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
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click to zoom infographics
iPhone 12 model full specs
