iPhone 6s Plus

I don’t know if I should buy the iPhone 12 Pro Max or iPhone 12 mini

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IMG_1833At the Apple Store looking at the accessories for the iPhone 12.

Less than 24 hours from Preorder Day, I am facing a dilemma – should I buy the 12 mini or should I go ahead and go straight for a 12 Pro Max?

The Plus size iPhones

I have always been using the plus size phones, ever since the 6s Plus came out. They have been hard to control one handed, and thus I have always stuck bunker rings on the back of the iPhone cases to make them usable. Simply put, I cannot control any of the iPhones today without a bunker ring. That is also why I have not been utilising wireless charging for the iPhones since the 8 Plus, as the bunker rings were preventing the iPhones from getting a proper charge.

The Pro Max is really heavy

The plus size phones also used to be thinner and lighter during the 6 Plus to 8 Plus era, but beginning with the Xs Max, they have grown in both absolute size and weight. The 11 Pro Max is now so heavy that when I am using the phone in bed, it always feels like my hand/finger is going to break from holding the phone up above my face. According to Apple, the iPhone 12 Pro Max has the exact same weight as the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Finally the return of a mini iPhone

This year, due to the introduction of the iPhone 12 mini, I had made up my mind to try out the smaller phone at launch, with the idea that if I do not like it, I can always let go of the 12 mini some months later, and get a 12 Pro Max at a lower price from alternative resale channels then.

iPhone 12 Pro component shortages?

However, today’s news that Apple is having issues locating enough components for the iPhone 12 Pros (and likely the Pro Max, since they share similar components) now make me wonder if I have made the correct decision to preorder the 12 mini tomorrow. Maybe I should just go ahead and order the Pro Max first tomorrow and only switch to a 12 mini in a few months if I do not like it?

Upgrade later? Downgrade later?

I have always preferred to have the 512GB version of the Pro Max, but however, I can not afford Apple’s MSRP for that particular model. Preordering tomorrow will mean that I have to settle for the 256GB, and might regret my decision in a few months. Also, as the prices of the Pro models are a lot higher, their value also drop quite a bit more in the resale channels after some time, compared to the regular models. Downgrading from a 12 Pro Max to a 12 mini runs the chance that I will likely lose more money overall than if I upgrade from a 12 mini to a 12 Pro Max after a few months. And money is important in a year where I am jobless. Seriously I should not even be buying the iPhone 12, but this is the only time of the year when I am the happiest, and saving up to purchase the yearly iPhone is one of the main drivers keeping me sane from work (and for this year, from COVID-19). So I really want one.

But I still do not know what I want.

iPhone 6s and 6s Plus headphone ports suffer from possible electrical noise interference

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Well-known Youtuber and Headfier lachlanlikesathing discovers that the iPhone 6s and the 6s Plus suffers from bad design (likely from the additional of the taptic engine and the new pressure-sensing display unit) where the isolation of the headphone port from electrical noise is less than ideal – sensitive IEMs and headphones pick up audible buzzing during normal operation of the phones.

Below are the videos he has posted regarding the issue, and here is the thread on Head-fi discussing the issue.

Registration of Interest for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus for all telcos

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If you have missed Apple’s preorders for the new iPhones last Saturday, or if you buy your annual iPhones from the local telcos like most of us, here are the various links for registering your interest to purchase this year’s iPhones.

Singtel

Starhub – Preorder closes 16th Sep, 12pm.

M1 – Registration now closed.

Unlike previous years, it seems like this year, at least for Starhub and M1, the telcos will be doing a staggered registration process where groups of customers will be invited to pre-purchase the iPhone online at differing time and dates, probably to prevent the annual server-crashing preorder load.

*fake* iPhone 6s resolution to be 2K, iPhone 6s Plus to be 2208×1242

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Proven fake

So a Chinese source claims the iPhone 6s will now sport an increased resolution of 2000×1125 while the iPhone 6s Plus will now sport a increased resolution of 2208×1242.

While Cult of Mac might be sceptical, the listed resolutions are highly possible.

When the iPhone 6 Plus was first announced, it was the first iOS device to use Retina 3X elements, meaning, in actual fact, the iPhone 6 Plus hardware is effectively outputting a effective resolution of 2208×1242, and then applies a software scaler to downscale the resolution to 1920×1080, effectively both lowering actual resolution while letting the performance of the iPhone 6 Plus take a hit.

Theories such as the need to save battery life with higher resolution screens being more power hungry were put up as reasons for the downscaled resolution of the iPhone 6 Plus.

What if, the reason for the downscaled resolution is simply that Apple could not get enough low-energy high resolution screens for the kind of scale the iPhones require during the last generation? If so, it makes perfect sense to remove the downscaling this time round now that they have secured enough low-energy (probably IGZO) high resolution screens for the next generation of iPhones.

Thus, the native 2208×1242 resolution for the iPhone 6s Plus.

For the iPhone 6s, it is simply a matter of changing the Retina 2X elements used in the iPhone 6 to using the Retina 3X elements this time round, making both iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus use Retina 3X elements.

This also effectively increased the ppi of the iPhone 6s to 488ppi, which is higher than the iPhone 6s Plus’ 460ppi if the 2208×1242 resolution is real.

Seriously speaking, high-end Android phones long have such high density screens, and it makes zero sense for Apple to stay away from them especially if the battery life will no longer take a hit from using these screens.

I for one will like a 488ppi iPhone 6s in Rose Gold.