apple iPhone 12 is available with the Apple A14 processor, while the Apple iPhone XR brings the Apple A12 processor.

Apple improved its GPU for sure, but most likely decided to just keep the same name.

At least you'll get the iOS 12 on the iPhone XR, and the iPhone 12 has iOS 14.1.

Performance*			vs.
Features	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
SoC	Apple A12	Apple A14
Graphics	Apple GPU	Apple GPU
Geekbench 5 Score	2575	4067	1492
OS	iOS 12	iOS 14.1
Tek-Score	6.3	8.8	2.5

*Reference: 100: Apple iPhone 12.

Which Phone Has The Best Display?

The iPhone 12 has a better display, and it should be noticeable.

They both have a 6.1-inch (LCD and AMOLED) display. Which one would you choose? AMOLED has perfect contrast and viewing angles, but its whites do hurt the battery life.

The iPhone 12 has a higher-resolution 1170x2532 Full HD display, and the iPhone XR makes do with an 828x1792 HD panel.

One peculiarity that the iPhone XR has over most competitors at its price range: Its pixel density evens out at 28% below the rest.

Just a small drop may shatter your phone, so you need to know about their glass protection. The iPhone XR is shielded with a Corning toughened glass. The iPhone 12 display is preserved with the latest Gorilla Glass Victus.

Unfortunately, there's no Always-On display on any of them.

If you set these displays for auto-brightness, both can do about 660 nits.  ? 

The iPhone 12 can play HDR10 shootings.

About the iPhone XR, you should know that 86% of its rivals can play HDR content, 90% have an AMOLED screen, and 79% of them have an Always-On display. However, only 21% of them have over 60hz of refresh rate.

For the iPhone 12, please be aware that 94% of its rivals can play HDR content and have an Always-On display, and all of them have an AMOLED screen.

Display Density (DPIs)*			vs.
Features	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
Size	6.1	6.1	0.0
Screen Type	LCD	AMOLED
Resolution (px)	828x1792	1170x2532	1478664
Refresh Rate	60hz	60hz	0
Dots per Inch	323.61	457.25	133.64
Always-On-Display	No	No
Notch	Wedge	Wedge
Peak Brightness	660 nits	639 nits	-21
HDR	-	HDR10
Sub Tek-Score	1.2	2.9	1.7
Protection	Corning toughened glass	Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
Tek-Score	5.2	7.5	2.3

*Reference: 100: Sony Xperia 1 II.

Which Phone Has The Best Cameras?

Be aware that the iPhone 12's picture quality is, on average, 21% above its adversaries at about this price-tag. And it should be your option today.

Who's gonna win this battle? The iPhone XR's primary camera has a 12 Megapixels sensor, with an aperture of f/1.8, a 26mm wide-angle lens, four flash LEDs, HDR abilities, and Optical Image Stabilization. Videos on its shooter have a maximum resolution of 2160p.

With the selfies camera, you get a 7 MP shooter, with an aperture of f/2.2 and a 32 mm lens.

This camera came out of DXOMARK's labs with a score of 112. If you also consider its digital zoom abilities, it'll get 116** points. If you want to know more about it, click here .

Before moving on, keep in mind that 97% of its rivals can record videos in 4K or more, and all of them have an ultra-wide-angle lens. Nevertheless, only 14% of them feature a macro lens.

On the back of the Apple iPhone 12 is a 12 Megapixels (f/1.6) camera and a 26mm wide-angle lens. Then you'll have four flash LEDs, HDR abilities, and Optical Image Stabilization too. It can also record videos at up to 2160p. The iPhone 12 also sports a 12 Megapixels sensor, packed with an f/2.4 lens plus a 13mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

Apple included a 12 MP (f/2.2) sensor for selfies and a 23 mm wide-angle lens.

On DXOMARK's reviewing article, they gave this shooter 132 points. By considering its wide-angle lens, we'll get to the final rate of 139 points. If you want to know more about every tidbit, check it here.

Furthermore, just to let you know, all of its rivals can record videos in 4 or 8K, have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and feature Optical Image Stabilization. Additionally, only 6% of them feature a macro lens.

If you're not a numbers person, we can tag the iPhone 12 as a high-end.

If you love optical zoom like I do, you should consider other options like the iPhone 12 Pro.

**You should give this score a margin of error of up to 6 points, especially for cameras with no zoom and with less than 40MP. They moved to a new camera test protocol, and I still have few reviewed devices to better deduce a compatible rate.

