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Apple takes the wraps off a quartet of iPhone 12 smartphones

by Mark Tyson on 14 October 2020, 10:11

Tags: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

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Apple hosted its 'Hi, Speed' event yesterday evening and as expected launched a quartet of updated iPhone models. The new Apple iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12, and iPhone 12 mini all have a number of important key specs in common, as they all offer up; 5G connectivity, A14 Bionic processing, OLED displays, Ceramic Shield design, Night Mode photography, and work with the new MagSafe accessories. With this new iPhone 12 lineup there is a broad range of screen sizes and prices too.

Above I mentioned the Apple A14 Bionic SoC. Apple boasts that this is the first smartphone chip to be built on the 5nm process and packs in 11.8bn transistors. This latest A-Series processor has six CPU cores, four GPU cores, and is claimed to be the fastest smartphone processor ever with up to 50 per cent faster CPU and GPU than the competition. It has been designed for "enabling console-quality gaming experiences, powerful computational photography, and more, while delivering great battery life," says Apple.

The A14 SoC is already present in the CPU Monkey database
where it tops the multi-platform Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core) chart.

In addition to the conventional processing uplifts, the A14 Bionic pushes forward with ML processing by featuring a 16-core Neural Engine, capable of up to 11TOPS. This makes it about 80 per cent faster at ML / AI processing than its predecessor, it is claimed.

Magsafe is another common spec of these iPhones worth highlighting. A circular array of magnets on the back of the iPhone allows for easy to place optimal wireless charging at up to 15W. It remains compatible with the Qi standard (but with slower charging). There are other non-charging MagSafe accessories that use the magnets for snap-on cases, and wallets - more accessories are expected from third parties in due course. On the topic of charging, you won't find a charger brick in the box with these phones, just a USB-C to Lightning cable (and no headset either).

Camera advances are another big draw for those looking to upgrade their iPhones. Here the Pro and regular models start to differ. Basically the Pro models feature more/better cameras and sensors with an accompanying LiDAR sensor for measuring light and depth info from a scene. The Pro camera array's LiDAR enables AR experiences too. Check out the iPhone 12 Pro / Max highlights video below.

All the new iPhones come with iOS 14 which is the first iOS to come with widgets for at-a-glance home screen info.

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini will be available in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB models in blue, green, black, white, and (PRODUCT) RED, starting at £799 and £699, respectively. iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max will be available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB models in graphite, silver, gold, and pacific blue, starting at £999 and £1,099, respectively.

Iphone 12 (Mini) / iPhone 12 Pro (Max) infographics

click to zoom infographics

iPhone 12 model full specs



HEXUS Forums :: 19 Comments

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Why only 12MP cameras, I would have thought Apple would have sought parity or close parity to the Samsung S20 which has 108MP Wide and 48MP Telephoto
I had to laugh at LTT today - why put a lightning>usb-c cable when the old brick you surely have is a type-a port? Oh yes… so you HAVE to buy another a $20 or a cable at $15
You know I kind of find the irony in this quite funny. Apple/Apple users kept going on about fragmentation on Android and part of that was to do with screen resolutions all being different… then subsequently release current phones with differing resolutions based on screen size. Every iphone 12 released has a different resolution, the ppi is pretty consistent however.

Got to love their marketing as always… we've removed stuff for the environment (I don't mind this) but we're not lowering the price of the phone though (seems to have gone up in some cases). I'm sure they'll say 5G costs more, but I'm sure the savings in shipping and not adding items will save them far more than the cost increase, not to mention after sales on cables (hadn't watched LTT but if 3dcandy is right…) and maybe chargers.


Now don't get me wrong I do like one thing that Apple has done and usually that means Android manufacturers will follow… they've released a SMALL phone. I'm one of those rare people that doesn't want to have a tablet strapped to their face when using the phone part of my mobile and the new iPhone mini is basically the same size as my old moto g which if given a full screen would be the perfect size for me…so come on android people, higher spec and small screen size please :).
way behind the competition but don't forget apple has religious not customers.
mark_a_scott
Why only 12MP cameras, I would have thought Apple would have sought parity or close parity to the Samsung S20 which has 108MP Wide and 48MP Telephoto
Pixel count =/= quality
It all depends on usage - outdoors in good light, you might pick up additional detail from those high pixel sensors (though they pixel bin too). Indoors, a good 12mp sensor with a good lens could easily beat it.
Remember too the 108 and 48 are binned to 26 and 12mp themselves, and that the 26 vs 12 is only a 45% increase in horizontal/verical resolution vs the 12.
The Google Pixel 5 is 12mp too….