Apple held a virtual event on Tuesday where the company unveiled its iPhone 12 lineup which consists of four new devices.
The exciting thing is that all four devices come with 5G, making Apple iPhones a lot faster. The devices are 5.4-inch iPhone 12 Mini, 6.1-inch iPhone 12, 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro, and 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Max.
Preorders for the two middle phones begin tomorrow and sales will begin next week with the Mini and Max arriving at the general public in mid-November.
The Mini is one of the cheapest 5G phones in the market with a starting price of $699 while the starting price for Max is $1099. All the international versions of the phones make use of 5G with only the US versions having mmWave.
The whole iPhone 12 lineup is made up of a new design that is quite similar to Apple iPad Pro tablets. The sides of the phones are flatter, thus, giving it a new feel for the past three years.
The phones all come with a “ceramic shield” that is very strong. Apple describes the glass as tougher than any other smartphone’s glass and is four times less likely to crack if it drops.
The phones all come with Apple’s updated A14 Bionic, which is present in the new iPad Air alongside getting updates in their camera capabilities.
The new lineup, however, does not come with free AirPods and power adapter that usually comes with iPhones. Apple’s revamped Magsafe charger can be used to charge them. The charger makes use of magnetic pins to aid in the connection of the charging cable with the back of the device.
Asides from charging, it also serves as a magnetic attachment system for several accessories, all of which can fit into the back of the iPhone 12. In the box of the new iPhones, lightning to USB-C connector is included.
The 5G connectivity which was added makes it a first for Apple’s device lineup. 5G is reported to run between 10 and 100 times faster than your typical 4G connection, thus, making it easier to download and stream videos, and makes gaming and video streaming much smoother due to its sharp responsiveness.
5G will change the course of our lives just like 4G brought about apps like Uber. Most consumers are not using 5G yet though, so it’s still in its early stage. The iPhone switches seamlessly from 4G to 5G simply to conserve battery power.
For high definition streaming when 5G is needed, the device will tap automatically into the network, otherwise, it will activate 4G connectivity. 5G processors consume battery speedily and have caused overheating in previous devices because they are still new. Switching from 4G to 5G automatically is how Apple aims to solve those issues.
Apple launched the products via a virtual event on Tuesday in a similar fashion to the launch of its iPad and Apple Watch Series 6 earlier in October. A new $99 Homepod Mini smart speaker was first unveiled before the introduction of the 5G iPhones.
The Complete iPhone 12 Lineup
The iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max consists of stainless steel bands coming in four finishes which are silver, gold, graphic, and Pacific blue. The 12 Pro features a 6.1-inch display with the Pro Max coming with a 6.7-inch screen.
The two devices have three rear-facing cameras with LiDAR for depth mapping, AR, and low-light autofocus. The 12 Pro has a telephoto lens with an optical zoom of 2.5X while the Pro Max has an optical zoom of 5X, a large increase from the 2X optical zoom of older generations. Both get other changes in camera and possess storage options of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB.
The iPhone 12 features an Aluminium frame and new antennas all around the device to aid connection to the 5G networks. It will come in green, black, white, blue, and Product (Red), and will feature a 6.1-inch, Super Retina XDR OLED display with bezels smaller than its predecessors.
The iPhone 12 is 11% slimmer, 16% lighter, and 15% smaller than the previous iPhone 11 and comes with storage options of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. The device also comes with two 12MP camera lenses alongside which are f2.4 ultra-wide and f1.6 wide and can capture photos using Night Mode, as well as night timelapse.
The 5.4-inch iPhone 12 Mini is almost similar to the iPhone 12 other than its screen size and weight.
Delay in Arrival
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the whole world, the new iPhones are coming about a month later than normal. The virus was first discovered in China causing a delay in the production of the iPhone and several other products.
