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Iphone Apple

Apple Launches iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max 85

Posted by msmash from the new-iPhones dept.
At a virtual event on Tuesday, Apple unveiled the new iPhone lineup: the iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max. The new iPhones feature recent generation iPad Pro-like design. They all support 5G. The iPhone 12 mini, the most affordable handset in the new lineup, starts at $699. The iPhone 12 Pro Max, the most expensive, starts at $1,099. The company said it is also lowering the price of last year's iPhone 11, which not starts at $599.

More details: Apple debuts iPhone 12 family, focusing on 5G and 5nm chips.

Apple brings back MagSafe, sparks interest in magnetic phone charging.

Apple cuts iPhone XR and iPhone 11 prices by $100, kills iPhone 11 Pro.
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Apple Launches iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max More

Apple Launches iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max

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  • "The company said it is also lowering the price of last year's iPhone 11, which not starts at $599." It'll probably finish there as well. if they follow past patterns it will only be offered in one size, most likely the 64gb only.

    • I am so getting this! (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I'm going to run all the way to my nearest fruity phone store and buy this new iPhone 12, as soon as they get their heads out of their ass and have Fortnite working on it again.

      • Fortnite still works, the version that people have on phones..

        It's up to Epic to decide when they want to comply with rules and issue updates. The judge already told them they couldn't force their way around Apple's rules.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luthair ( 847766 )
      Reminds me of a co-worker who claimed earlier this year that Apple's product line was simple... yea like:
      * 5 generations of phones available new in stores
      * macbook, macbook air, macbook pro, varying sizes & configurations of each, plus the role that the standard macbook vs macbook air play has been swapped repeatedly
      * imac, imac pro and mac pro...

      • ... and Mac mini.

      • 5 generations of phones available new in stores

        I think it's simple: You can spend $399, $499, $599, $699, $999 or $1099 on a phone, plus more for more storage if you want. It's quite simple actually.

        And there is a simple sequence where each phone offers whatever the cheaper one offers, plus something more.

    • "The company said it is also lowering the price of last year's iPhone 11, which not starts at $599." It'll probably finish there as well. if they follow past patterns it will only be offered in one size, most likely the 64gb only.

      64, 128 and 256 GB actually.

  • Sheesh. When is Apple going to come into this century and start putting an industry standard connector on their phones? Also, I thought Europe had declared that any new phones released after July had to be USB-C. How much is Apple going to get fined for this foolishness?

    • The charger has to be. So including a USB-C to Lightning cable, as they are, meets the requirements.

    • Re:Still Lightning? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @01:57PM (#60603708)

      I find lightning connectors hold up better than USB-C. USB was late to the game coming up with a connector that could be inserted either way so Apple made their own.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Merk42 ( 1906718 )
        So whoever does a thing first means that nothing else should come after it?
        Why does iPhone exist? They were late to the game compared to Blackberry.

      • I find lightning connectors hold up better than USB-C.

        You know it's a charging cable right and not lasso you can use to wildly swing your iPhone through the air while shouting yeehar!

      • That makes me very afraid for the ascendance of USB-C, given that I've had multiple lightning sockets go weird, especially the springs.

    • Yeah, remember this [slashdot.org]?

      I think one of the many reasons Apple hasn't switched (and won't, ever, until there are no ports on the iPhone) is because they don't want to participate in the nightmare of USB-C cable confusion. There was already so much hue and cry over the transition from the 30-pin connector to Lightning as a 'money grab' and 'forced obsolescence' that there's no way they want to wade into that with a potentially confusing cable standard that makes everyone's life more difficult. I have several ligh

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dgatwood ( 11270 )

        Yeah, remember this [slashdot.org]?

        I think one of the many reasons Apple hasn't switched (and won't, ever, until there are no ports on the iPhone) is because they don't want to participate in the nightmare of USB-C cable confusion.

