iPhone 16 vs iPhone 12: See how the camera has changed in four years

To say that the iPhone 16’s camera is a quantum leap over the iPhone 12 might be an understatement. From the higher-resolution 48-megapixel main camera compared to the iPhone 12’s 12-megapixel shooter, to the support for macro photography and a significantly smaller zoom lens, the iPhone’s camera has certainly come a long way in the past four years.

Since getting a better camera is one of the most popular reasons people upgrade their phones, according to CNET’s research in partnership with YouGov, I decided to put the latest iPhone’s camera to the test with the iPhone 12 to see how dramatic Apple’s changes have been. Suffice to say, if you’re upgrading from an iPhone 12 or older, you’ll notice a big jump in camera quality. I’m not even including new features like photographic styles or the camera control button; the huge difference in overall image quality is enough to make the iPhone 16 a worthwhile camera upgrade over the iPhone 12.

Each photo below was taken in the same place and at the same time with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 12. None of the photos have been edited. Unless otherwise noted, each iPhone 16 photo was taken at the native iPhone 16 24-megapixel resolution.

iPhone 16 24 MP vs iPhone 12 12 MP

The iPhone 16 photo looks brighter, sharper and much more colorful. You can really see the softness in the iPhone 12 image if you look at the grass, leaves, and flowers on the bottom left edge of the photo.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

iPhone 16 48 megapixel vs iPhone 12 12 megapixel

The iPhone 16 photo below was taken at the sensor’s full 48-megapixel resolution. At first glance, these photos may look similar. If you zoom in, you can see that the iPhone 16 retains so much more detail in everything from the bricks to the red cladding of the roof, even down to the plants in the bottom left corner.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

Ultrawide camera

The iPhone 16 image has more contrast and detail. At first they may look alike. When you zoom in, you can see the grooves in the Astor Place Cube more clearly, as well as more detail and shadows in the background trees and buildings. The iPhone 12 photo also looks slightly overexposed.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

Macro mode

The iPhone 16’s macro mode is much sharper and brighter, with more vibrant tones. There is no competition.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

Zoom to 2x

The plants in the iPhone 16 image are noticeably sharper and you can see the grooves and water droplets on the leaves in much more detail. I couldn’t keep the fish still, but you can see that the orange color looks more vibrant in the iPhone 16 photo than in the iPhone 12 photo.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

Zoom to 5x

This one is a no-brainer. Note that neither phone has a telephoto zoom lens, so these are digitally zoomed. The iPhone 16 photo is sharper and the colors look much more vibrant and bold.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

Maximum zoom

The iPhone 16 has a maximum digital zoom of 10x, which is twice as much as the 5x digital zoom of the iPhone 12. The results speak for themselves.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

Low light

In this photo, taken in a dark room in CNET’s office, the iPhone 16 did a better job of keeping the plant’s leaves clearly in focus. You can really notice this at the top of the plant, which starts to look blurry in the iPhone 12 photo. Plus, it was a lot faster when taking photos in the dark compared to the iPhone 12.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

Selfie

The iPhone 12’s image holds up surprisingly well here, but the iPhone 16’s is slightly sharper, and the iPhone 12’s image looks slightly washed out at the top of my head due to the way the light hits it.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

Regular portrait

In this photo of my colleague Bridget Carey, the iPhone 16 did a better job of lighting her face evenly and rendering a more accurate skin tone, while her face looks washed out in the iPhone 12 image. There’s also more variation in the shadows captured by the iPhone 16, while in the iPhone 12 image they are more even in terms of depth and darkness.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

Portrait mode

This photo of Bridget, taken in portrait mode, also looks better taken with the iPhone 16. In addition to the better lighting and more accurate skin tone, the iPhone 16 is better at separating the subject from the blurred background, making her stand out more . Just look at the top of Bridget’s head, where her hair meets the background, to see what I mean.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

For a four-year-old phone, the iPhone 12’s camera surprised me in a number of circumstances. After comparing nearly a dozen sets of photos side by side, it’s clear that the iPhone 16 is a big step forward in photography.