I am currently trying, and failing quite a lot, to write my iPhone 12 review. Not because it isn’t an excellent phone, but it’s hard to review something that is basically the same as the old one. Cramming in 5g and changing the design to flat sides (why?) aside there is not a lot fundamentally changed. However, this has me thinking about a wider question of separating the iPhone from the iPhone Pro. What exactly is a Pro iPhone?

You tell your mum to buy an iPhone because it’s easy to use, you push the square you get the app. Yet dig a little deeper and you can delve into power features and now with iOS 14 actually start to customise your phone to whole new levels. The iPhone 12 Pro doesn’t change any of these interaction elements, which is both a good and a bad thing. It means that an iPhone feels like an iPhone. You’re using the same iPhone that you see in the hands of powerful people, but you’re also using the same iPhone as everyone else.

The Pro moniker appears to separate these two types of people now, creating a separate brand for those that like shiny things that are the best you can get in an iPhone package. Give those wanting something above and beyond the standard iPhone range, and also something to play into those that yearn for a status symbol. In the same way you see coffee shops littered with £2,000 macBook Pros for writing emails. A Pro for a Pro’s sake.