Picture Quality*			vs.
Primary Camera	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
Megapixels	12	12	0
Aperture	1.8	1.6	-0.2
Lens	26mm	26mm	0
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Flash	4	4	0
HDR	Yes	Yes
OIS	Yes	Yes
Video	2160	2160	0
Score	116	139	23

*Reference: 100: Huawei Mate 40 Pro.

Extra Camera(s)	iPhone XR	iPhone 12	vs.
Megapixels	-	12
Aperture	-	2.4
Lens	-	13mm
Lens Type	-	Ultra-wide-Angle
Score	4	7	3

Selfie Camera	iPhone XR	iPhone 12	vs.
Megapixels	7	12	5
Aperture	2.2	2.2	0.0
Lens	32mm	23mm	-9

	iPhone XR	iPhone 12	vs.
Tek-Score	6.8	8.2	1.4

Who has the best frame?

The iPhone 12 does have an advantage here, thanks to its weight and water resistance.

The iPhone XR comes at 150x75 mm (5.91x2.96 inches). The iPhone 12 came out 0.16 inches (4 mm) smaller and 0.16 inches (4 mm) narrower.

The former has about 8 mm (0.32 inches) of thickness, while the latter has 7 mm (0.28 inches).

The glass rear on these phones makes them feel great on the hand. The iPhone 12 weighs 164 g. (5.78 oz), while its sibling is 30 g. (1.06 oz) heavier. But because this is a bit relative, I've developed a formula for a kind of "display size to phone weight" ratio. The iPhone XR got a score of 3.3, showing it's kind of weighty for its screen size. In the meantime, the iPhone 12 has 6.9, which is pretty nice.  ? 

You can have the iPhone XR in Black, Yellow, Red, White, Coral, and Blue. And you can compare that with the Black, Red, White, Green, and Blue, which comes with the iPhone 12.

Do you value a fingerprint scanner? It seems like they're out of fashion.

You can still use biometrics to log in on both of them. Usually, logging in with a fingerprint scanner is faster, but at least you'll get a Face ID scanner.

The iPhone XR is resistant to water up to 1 meter, while the iPhone 12 got the IP68 rating, so it can safely go in up to 1 to 3 meters. Remember that it shouldn't be for over half an hour, on standby, and freshwater only.

Looks*			vs.
Body	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
Size	150 x 75 x 8 mm (5.29 x 2.65 x 0.28 in)	146 x 71 x 7 mm (5.15 x 2.50 x 0.25 in)	-17438
Weight	194 g. (6.84 oz)	164 g. (5.78 oz)	-30
Build	Front and back glass	Front and back glass
Colors	Black, Yellow, Red, White, Coral, and Blue	Black, Red, White, Green, and Blue
Screen To Body Ratio	81.25%	88.18%	6.93
Disp.Size To Weight Score	3.3	6.9	3.5
Looks	8.6/10	10.0/10	1.3
Waterproof	IP67	IP68
Biometrics	Face ID	Face ID
Tek-Score	5.6	8.6	2.9

*100% = 4+ colors + front and back glass + S2BR: 86+%.

Which has the best battery?

The iPhone XR does have a bigger battery, with 2942 mAh, while the iPhone 12 only has 2815 mAh. But according to GSMArena's tests, there's no real difference between them.

If you do a full charge, this is how the iPhone XR comes out of it:  ? 

• After 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll end up with 78% of the battery charge.
• After 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, this phone should end up with 62%.
• After 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, the phone will have 64% left for the rest of the day.

And this is how the iPhone 12 handles these tests:

• From 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll be at 79% of the battery charge.
• If you do 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll probably have 64% left for the rest of the day.
• From 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, you'll likely end up with 64% of the battery charge.

Quickly charging any of them won't be an issue. The iPhone XR supports up to 15w and the iPhone 12 up to 20.

Both phones support wireless charging at 5w vs. 15w. The new iPhones also feature magnetic wireless charging. That's great, but it's yet another proprietary solution.

Battery*			vs.
Features	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
Capacity (mAh)	2942	2815	-127
1h Talk + 1h Web + 1h Video	78% left	79% left	1
1h Talk + 3h Web + 1h Video	62% left	64% left	2
1h Talk + 1h Web + 3h Video	64% left	64% left	0
Bat. To Phone Size Score  ?	4.0	6.4	2.3
Sub Tek-Score	6.8	6.9	0.1
Fast Charging	15w	20w	5
Wireless Charging	5w	15w	10
Tek-Score	6.0	6.6	0.6

*Reference: 90: Samsung Galaxy A31.

Which has more storage?

They share the same amount of storage.

