Apple goes all-5G, all-OLED with new iPhone 12 family

It has finally happened. Apple has finally embraced 5G technology with its new iPhone 12 lineup. The new iPhone 12 family is also all-in with edge-to-edge Super Retina XDR displays and a new Ceramic Shield front cover developed by Corning, the toughest glass to date. Unsurprisingly, the new phones are powered by Apple silicon—the A14 Bionic, the fastest ever smartphone chip. For the first time, Apple also introduces MagSafe to it iPhone line, offering a new way to wirelessly charge as well as connect to a new ecosystem of accessories.

The new iPhone 12 family packs uprated camera systems—the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini with dual cameras, while the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro with triple-camera setups.

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini

The new iPhones feature a new flat-edge design reminiscent of the iPhone 4, which was revisited with the iPad Pro. The aerospace-grade aluminium chassis is combined with a Ceramic Shield front cover, which Apple claims delivers increased drop performance of 4x. The new body offers an IP68 rating with water-resistance of up to 6m for up to 30 minutes.

The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini sports 6.1-inch and 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR displays, respectively, making the iPhone lineup, for the first time, all-OLED. The amazing displays offer 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and HDR, with nearly twice the peak brightness of iPhone 11.

In terms of cameras, iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini push the boundaries of computational photography, thanks to the new A14 Bionic and dual-camera system.

The 12MP f/2.4 ultra-wide camera is coupled with a new wide 12MP camera with f/1.6 aperture, the fastest yet on iPhone.

Together, they offer powerful computational photography including Nigh mode, Deep Fusion and TrueDepth on all cameras. Smart HDR 3 uses ML to intelligently adjust white balance, contrast, texture and saturation of a photo to produce naturally-looking images.

From the samples seen during the Apple Event keynote, they do look amazing.

What’s also amazing is the ability to now shoot HDR video wit Dolby Vision—making iPhone the only device in the world to enable an end-to-end Dolby Vision experience. Dolby Vision grading is processed live while recording and can be edited in the Photos app or iMovie.

The Apple A14 Bionic is the first chip in the smartphone industry to be built on the 5nm process. It is up to 50 per cent faster than competitors and the Neural Engine now packs 15-cores, delivering 80 per cent increase in performance, capable of completing 11 million operations per second.

iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max

For the ultimate iPhone experience, the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max feature the best-of-the-best Apple technologies including 5G, all-new Ceramic Shield front cover, Apple A14 Bionic, and Super Retina XDR displays. The new super-fast A14 Bionic chip powers the all-new Apple ProRAW format in photos and first end-to-end Dolby Vision video experience in 4K, up to 60fps. The Pro models also introduce a new LiDAR Scanner for immersive augmented reality (AR) experiences.

The iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max boast a new flat-edge design that features a surgical-grade stainless steel band with a precision-milled glass back. The front cover glass is infused with nano-ceramic crystals to improve toughness and drop performance by 4x.

5G on the iPhone 12 models promises improved download and upload speeds, higher quality video streaming, more responsive gaming, real-time interactivity and high-definition FaceTime calls. The iPhone 12 models offer the broadest 5G coverage worldwide and comes with Smart Data mode, which intelligently assesses your connectivity needs and switches from 5G to LTE to balance data usage, speed, and power.

The iPhone 12 Pro camera gets a boost with the powerful A14 Bionic chip and a new image signal processor (ISP), enabling outstanding computational photography capabilities. With its new iPhones, Apple is introducing Apple ProRAW, a new format, coming later this year, that combines multi frame image processing and computational photography with the versatility of the RAW format.

The iPhone 12 Pro sports a new seven-element lens with a super fast f/1.6 aperture that delivers 27 per cent improvement in low-light conditions. The main camera is paired with a new ultra wide camera with 120-degree field-of-view and a 52mm focal length telephoto camera with an optical range of 4x.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max goes one up with the same seven-element lens with f/1.6 aperture but coupled with a new 47 per cent larger 12MP sensor with 1.7-micron pixels that delivers 87 per cent improvement in low-light conditions. It features the same ultra-wide camera as the Pro but has a 65mm focal length telephoto camera that offers 5x optical range, measured from the ultra-wide lens.

The all-new LiDAR Scanner offers the ability to measure light distance and use pixel depth information of a scene. This helps delivers faster, more realistic experiences and improves autofocus by 6x in low-light scenes. Combined with the A14 Bionic’s Neural Engine, it also powers Night Mode portraits.

With the new iPhone 12 family, Apple brings MagSafe for the first time. It offers super fast wireless charging and it introduces an ecosystem of new easy-to-attach accessories. These look great.

MagSafe, as seen on Apple Watch and MacBook notebooks, features an array of magnets around the wireless charging coil, optimised for alignment and efficiency. It provides up to 15W of power, while supporting Qi-enabled devices.

Apple is also introducing a new MagSafe Charger and MagSafe Duo Charger for use with iPhone and Apple Watch.

MagSafe accessories will be coming from third-party manufacturers.

The iPhone 12 family runs iOS 14 out-of-the-box.

Pricing and availability

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 MYR3,899 and MYR3,399, respectively. iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini are also available through Apple Authorised Resellers and select carriers (prices may vary).
Customers in Australia, China, Germany, Japan, the UK, the US, and more than 30 other countries and regions will be able to pre-order iPhone 12 on Friday, 16 October 2020, with availability beginning Friday, 23 October 2020. iPhone 12 mini will be available for pre-order on Friday, 6 November, with availability beginning Friday, 13 November 2020.
iPhone 12 will be available in India, South Korea, and more than a dozen other countries and regions beginning Friday, 30 October.
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 MYR4,899 and MYR5,299, respectively. iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max are also available through Apple Authorised Resellers and select carriers (prices may vary).
Customers in Australia, China, Germany, Japan, the UK, the US, and more than 30 other countries and regions will be able to pre-order iPhone 12 Pro on Friday, 16 October, with availability beginning Friday, 23 October, and pre-order for iPhone 12 Pro Max will begin on Friday, November 6, with availability beginning Friday, 13 November.
iPhone 12 Pro will be available in India, South Korea, and more than a dozen other countries beginning Friday, 30 October.
MagSafe Charger, Leather Wallet with MagSafe, and iPhone 12 Pro Silicone Case and Clear Case will be available beginning Friday, October 16. iPhone 12 Pro Leather Case will be available beginning Friday, November 6. MagSafe Duo Charger and Leather Sleeve will be available at a later date.

Note that Apple no longer bundles a power brick with in the box.

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