Apple iPhone 12 Arrives With 5G

Apple finally launches its delayed new iPhone, the iPhone 12, at its Speed event on Tuesday evening.

It kicked off its event with news about the HomePod Mini, before opening up about the product everyone has been waiting for, namely the iPhone 12.

Last month Apple used its traditional launch event to showcase the launch of the Apple Watch Series 6, as well as new iPad tablets. It had warned in July that the iPhone 12 launch would be delayed by a number of weeks due to issues from the Coronavirus pandemic.

HomePod Mini

Apple kicked off its “Speed” event on Tuesday evening by announcing its new HomePod Mini home speaker.

Apple touted the acoustic performance of the HomePod Mini, claiming ‘amazing sound’, coupled with a ‘world class intelligence assistant’ (Siri).

Apple said it can control a wide of devices and each speaker will react when an iPhone is detected nearby with haptic feedback.

Apple also touted the ability of Siri, claiming it is the oldest personal assistant and handles up to 25 billion requests a month.

Apple said multiple HomePod speakers throughout the house will automatically sync up with each other when playing music, and if two HomePods are in one room, they will sync correctly.

Apple also touted the privacy and security elements of HomePod Mini, and it automatically connects to the Apple Home app.

It comes in white and space grey and is priced at $99

Apple iPhone 12

Ever since its launch, the iPhone 11 has been most popular smartphone in the world, claimed Tim Cook during the launch event.

But now he claimed it is a new era for the iPhone, thanks to Apple finally bringing 5G connectivity the to iPhone 12.

Cook also touted that 5G will bring new level of performance, and said it would offer people better security and privacy, as users won’t need to connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots.

But the reality is that 5G networks are still limited, so Apple brought in the CEO of Verizon who claimed that “people have been waiting for 5G, and that 5G just got real.”

The Verizon also touted that Verizon 5G is the fastest in the world, offering upload speeds of 200MB/s.

Cook meanwhile confirmed that 5G will appear across all iPhone models, and the iPhone 12 pricing will start from $799.

Apple claims the 12 comes with a “all new design” thanks to its aluminium frame, which will also house the 5G antennas.

Apple says the iPhone 12 is 12 percent thinner than the iPhone 11.

It comes with a 6.1 inch OLED display super retina XDR display, that offers twice as many pixels as iPhone 11.

And it boasts tougher screen protection, as Apple worked with Corning to come with its Cermanic Shield, which Apple claims will dramatically improve screen toughness. Indeed, Apple says this is tougher than any smartphone glass to make the iPhone 12 more durable than ever.

Under the hood, the A13 found in the iPhone 11, which is still touted by Apple as the fastest smartphone chip, has now been surpassed with the A14 bionic chip, which Apple again says is the fastest smartphone chip in the world.

The new chip is also the first built on 5 nanometre technology, and the A14 comes with 4 core GPUs.

And for those disgruntled Fornite players, Apple said the iPhone 12 now offers console quality games – with League of Legends coming to the iPhone soon.

Apple also talked extensively about cameras (again), with the iPhone 12 coming a dual camera system, as well as an ultrawide camera, and a wide camera.

iPhone 12 Mini

Apple also surprised some with the iPhone 12 Mini, that boasts a 5.4 inch display, priced at $699, and which it says will fit seamlessly in the hand.

More to follow about iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Max in separate article, found here.