iPhone 12 vs. iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max: Which one should you buy? - CNET

The iPhone 12 and 12 Pro are among the highest-rated phones CNET has ever reviewed.

The company is splitting these devices into two distinct categories: the regular iPhone 12 line and the "Pro" aimed at people who love photography and have more money to spend.

To see which phone is best for you and your budget, I compared the iPhone 12 with the other two Pro devices, the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, on account of their design, cameras, performance and other features.

Its 6.7-inch display means it's the biggest of all the new models and its camera setup, while similar to the iPhone 12 Pro, allows for more close-up zooming.

In general, all three iPhone 12 models look similar.

But the most notable difference is that the iPhone 12 Pro Max has the biggest screen.

The iPhone 12 Pro (left) and the iPhone 12 in different shades of blue.

But the iPhone 12 Pro's display is brighter -- its screen features 800 nits of brightness compared to the iPhone 12's 625 nits.

While I don't anticipate any issues with the iPhone 12's display, the iPhone 12 Pro's additional brightness is likely to come in handy when you're looking at your phone outdoors on a sunny day.

The iPhone 12 comes in five color variants: a deep blue, a minty green, red, white and black.

The Pro models also have two more things the iPhone 12 doesn't: lidar and ProRAW.

It's similar to the technology that FaceID uses to scan your face to unlock your iPhone, but it has a longer range.

The iPhone 12 Pro (right) and Pro Max have a third telephoto lens.

One thing the iPhone 12 Pro Max has that none of the other iPhone 12 handsets have is a different type of image stabilization for video called sensor-shift image stabilization (also known as in-body image stabilization.

The three iPhone 12 models are equipped with Apple's A14 Bionic chip.

We ran a single battery test for continuous video playback on Airplane mode and the iPhone 12 lasted 17 hours, 14 minutes while the iPhone 12 Pro drained a bit faster at 15 hours, 56 minutes.

Due to its size, it's likely the iPhone 12 Pro Max has the biggest battery of the three.