Apple today held its annual iPhone event. The event, usually held in September, was in October this year likely due to supply and manufacturing issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, it was believed there would be 4 new iPhones, and that turned out to be true, but there were still a few surprises on board.
The 2020 iPhones are the iPhone 12 Mini, the iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Pro, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max. The 12 Mini is a new phone this year. That phone is roughly the same physical size of the iPhone SE, but is a full screen device like the rest of the iPhone lineup. The iPhone 12 replaces the iPhone 11, while the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max replace the 11 Pro and Pro Max. the new phones feature a physical design reminiscent of the iPhone 4, 4S, 5, and 5S. They have flat sides, and are a more boxy design instead of the more curved design Apple has been using since the iPhone 6 in 2014.
The 12 Pro and Pro Max are evolutionary, not revolutionary upgrades. The side rails are made from stainless steel instead of aluminum, and they have additional components to their camera systems. While the 11 Pro and Pro Max had 3x telephoto lenses, the 12 Pro has 4x telephoto, and the Pro Max has a 5x telephoto. The main camera on the Pro Max is also a physically bigger sensor. Both models also feature the lidar sensor that was first featured in the iPad Pro released earlier this year. I do find it ineresting that the Pro and Pro Max have different camera systems. Last year’s 11 Pro and Pro Max models featured the same camera hardware, and even the XS and XS Max from 2018 had the same camera system. The 12 Pro and Pro Max feature Apple’s “Retina Display XDR” OLED display that was found in last year’s Pro phones, but this year the screen sizes are 6.1” and 6.7” instead of 5.8 and 6.5. They also feature the ability to record 10-bit HDR video in 4k60, which is not something the average person will care about one bit.
The iPhone 12 is the more interesting phone to me, along with the iPhone 12 mini. The iPhone 11 was significantly more popular than the 11 Pro and this year Apple really gave the 12 some meaningful upgrades. Gone is the sub-720p LCD display. The iPhone 12 features the same OLED display found in the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max. That alone removes my biggest complaint with last year’s iPhone. Giving it screen parity with the 12 Pro means that there are fewer reasons to need to upgrade to the Pro, suggesting that the iPhone 12 will be an even better selling iPhone. The 12 Mini is also a very interesting device. Apple users finally have a modern looking phone that is the same size as the “normal” iPhones of years past. While a number of people have moved onto and prefer larger phones, there is still a segment that wants a physically smaller phone, and their only option in the Apple world was to get the dated looking iPhone 8, or more recently iPhone SE. Now, there is truly a modern small iPhone. And the iPhone 12 Mini is cut down in size only. In terms of specs, it is exactly the same as the iPhone 12. With the same cameras, screen quality, storage, etc. My only concern with that phone will be battery life. The iPhone SE reportedly has mediocre battery life at best, and I can’t imagine a phone that is that size, but faster and with a bigger screen, will be better. If battery life is your concern, the 12 Mini is probably not the way to go.
All of this year’s phones have a new set of features called Magsafe. Some of you will remember Magsafe as the name of Apple’s magnetic charging plug for it’s MacBook and MacBook Pro computers from 2006 until the company started moving to USB-C in 2015. Apple has brought the name back for a new feature on this year’s iPhones. On the back of all 4 new iPhones are magnets that allow for connection of wireless chargers, cases, and more. The iPhone 12 will still work with any normal wireless charger, but new chargers from Apple will have magnets that let it automatically align to the charger. This is similar to how the magnetic charger works on the Apple Watch, just bigger. Apple’s new cases for the iPhone 12 will magnetically attach, and will work with the wireless charger. Apple also demonstrated a card sleeve/wallet that can attach to the back of an iPhone magnetically, and an sleeve case that has a small cutout that will display the time.
I’ll just gloss over the fact that Palm did this with the Palm Pre in 2009, but this magsafe system for the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro is really interesting, and something that has the potential to add a lot of neat things to the iPhone.
The other thing that was greatly featured in the presentation is 5G. All of the new iPhone models feature 5G support. Most of the big “wow” moment when talking about 5G were related to Verizon’s millimetre wave (mmWave) 5G technology. Without going too far into the weeds, mmWave is not a technology anyone should care about. It has extremely short range, only works with line of sight, and is only really useful in extremely high density deployments. Think a 70,000 seat stadium. But that matters even less to Canadian users as there is no mmWave technology in Canada yet. Bell, Rogers, and Telus have all begun rolling out their 5G networks, but those are a 5G technology called sub-6 (meaning it operates at frequencies less than 6GHz). Early sub-6 5G networks are not significantly better than our existing LTE networks. 5G has the potential to be faster, and have lower latency, but early 5G networks are not appreciably better. If you are interested in a new iPhone this year, buy it because you need or want a new iPhone. 5G support should not factor into your decision at all. By the time 5G is so much better than LTE that it is worth worrying about, it will likely be time for you to buy another new iPhone anyway.
