The iPhone 12 series brings top-notch design, world-class connectivity, and an improved Night-mode camera to the nation's most popular phone. But with four similar models, which one is best? It's complicated.

Excellent Night mode camera; Better 4G (and 5G) than previous iPhones; Beautiful build; Solid battery life

Several similar; but not-quite-the-same models; AT&T and Verizon 5G underwhelms; Charging and power adapter situation is confusing

Hard-edged phones for a hard-edged year, Apple's iPhone 12 series brings a solid feel, excellent screens, better low-light camera performance, and improved network connectivity to America's most popular smartphone line. If you have an iPhone more than a year old, one of the four new iPhones is worth your money. The trick is figuring out which one. I'm the 5G guy, and during the iPhone 12 launch, Apple talked about 5G a lot. The iPhone 12 is the best 5G phone so far, but Verizon's and AT&T's so-called "nationwide" 5G aren't worth your time. T-Mobile's mid-band 5G does deliver improved performance, but T-Mobile doesn't have a map for that system, which makes it hard to find. That said, as I'll detail momentarily, the iPhone 12 series improves 4G performance enough that it's worth buying just for that. There are four new iPhones; and they're not all that different from one another. You're reading our main review of the iPhone 12 (starts at $799 for 64GB), which overlaps our review of...

The iPhone 12 series brings top-notch design, world-class connectivity, and an improved Night-mode camera to the nation's most popular phone. But with four similar models, which one is best? It's complicated.

Excellent Night mode camera; Better 4G (and 5G) than previous iPhones; Beautiful build; Solid battery life

Several similar, but not-quite-the-same models; AT&T and Verizon 5G underwhelms; Charging and power adapter situation is confusing

“The iPhone 12 offers incredible value for $799, and calls into question how many people need to buy a 12 Pro.”

Excellent camera performance; Fast and consistent software; Beautiful and colorful hardware; Good battery life; 5G connectivity

Light body feels a bit cheap; MagSafe offers little right now

The iPhone 12 is the ideal iPhone for most people, thanks to class-leading screen quality, high-quality cameras and great future-proofing (including 5G). But these features come at slightly high price compared to competitors.

Fantastic HDR screen; High-quality camera system; Future-proofed with 5G and powerful innards; New design and build quality; Small and lighter than iPhone 11

More expensive than iPhone 11 was; Average battery life; Only a dual-lens camera; 60Hz screen; Face ID-only isn't ideal in masked times

The iPhone 12 isn’t just the right iPhone for most people, it’s one of the best smartphones ever made.

Fantastic display with an elegant design, Excellent camera with spectacular low-light capabilities, Insanely good performance and battery life, 5G future-proofing

No 120Hz ProMotion or always-on display, No telephoto camera

Apple's iPhone 12 is probably the one you should get. Save that $200 and put them towards some cool accessories.

New design is pretty and compact; OLED screen; finally! MagSafe is cool and has potential; Outstanding performance; One of the best cameras on a smartphone

No charger; no headphones in the box; 64 GB of storage is fine; but feels a bit stingy in current ecosystem; No telephoto lens; No ultra high refresh rate

Apple iPhone 12: It’s difficult to find fault with the iPhone 12, but Android phones still have the edge on value

Dolby Vision video capture; 5G in an iPhone at last; Thinner and lighter than the iPhone 11

No high refresh rate display; Middling battery life

The iPhone 12 marks a significant design improvement on the last three years of iPhones. Like a skilful remix of the good bits of a decade of iPhones, the iPhone 12 harks back to the stellar design of the iPhone 4 while keeping the all-screen front, Face ID and excellent gesture system of the iPhone...

The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are the more sensible half of Apple’s new smartphone range for 2020, and that’s as it should be. Nestling right at the heart of the mobile market, they replace the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro as the go-to choice for savvy shoppers, and this time around the list of...

Physical design looks and feels great; Excellent cameras; A14 Bionic performance is stellar

5G is nice; but not reason alone to upgrade; Battery life doesn't match last year; Still Lightning not USB-C

The iPhone 12 has easily the best display of any entry-level Apple phone and the move to high-resolution OLED is a brilliant one

Snappy design; Shoot and edit in Dolby Vision; 5G; at last; Blazing-fast performance