Apple’s new era of smartphones has begun with the launch of the iPhone 12. While last year’s standard iPhone 11 had some comprises over the Pro models, this time the gap between the two models is quite literally none (except the Max version).
The iPhone 12 now has a Super XDR OLED panel, which replaces last year’s IPS LCD panel on the standard model. The display size sits at the same 6.1-inch diagonally but this time the resolution is much higher at 2532 x 1170 pixels. Apple claims that the brightness of the phone peaks up to 1200 nits, just like the Pro models.
The screen, besides that, is nothing exciting. However, the new Ceramic Shield layering co-developed with Corning should make the display a bit sturdier than other phones in the market. And Apple’s claim of “4 times better drop performance” and “tougher than any smartphone glass” should further offer you peace of mind.
The 5G support was something Apple didn’t shy away from mentioning most of the time during the presentation. And of course, the mmWave 5G is supposed to be much faster than the 4G LTE network. But the claims and numbers for users in Nepal are limited on paper only as there’s no 5G network here, and we don’t expect it to arrive anytime soon. So, let’s put the numbers to rest, at least for a while.
Much like the Pro models, the standard iPhone 12 has a thinner and square-ish design. The phone is now 11% thinner, 16% lighter, and 15% smaller than the previous iPhone 11, all thanks to the square-ish sides of the phone.
Previous generation iPhones had plethoras of color options to choose from, and Apple hasn’t stoop away this time either — the iPhone 12 has White, Green, Product Red, Black, and a new Blue color options. There’s a matte finish on the side but the rear is glossy, quite the opposite from the iPhone 12 Pro models.
Apple’s A14 Bionic sits at the helm of the phone. It brings a 6-core CPU (2 powerful and 4 efficient cores) and 4-core GPU with total transistors of 11.9 billion, or about 40% more than the A13 Bionic seen on last year’s iPhones. Apple also says that the A14 Bionic is 50% faster in CPU and GPU performance compared to any other smartphone chipsets, which has been a case for a while.
The A14 Bionic should also deliver up to 80% faster machine learning than the A13 Bionic with support for 11 trillion operations per second presumably. This in turn should offer faster performance while Face unlocks as well as camera operations.
About the camera, the Apple iPhone 12 features a new 12MP camera sensor at the rear with a brighter f/1.6 lens — Apple claims it to offer up to 27% better light capture. There’s also a 12MP f/2.4 ultrawide sensor, and both sensors bring support for Smart HDR 3 with improvements in white balance, texture, and saturation.
The primary camera has OIS, whilst the ultrawide doesn’t but the good thing is that now both rear cameras as well as the selfie camera can shoot images in Night Mode.
By now you may have known that this year’s iPhone doesn’t come with Earpods and chargers, which means the box is now slim and tiny enabling for a much-improved carbon footprint, as per Apple. But, one attention grabber is the return of MagSafe, which allows you to snap Apple’s new wireless charger at the back magnetically. This delivers power up to 15W, whereas a regular Qi wireless charger supports output at only 7.5W and wired charging at 20W if you use the correct power adapter.
iPhone 12 Price in Nepal and Availability
The iPhone 12 is now available for pre-booking in Nepal for a starting price of NPR 133,900 for the base variant of 64GB. For 128GB you’ll have to shell NPR 141,900 and the maxed-out 256GB can be yours for NPR 157,900. Sales will begin from December 11 through retailers including Oliz Store and EvoStore.
The iPhone 12 Pro is also up for pre-order in Nepal, and you check its price in Nepal by going to our article here.
| Models/Variants | Price in Nepal (NPR) |
| iPhone 12 64GB | 133,900 |
| iPhone 12 128GB | 141,900 |
| iPhone 12 256GB | 157,900 |
