IPhone lineup could get a shakeup in 2020
IOS will offer high-security handsets, highend features
Apple is all set to release four new iPhone 12 models in the fall of 2020: a 5.4inch model, two 6.1-inch phones and a 6.7-inch phone, according to JPMorgan analyst, Samik Chatterjee. All the handsets would come with OLED displays.
These size predictions were also correlated this week by Ming-Chi Kuo who believes the current
5.8-inch size of the iPhone
11 Pro may be going away. So the 5.4-inch and one of the 6.1-inch models will be the lower-end devices, presumably called the iPhone
12. Then the more expensive phones will be the other 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, respectively.
All of the new iPhone 12 models are expected to include the rumoured bells and whistles we’ve heard before, including a new design and 5G support. However, the report says the higher-end phones (12 Pro and 12 Pro Max) will get 5G mmWave support and a triple-camera array that has what Chatterjee calls a ‘worldfacing 3D-sensing’ camera, which we assume is referring to the time-offlight sensor to help capture
depth information. It’s expected that the regular iPhone 12 models will have dual cameras and support the sub-6Ghz spectrum rather than mmWave.
Then there’s the second coming of the iPhone SE, which brings the total number of expected iPhones in 2020 to five.
Kuo’s report also believes that Lightning
support will be dropped from the 2021 iPhone range. Reports said that Apple will use Qualcomm’s ultrasonic fingerprint scanner in at least one of the new iPhones although that timeframe might get pushed back to 2021. We’ve already seen many Android phones such as the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 with Qualcomm’s in-screen fingerprint
readers. This week, Qualcomm unveiled a 30x20-mm in-screen reader called the 3D Sonic Max which gives us some clues about what we might expect if Apple does go with this technology in the new iPhone. The 3D Sonic Max is 17x larger than the version on Galaxy S10, and require two fingers for authentication for security.