iPhone 5 review: The 2012 redesign — taller screen, aluminium body, Lightning port.
The 2012 iPhone that brought Lightning and a taller screen.
The iPhone 5 introduced the Lightning port and the 4-inch display. It is firmly a vintage device — a milestone in connector history more than a usable phone.
01Display
44/10044/100 is one of the weaker display results among flagship phones of 2012 — 22 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
02Camera
38/10038/100 is one of the weaker camera results among flagship phones of 2012 — 20 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
03Performance
22/10022/100 is one of the weaker performance results among flagship phones of 2012 — 31 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
04Battery
36/10036/100 is one of the weaker battery results among flagship phones of 2012 — 24 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
05Build
60/10060/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2012.
06Value
30/10030/100 is one of the weaker value results among flagship phones of 2012 — 18 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
- Introduced the Lightning connector, replacing the 30-pin dock.
- First taller 4-inch iPhone display.
- Light, all-aluminium unibody.
- First iPhone with LTE.
- Tiny 1,440 mAh battery.
- Stuck on iOS 10; no Touch ID.
- Known for chipped anodised edges.
- Discontinued — a vintage device.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 82-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .