I had iPhone 12 Mini and then 14 and now 17. I can't practically tell the difference except for battery life, weight, and size.
Display is something I for sure started paying attention to when I was jumping back and forth between Android and Apple when I went from my OnePlus to Apple and then to Samsung noticed differences.
If GP picked up that 12 again, they’d notice.
And why should I? Reading text on the web, calling, sms’ing, listening to music or using navigation does not require “next gen” hardware. Hell, it doesn’t even require current gen hardware. It would probably work just fine on 2000s era hardware.