iPhone 12, 12 mini, and 12 Pro Announced: Prices, Release Date, Specs


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Apple’s event has announced the iPhone 12, all featuring wideband-5G.

Announced at their October 13th event, it comes in a new blue colour, alongside existing colours with a darker shade this time.

Apple are also announcing 5G across the whole line of iPhone this year, introducing the higher-speed network to the devices, similar to how 4G was brought to the iPhone back in 2012.

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With that, let’s go into the hardware that looks like a cross between an iPhone 5 and the iPhone 11.

Features

  • iPhone 12 mini
  • iPhone 12
  • iPhone 12 Pro
  • iPhone 12 Pro Max

5G has been confirmed to be in all the iPhone 12 models.

Design

The design is a cross between the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 5 from 2012. It is 11% thinner with an OLED screen, called the 'Super Retina XDR' display.

It also features a 'Ceramic Shield' for the screen, so there is even more protection if there are any sudden drops to your new iPhone 12.

Camera has a new ultra-wide camera with a 1.6 aperture, alongside improved 'night mode' which is now across all iPhone 12 models.

Mag Safe for iPhone is a new feature where you can magnetically recharge your iPhone, and even use certain accessories to attach pockets for your debit cards for example.

Performance

The A14 Bionic chip is in these new iPhone 12 models, built on 5nm technology, which means faster speeds, and better energy efficency.

11.8 billion transistors are on this chip, with six cores all involved in processing and image quality.

The neural engine, the part for machine learning and Siri, has had its performance doubled, which can mean faster responses and answers for when you ask or type in certain requests.

With 5G, there is a 'Smart Data Mode', which adjusts the cellular performance between 4G and 5G, depending on the strength of the network.

For the camera, 'Night Mode time-lapse' is a new feature for the iPhone 12, so if you like to take some of these videos at night, you can do it without worrying about any lack of light.

On the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, 'Apple Pro Raw' is a new technique where the image will be 'better rendered' in this format, by combining their machine learning, the three lenses, and the post-processing.

Also on the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, video is getting an upgrade. HDR video recording in 10-bit is now possible, which means 60x more colours can be captured than previously. It can also record in Dolby Vision HDR, so you can record all of this in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second.

One last feature exclusive to the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max is LiDAR. First appearing in the iPad Pro from earlier this year, this will result in precise effects for AR and video when editing, alongside autofocus in low light scenes.

Price

  • iPhone 12 mini - From $699
  • iPhone 12 - From $799
  • iPhone 12 Pro - From $999
  • iPhone 12 Pro Max - From$1099

Release Date

iPhone 12 and 12 Pro

  • Pre Order October 16th
  • Available October 23rd

iPhone 12 mini and Pro Max

  • Pre order November 6th
  • Available November 13th

An A14 in the room

For ten years, Apple has been implementing their chip into their many devices, starting with the iPhone 4, and are about to implement them into their Mac linw.

For the first couple of years, we would see the next ‘A’ chip appear in the iPad, and then the iPhone. But in time, it was the iPhone that had the chip first, followed by different varieties of the device, and iPad.

Due to COVID-19, Apple was also hit by changing plans, and they even confirmed a later release date of the next iPhone in their stock-call back in July due to the pandemic.

Which is mainly why we got an event this week of a new iPad Air with a new chip inside; the A14. Touting a smaller size at 5mm and even faster speeds, both from a CPU and GPU perspective, it’s the most powerful, fastest, and newest chip from Apple in a device at this present time.

But with a release date of ‘October’ and hints of an Apple Event in the same month to announce the next iPhone, it seems as though events are lining up behind the curtain.

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A hint towards the iPhone 12

The A14 looks to be in all the future iPhone 12 lines when they are hopefully announced next month, further blowing past the competition and gaining some noticeable speed increases, from the camera processing to the machine learning. It’s almost certain that we will see this chip in the new phones.

Yet, another feature also seems like it would be perfect for the next iPhones, and that’s TouchID in the power button of the new iPad Air. These new tablets don’t have FaceID, so you simply place your finger on the power button, it recognises your fingerprint, and lets you in. Hardening back to the iPhone SE and iPhone 5S, it’s a great design choice.

With wearing masks now standard in stores and many other places, using FaceID for ApplePay on your iPhone is incredibly frustrating. You either need to wait for the ‘enter passcode’ option to appear, or wait for the camera to recognise you. Both frustrating, and awkward.

If TouchID came to the power button in the iPhone, it would alleviate all of this. It’s a personal preference, but I’ve always preferred FaceID on the iPad, never the iPhone. I could even see it work great on the Apple Watch, but we are probably a few years away on that.

But it could give users a choice; FaceID or TouchID. We live in a ‘new normal’, so the next iPhone could help with this.

These features definitely hint towards other devices coming that reap the benefits of this. The A14 chip is also expected to appear in some variant in the Macs, with one device rumoured to be announced having ‘Apple Silicon’ instead of Intel chips, mainly the Macbook or iMac.

A top-notch product

The 'controversial' notch that has invaded the screens of recent iPhone's looks to be staying around for the iPhone 12 and 13, according to leaks.

Reliable leakers @UniversalIce posted an image showing how the iPhone notch will appear on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13, with the notch becoming slimmer on the latter phone.

This is still unconfirmed, at least for a few days, leaving us to wonder what Apple has up their sleeve to tempt us with, for our upgrades and our wallets.

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