Every year Apple releases a new iPhone, and every year we note that it is faster and has a better camera, along with one or two other small feature changes. In rare years, like with the introduction of the iPhone X, we get a dramatic shift in design and capabilities.

The iPhone 12 Pro is sort of an odd entry in the series. Yes, it’s faster and has a better camera, though neither change is exactly seismic. And it’s got a really nice new design, but even that feels familiar and cautious. But it also has several significant new capabilities that may eventually prove to be transformative.

Call it “untapped potential” or call it “future-proof,” but the iPhone 12 Pro’s most significant advancements are sort of waiting for the rest of the world to do something great with them.

A FRESH NEW ELEGANT DESIGN

Since the introduction of the iPhone X in 2017, Apple has stuck with essentially the same iPhone design, making a few modest tweaks each year. The iPhone 12 brings the first real change in three years, with no rounded bezels and totally flat edges, just like the iPad Pro. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro look essentially the same—they can even use the exact same cases—but the Pro model has a stainless steel band around the outside instead of aluminum and is available in different colors. The new Pacific Blue is especially nice.

Last year’s iPhone 11 Pro had one of the best displays of any smartphone, and it’s essentially unchanged in the iPhone 12 Pro. The flat edges allow Apple to push the screen even further toward the edges, growing the display from 5.8 inches to 6.1 inches in a body almost the same size. The pixel