        That article is basically a troll. There's no cable confusion in the real world. Other than one time when I plugged my laptop into a cell-phone-only 5V charger (which obviously didn't do anything), I can count the number of times that USB-C has failed me on zero fingers. I have several USB-C chargers around my house, most of them Apple-branded, some of them Anker, and plenty of USB-C cables. And I know they work in all of my Apple and Android devices with the exception of my iOS devices. I have to carr

        • To your last point, I'm not trying to say that Apple is going to invent something particularly innovative, merely that that's where they'll go. The old MagSafe connector on their laptops (which they should bring back; it was a stupid thing to drop) could've easily aligned some data connectors at the same time. They clearly have the tech. But they'll get used to people snapping magnets together with this iteration, and then one year—hopefully next year—they'll tell us they've dumped the port all

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dgatwood ( 11270 )

            As to the rest of it, you're on this site, so I wouldn't expect you to run into that many troubles. But normal people run into trouble with cables all the time. Amazon sells knock-off cables with who-knows-what specification and people buy them because they're cheap. You know how to tell the difference, but my Mom wouldn't. (As my Thanksgiving facetime call reminded me, she has a hard time understanding how to aim her phone camera actually AT HER HEAD so we can see her. Literally everything tech related is a major hurdle.) Any minefield that you can successfully navigate is not representative of the level of difficulty that other, non-technical people experience.

            LOL. Yes, this is true, but again, a cable that charges more slowly still charges, and a cable that passes data more slowly still passes data. Even as a highly technical user, I can count the number of times that USB 3.x speeds have mattered to me on one hand, and they all happened in the last three days, while doing a project involving very large file transfers to external hard drives, most of which did not support USB 3 at all (i.e. changing cables would not have helped).

            Worrying about consumer confusio

        • "I can count the number of times that USB-C has failed me on zero fingers." You do know where base 20 counting systems came from, right? From people who count on their toes and their fingers. So perhaps you're saying your USB-C failed you up to 10 times? assuming you still have all your toes

          BTW, examples of base 20 counting systems include those used in the Mayan languages, and probably in some Celtic village in the north of Gaul, maybe near the present-day town of Erquy (the French word for 80 means 4-2

          • Just to nitpick, the Maya counting/number system was a mix of 5 and 20, every 2nd numerical position/digit was 0 - 5, and the others 0 - 19.

      • Re:Still Lightning? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by xjerky ( 128399 ) on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @02:45PM (#60603930)

        Why did none of that stop Apple from switching to USB-C for iPad Pros and Macbooks?

        • Because there's a lot fewer accessories that are iPad Pro specific. Like I said, everyone was SO MAD at Apple for changing away from the 30-pin connector, despite Lightning being a clear win. USB-C is not a clear win, so you have to weigh changing away from the standard that everyone has accessories and cables for with the benefits of the new connector.

          With iPads Pro specifically, there's not really an existing ecosystem of pro peripherals that are specific to the device. If you want to plug in a mass stora

          • Yet when you buy an Apple laptop and an external keyboard and mouse you can't plug them in. Because the accessories come with USB-A to Lightning and the laptop only has USB-C ports. Instead of 3 different connectors just standardize on one "universal" connector.
    • Probably next year. apple is due for a hardware change that will force the sheep to all upgrade their phones.
    • How could Apple sell chargers without the proprietary lightning port? (iPhone12 is delivered without charger)

    • When Apple made lightning the industry standard sucked. The industry could have licensed lightning, but they chose to make something redundant instead.

      If it werenâ(TM)t for Apple innovating the industry standard would probably still be micro USB or some other dumb connector that could only be inserted one way. Apple was insistent that connectors needed to be able to be plugged in either direction.

    • The phone does not need to be USB (C).
      The cable charging the phone needs to be pluggable into an USB port.

      And that is law since 10 or more years and that is why you can charge your phone in an airplane, train or supermarket or airport or pub which offers USB charging ports.

  • So they are not using magsafe (which was a cable connector), they are using a new, proprietary, non-standard wireless charging technology which they also (confusingly) call magsafe?

