iPhone 12 comes with 5G technology.
Many will not notice 2:47
(CNN Business) -
Apple's 5G line of smartphones is finally here.
The company announced four new iPhones at a virtual event Tuesday: the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, and a new, smaller iPhone 12 mini.
All phones are equipped with 5G, which means they can connect to next-generation high-speed wireless networks.
"This is a great time for all of us and we are very excited," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Apple expects its historically loyal user base to spend a lot of money to upgrade their equipment, even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate the economy and forces millions to stay home.
The cheapest phone in its new lineup, the iPhone 12 mini, starts at $ 699. The iPhone 12 Pro Max, with Apple's largest 17-centimeter smartphone screen, will start at $ 1,099. .
IPhone 12 release dates
The iPhone 12 and 12 Pro will be available for pre-order on October 16 and in stores on October 23.
Furthermore, the iPhone 12 mini and 12 Pro Max will be available for pre-order on November 6 and in stores on November 13.
The iPhone 12 comes in five colors: black, white, red, green, and blue.
It is thinner, smaller and lighter than its predecessor, the iPhone 11, the company said.
It also has an improved XDR screen and a new, tougher glass on top of the screen that Apple calls the Ceramic Shield.
The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini will have two cameras on the back, while the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max will add a third.
Apple also adds several software enhancements to the phones that will enable features such as night mode timelapses.
Apple is bracing itself for the potential impact of faster cell phone speeds on battery life.
The iPhone 12 will automatically detect when your phone doesn't need 5G and will switch to the slower LTE network to save battery life, the company explained.
The latest iPhones are powered by the new A14 Bionic chip, which the company claims is the "fastest (…) of any smartphone."
In a nod to its past, Apple reintroduces MagSafe, the name it gave to magnetic connectors on power adapters that used to ship with MacBooks before USB-C connectors.
Now it uses the name to designate a magnet on the back of the iPhone 12 that helps it snap into place with wireless chargers, for more efficient charging.
This also allows certain accessories, both from Apple and third parties, to sit on the back, like a slim wallet that the company showed off.
Wireless charging will also work through some accessories.
Behind the camera lenses
Like every year, Apple improves the iPhone camera systems.
The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini feature a dual camera system on the rear, with wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle lenses.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Max also add a telephoto lens.
The new devices also use software for better 'computational photography', which improves images by allowing more light and sharper focus, while enabling features such as night mode on wide-angle, ultra-wide and front-facing cameras on all The models.
The Pro Max has an even more powerful camera and Apple naturally touts it as the "best camera of all time" on an iPhone.
Its lenses allow a zoom of up to 5x from ultra wide angle to telephoto.
Zoom from main angle camera to telephoto is now 2.5x.
The image sensor on wide-angle cameras on Pro models is 47% larger than on previous iPhones, allowing for better low-light photography.
What will not go in the iPhone 12 box
Apple will ship the iPhone 12 without a headphone or charger block, a move aimed at reducing waste.
There are more than 2 billion Apple power adapters in the world, and many customers already own wired headphones or AirPods, said Lisa Jackson, vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives.
"Removing these items also means a smaller and lighter iPhone case," said Jackson.
"We can put up to 70% more items in a shipment," which reduces shipping emissions.
The new iPhone also uses 100% recycled rare earth elements for all magnets, including the camera and haptics.
Will people buy the iPhone 12?
The last time Apple launched a phone amid such economic uncertainty was the iPhone 3G in July 2008, when the United States was already in recession and just before the financial crisis intensified with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.
Now, covid-19 has overshadowed all aspects of life in 2020, including smartphone update cycles, and even Apple is not immune.
The company usually introduces its new iPhones in September, but this year the pandemic disrupted supply chains.
This led her to announce that smartphones would ship later than usual.
The power of 5G in this context
There's also the question of how much 5G will motivate users to switch to the iPhone 12. Apple is relatively late in the 5G contest.
Competitors like Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Google have had 5G smartphones on the market for months.
However, the 5G networks themselves are still in a nascent stage.
The full deployment of 5G networks in the United States is expected to take between five and seven years, according to analysts.
Only 13% of smartphones sold in the first half of 2020 had 5G capabilities, and only 6% of customers would rate 5G as a primary factor in their next smartphone purchase, according to research firm Canalys.
For now, the list of 5G-enabled consumer services and capabilities remains relatively short.
Uploads and downloads will be faster over the new network, which will be especially noticeable with large files such as videos or movies.
Over high-band 5G networks, it might be possible to download a two-hour movie in less than 10 seconds.
This compared to about 7 minutes it takes with 4G.
It will take a while for more services to be created that take advantage of the speeds and bandwidth of 5G, which means that consumers may want to wait to pay for a 5G device.
But wait, there's more
Apple also released a new version of its smart speaker called the HomePod Mini.
The speaker has new acoustic technology that gives it better 360-degree sound quality, the company said.
Additionally, multiple HomePod Minis can be connected to each other to create a home entertainment system.
The speaker also connects to Apple's Home app to control lights, thermostats, and other smart home devices.
The HomePod Mini goes on sale November 6 and will cost $ 99.
Kaya Yurieff, Rachel Metz, and Clare Duffy, all from CNN Business, contributed to this report.
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