The iPhone XR features 64GB of internal storage and 3GB of RAM. Memory cards aren't welcome here. While it shouldn't be a deal-breaker, you should keep that in mind when purchasing one. Also, similarly priced adversaries usually have more storage and more RAM. They're around 6GB of RAM and 113Gb of storage.

In its turn, the iPhone 12 has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of integrated storage. You'll also have a problem if you want to add storage later. If you're a power user, keep that in mind. Again, you'll most likely get more RAM and more storage by picking any rival at that price range. 9Gb of RAM and 135Gb of storage: that's the average, not the best you can find.

Most people should be OK with only 64 GB of internal storage. However, if you can't get enough of the record button, you'll find out that 64 GB won't be enough for you.

Storage*			vs.
Features	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
RAM (GB)	3GB	4GB	1
Internal (GB)	64GB	64GB	0
Micro SD	No	No
Tek-Score	2.8	2.8	0.0

*Internal Storage + 256GB Memory Card (Max: 512GB).

Which is the most connectivity-friendly?

The iPhone 12, as it features 5G.

When it comes to connectivity, you can count on the traditional Bluetooth 5.0 chip. Both phones also have NFC, so nothing special here.

About the 3.5mm jack: Now may be the time to consider moving to wireless earbuds. Want a piece of advice? Forget about adapters and go for the wireless buds.

You can find the iPhone 12 in the (LTE and) 5G variant.

Connectivity			vs.
Features	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
Network	LTE	5G
Bluetooth	5.0	5.0
NFC	Yes	Yes
3.5mm jack	No	No
Tek-Score	3.6	4.6	1.0

Which is more affordable?

You're likely not considering the iPhone XR to make all your pennies count. But do search for any deals or price drops before making up your mind. On the other hand, you'll likely find the iPhone 12 at a higher price range, but that's probably something you already knew.

I hope the following tables will help you make a wiser decision.

Also, be aware that you'll have a hard time finding old phones in new condition.

Here are the prices that we've come across recently:

Reference: $392

$369.00

$425.00

Check now

$578.97

Apple iPhone XR

Reference: $880

Check now!

$750.00

Check now

Check now

Apple iPhone 12

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Prices on eBay are in $US but Europe-based. You can click to check the prices in your country.

Prices marked with ! are from renewed/refurbished/carrier-locked phones (except eBay prices that, as a last resort, can be from bids or used devices).

How much of a "phone" can your money buy?
That's how much "score" you can get with $100 based on the global score that you'll see in the next section (higher is better).

Have you found better prices elsewhere? The formula is simple: score/price*100.

Also, don't forget to check the latest deals from these four stores, and the state of the art on mobile technology, if you don't want to overpay on your next smartphone.

Related articles:

Best smartphone deals

The Best Unbiased Smartphones For All Budgets

Smartphone Specs Statistics: The State Of The Art (Q1 2021)

Want to know about that global rate? First, let me mention the average at their price range. It's 6.3 for the iPhone XR and 7.1 for the iPhone 12.

Verdict: What Makes the Apple iPhone 12 Stand Out?

The iPhone 12 does have a significant performance increase compared to the iPhone XR. I guess you could wait another year if you don't think the XR is that slow or if you're happy with its battery life. Still, you wouldn't get an AMOLED display with a decent amount of pixels per inch right away. Just like you wouldn't get the Victus, the ultra-wide-angle lens plus better overall camera, a slightly lighter device, nor an extra Gigabyte of RAM.

If you think that you can live without that for a whole year, or as long as you plan to keep your (next) iPhone XR, then, by all means, do save a few hundred bucks.

Pros	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
#1	Performance	Performance
#2	Cameras	AMOLED
#3	Fast Charging	Cameras
#4	Wireless Charging	Fast Charging
#5	Glass Protection	Wireless Charging
#6		Glass Protection

Cons	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
#1	Screen Resolution	Always-On-Display
#2	AMOLED	MicroSD Slot
#3	Always-On-Display	3.5mm Jack
#4	MicroSD Slot	Price
#5	Weight
#6	3.5mm Jack
#7	Price

Relative Score*			vs.
Global Score	iPhone XR	iPhone 12
Gaming Score	3.8	6.3	2.5
Tek-Score	5.37	6.76	1.39
Your Score

Scroll the sliders down below to get your own personalized score. Let's suppose you value performance and battery life, and you don't really care about anything else. Then, just set the "Performance" and the "Battery" sliders up to 5 (5+5=10), and then the other sliders down to 0. You'll know what's the best phone for you.

*Reference: 100: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

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