More than an year of waiting, and Apple has finally bestowed upon us its latest blessing-the iPhone 12(s). However, the question is, after all the waiting (especially the extra month that was added due to the coronavirus), has the company delivered? Read more to find out.
Starting from the top, Apple launched 4 new variants of the iPhone 12 today, much like the leaks had predicted. The sizes varied from 5.4 inches (for the iPhone 12 mini) to 6.7 inches (for the iPhone 12 Pro Max), with both the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro standing 6.1 inches tall. The company has decided to stick with the notch (which is already a deal breaker for me), despite the industry having moved on from the idea a couple of years ago.
These new devices will come in 5 new colours- Red, Green, White, Black and Blue, and will start at 64 GB, but will go up to 128 GB and max out at 256 GB.
The company has decided to bring back the ‘boxy’ design from the iPhone 4, which actually looks pretty darn amazing, even though it’s not really ‘new’ per say. And of course, there will no be more earpods or charger included in the bundle, which isn’t a surprise after the Apple Watch launch last month, but still a bummer.
While the new iPhone has adapted to 5G, Apple could not manage to include a screen with a faster refresh rate (like the 120 Hz display on the Galaxy Note or heck, even the 90 Hz display on the OnePlus Nord).
Up until now, it looks like the phone does not have anything noteworthy, but this is where things start taking a turn for the better. The latest ARM based processor-A14 Bionic, will provide a leap in the iPhone’s computing power, dwarfing its competition by a mile. The new 5nm based A14 is beast, and outperforms the iPhone 11 series by a 17-18% margin in single and multicore performance.
The company has launched a new OLED display, which it has decided to call “Super Retina XDR”, with twice as many pixels as iPhone 11.
Moreover, iPhones have always had exceptional cameras, and this year is no exception. The iPhone 12 and Mini will have 2 camera setups, a 12 MP Ultra Wide lens with a 13mm focal length and 120 degree field of view. The other, simply the ‘Wide’ lens, is also 12 MP, with a 26 mm focal length and Optical Image stabilization.
The company has also announced something that it calls the “Ceramic shield”, which is being hailed as the toughest smartphone glass ever, with 4 times better drop performance than its predecessor.
The 5.4 inch iPhone 12 mini will be priced at $699, and the prices just go higher from there. The iPhone 12 itself has been priced at $799. However, as is the norm, the devices have been priced exorbitantly high in India, with the mini starting at Rs. 69,900 and the iPhone 12 coming in at Rs. 79,900.
The ‘Pro’ iPhone 12:
The company also announced two devices under the Pro title, the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, which start at 128GB, and will include 256GB and 512GB models.
These higher variants will be available in 4 colours- Blue, Gold, Silver, and graphite, to distinct them from the low end versions.
The Pro cameras have three camera setups, with varying focus. That’s right, while the iPhone 4 has 4x optical zoom, Pro Max has 5x, which isn’t a big jump, but is still an improvement. The phones will have an ‘Ultra Wide’ sensor, a ‘Wide’ lens and a telephoto camera.
The Pro versions will be priced higher than the original iPhone 12 and mini, as expected, with the Pro carrying a price tag of $999, and the Max priced at $1,099. In India, the iPhone 12 Pro starts at Rs. 1,19,000, while the iPhone 12 Pro Max comes in at a lavishly high Rs. 1,29,000.
Magsafe coming to iPhone:
Apple also announced that it is bringing back the MagSafe to iPhone, something that used to be associated with the MacBook.