The iPhone 12 gets a price bump from last year’s iPhone 11, while the Pro and Pro Max are around the same price.
Pricing in Canadian dollars is as follows:
iPhone 12 Mini starts at $979 for 64GB
iPhone 12 starts at $1129 for 64GB
iPhone 12 Pro starts at $1399 for 128GB
iPhone 12 Pro Max starts at $1549 for 128GB
The iPhone 12 Mini comes in at the same price as the iPhone 11 did last year, but that is a much smaller phone. The iPhone 12 is a full $150 more than the iPhone 11 was last year. That’s a significant price increase, and actually narrows the gap between it and the Pro Max. The Pro and Pro Max got a slight price bump in Canada, from $1379 and $1519 to $1399 and $1549. This price bump is likely due to currency fluctuations in the Canadian Dollar, as in US dollars the 12 Pro and Pro Max have the same price as the 11 Pro and Pro Max from last year, though they do bump the storage from 64 to 128 GB at those prices.
This year, I personally find the iPhone 12 the most compelling model. The biggest change that will matter to most people between the phones is the extra camera lens for telephoto photos. The remainder of the changes are in the side rail materials, colours, and some other higher end features. While the feature and spec gap between the 11 and 11 Pro models was significant, the 12 Pro does not have many features that matter to most people over the iPhone 12. When configured with 128GB of storage, the iPhone 12 is $200 cheaper than the 12 Pro at it’s base 128GB of storage. $200 is a lot to pay for one more camera lens. Again, there are other feature differences, but I don’t think they will matter to most. I would consider going from the 12 to the 12 Pro Max for the larger screen, but that is a significant price jump. I like bigger phones so i’d be more likely to do that myself, but I could see myself being perfectly happy with the iPhone 12.
Rounding up the iPhone lineup, Apple will continue selling the iPhone 11, iPhones SE, and unexpectedly the iPhone Xr. The iPhone 11 sees a price reduction to $849, down from $979. The iPhone Xr will now retail for $699 down from $799. The iPhone SE remains at $599. I am really surprised that Apple is continuing to sell the two year old iPhone Xr in the lineup. Keeping it in the lineup does allow Apple to have different iPhone models and more price points, but the Xr is now two years old and the iPhone 11 represented a significant camera upgrade compared to the Xr. I suppose if cameras are not important to an individual, the Xr is a decent deal, but if you care about cameras at all, going to the 11 is worth the upgrade.
One final note on the new phones: this year the new iPhones do not come with a charger in the box. They do include a USB-C to lightning cable, but the actual wall plug will no longer be in the box. While the knee jerk reaction is that it is wrong to not include a charger in the box, the reality is that the vast majority of people already have several chargers in their home, and this saves Apple costs in making the chargers, but also saves on waste and garbage. Apple wins, and most users win.
Lastly, Apple announced a new smart speaker, the HomePod Mini. This is a smaller, less expensive version of its HomePod speaker, and will retail fro $130 in Canada. The original model of the homepod was very, very expensive, worked only with apple and sold poorly as a result. This doesn’t solve the “works only with Apple devices” problem, but at $130 this matters a lot less.
Smart Speakers and music streaming are turning into a very interesting platform lock in play. Apple’s HomePod devices support voice commands, but only work with Siri, and the services they support is very limited. Voice commands for music currently only support Apple Music and Apple Podcasts, and radio support is coming soon from TuneIn and a couple other internet radio apps. Notably the HomePod does not support Spotify, or any other music service.
Google’s Nest Audio and Nest Mini speakers support more services through the Chromecast standard, including apps on iPhones that support casting audio, like Spotify. But Apple’s own services like Apple Music and Apple Podcasts do not support Chromecast, and thus do not work with Google Nest Audio products. And inexplicably, Google’s YouTube Music streaming service only supports Airplay on iOS, not Google’s own Chromecast standard.
These different speakers all supporting a different set of casting standards is frustrating and mind numbing. I’m in a mixed relationship in that I use mostly Android devices and an iPad and use Youtube Premium for my music streaming while my significant other is an iPhone and iPad user who uses Apple Music. I can see a future where we have a Nest Audio and a HomePod Mini beside each other on a shelf just so we both have speakers we can use for streaming music…..
And there you have it. New iPhones and a new HomePod Mini today. Solid upgrades across the board, but a little more expensive. Apple is not re-inventing the wheel here, but for those in the iPhone ecosystem it is a great product, and Apple will sell a lot of these.