Apple today announced the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 with OLED panels and 5G connectivity. The new iPhones come after months of leaks and a few weeks of delay due to the pandemic.
The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 are big upgrades over the iPhone 11 lineup and come with a new design. The aluminum body is now completely flush and Apple has also repositioned the antenna for better network reception. Apple is also offering the iPhone 12-like features in a smaller package with the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini that should please a lot of customers who have been looking for a compact iPhone.
iPhone 12 mini
The iPhone 12 mini features a 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR display. Thanks to the bezel-less design, the iPhone 12 mini has similar dimensions as the iPhone 7/8 despite packing a bigger 5.4-inch display. The Super Retina XDR display supports HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG, and comes with smaller bezels allowing for the compact form factor. The display has a notch to house the Face ID components.
iPhone 12
The iPhone 12 is the successor to the existing iPhone 11. While the display size remains unchanged on the iPhone 12, it now features a Super Retina XDR panel. Up until last year, the OLED display was one of the highlights of Apple’s ‘Pro’ iPhone lineup but the company is changing that this year. Apart from the obvious benefits that an OLED panel brings, the iPhone 12 now also features narrow bezels than the iPhone 11 giving a more immersive experience. Apple says the new iPhone 12 is 11% thinner, 15% smaller, and 16% lighter than the iPhone 11 despite the same display size. The display also supports Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG. The display on the device is protected by a Ceramic Shield cover glass which Apple says is the most durable cover glass ever and in its testing offered 4x better drop performance. The new iPhones also feature IP68 certification that has now been improved further and rated to work in 6m depth of water.
A14 Bionic
The iPhone 12 lineup uses the same A14 Bionic chip that Apple first debuted inside the iPad Air refresh announced last month. Apple says the A14 Bionic features 11.8 billion transistors and it is based on a 5nm fabrication process. The 6-core CPU of the chip offers a 40 percent boost in performance while the 4-core GPU brings about a 30 percent performance jump. The Neural Engine has also gotten a major boost and now boasts of 16 cores making it twice as fast as before. Lastly, the second-generation ML boosts machine learning calculations by 10 times.
Apple claims the new CPU is 50% faster than other smartphone CPUs in the market. The GPU is also up to 50% faster than any other smartphone GPU. With such a massive performance bump across the board, the iPhone 12 lineup is once again going to set a new bar in terms of performance. The faster Neural Engine, ISP, and ML will also greatly benefit apps that are increasingly relying on them for complex and specific tasks.
Smart Data Mode and 5G
Apple is debuting a new Smart Data Mode with the iPhone 12 lineup. Using this feature, the new iPhones automatically switch to LTE to save on battery life but switch back to 5G when an application demands it. In its testing, Apple has seen the iPhone 12 reach download speeds as high as 4Gbps. All iPhone 12 units sold in the United States will also support mmWave 5G which allows these phones to offer gigabit+ download speeds. On LTE, the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 offers download speeds of up to 2Gbps.
Dual-Cameras
Both iPhone 12 models feature a dual-camera setup at the rear. The 12MP ultra-wide shooter has a 120-degree FoV with f/2.4 aperture and a primary 12MP shooter with OIS and an f/1.6 aperture. The primary shooter uses a new 7P lens that offers better low-light performance. Apple is also debuting Smart HDR3 and also improving Night Mode by adding support for the ultra-wide and the front selfie camera.
The new iPhone 12 models will be able to record better low-light videos and Apple is also introducing a Night mode Time-lapse.
MagSafe for iPhone
With the iPhone 12 lineup, Apple is debuting MagSafe for iPhone. The iPhone comes with magnets inside that allows wireless chargers to auto-align themselves to the rear of the device. This also allows MagSafe chargers to automatically snap at the back of the device. The iPhone 12 lineup can also charge at up to 15W speeds wirelessly. Apple is introducing a host of MagSafe accessories, with third-party case makers also expected to announce more such cases.
No Charger and EarPods
In a bid to reduce the environmental waste, Apple will no longer be bundling the EarPods and a power adapter with the iPhone 12 lineup in the box. This will allow the company to reduce the carbon emission and also reduce the size of its retail packaging. On the plus side, Apple is going to bundle a USB-C to Lightning cable with every iPhone 12 variant now.
Price and Availability
The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 will be available in Black, Blue, Product(RED), Green, and White colors. The iPhone 12 Pro will go up for pre-order from October 16th and hit retail stores starting October 23rd. As for pricing, the iPhone 12 mini starts from $699 while the iPhone 12 starts from $799. The iPhone 12 mini will go up for pre-order on Nov 6 and retail availability starts from Nov 13. Find more details about the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 price, release date, and availability here.