    What was wrong with Qi? It can get 15W too, isn't it?

    • It's Apple. They'll always go out of their way to make their own version of something over some minor issue in whatever existing standard is being used even if it's over something as trivially stupid like the colors available. They also probably make a lot of money charging $50 for what would otherwise be a $5 accessory, but by god the color will match!

      I believe the new technology is being called MagSafe because it uses magnets to align the device and the charger to get the best results. I'm assuming it

    • Re: Proprietary wireless charging (Score:5, Informative)

      by BKX ( 5066 ) on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @02:00PM (#60603720) Journal

      They are using Qi. They just added magnets to make it align correctly. You can use it with standard Qi as well, because it's the same thing.

      • can a Qi compliant, non-Apple approved charger charge at full speed (15W)?

        • can a Qi compliant, non-Apple approved charger charge at full speed (15W)?

          I'm not sure about the 12, but the current iPhone models can only go up to 7.5w charging I believe... not sure of the reason.

          in practice, if you want rapid charging you use a cable.

        • can a Qi compliant, non-Apple approved charger charge at full speed (15W)?

          I was about to say "no, but that's because iPhones top out at 7.5W, regardless of whose charger you use", but it turns out I was wrong. While Qi chargers are still limited to 7.5W with the iPhone 12, MagSafe chargers apparently get 15W according to the tech specs for the iPhone 12 [apple.com]. Interesting.

          The previous poster is correct, so far as I know, in that MagSafe really is just Qi + magnets, but it's interesting to see that they seem to be artificially limiting non-MagSafe chargers. It's possible there are techn

          • It's overall a pretty sad state of affairs for wireless charging. Magnetic alignment is a good idea to improve efficiency but think about it ... if the phone has to be perfectly aligned with magnets, why not just add contact pins and make it a direct charging interface like the original magsafe (and many other currently available cabling solutions)? Is there really a difference between having to align your phone with the magnets on the charger and having to e.g. put your phone in a charging cradle? Maybe yo

            • There is a small difference in that physical contact puts restrictions on the design of cases and covers while wireless charging permits any design that does not protrude too much on the back.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        That's been around for a looong time. I'm trying to remember what the first phone with alignment magnets I saw was, might have been an LG.

        You can get actual magsafe connectors for any USB device for a buck or two from the usual places.

    • Charging is not proprietary, still same standard (Score:4, Informative)

      by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @02:02PM (#60603734)

      From what I can tell, charging is still the same inductive charging standard (Qi) - they just added enough magnets so something can reliably attach to the back of the phone.

      It would also have the advantage of locking in a wireless charger so that it is in the optimal spot for charging, and some of the accessory ideas they have look pretty useful.

      I wouldn't even call the magnet aspect proprietary, Apple can't stop people from arranging magnets in a certain place and have it hook into the iPhone 12 back magnets well...

      No word on if you can just plop an iPhone 12 up and have it stick on a fridge. :-)

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Merk42 ( 1906718 )

        From what I can tell, charging is still the same inductive charging standard (Qi) - they just added enough magnets so something can reliably attach to the back of the phone.

        Oh like the Nexus 5 and its charger 7 years ago [theverge.com] . Such innovation

        • I didn't say it was innovative, just that it was a good idea and would help. What maybe seems to be newer is the range of accessories that work with the magnets?

          Like for instance a car mount, which would be nice if sturdy.

          From the article you linked to, it seemed like there were only a few chargers that added the magnets to help align things?

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by alexo ( 9335 )

        Apple can't stop people from arranging magnets in a certain place

        You're absolutely right! It would be almost as ridiculous as trying to stop people from using rounded corners.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by dstwins ( 167742 )

      From everything I'm reading, MagSafe is just their name for Qi Wireless alignment. Basically optimization of placement for best charging speed/performance. So its not so much a new/different standard but rather an optimization of an existing opens standard.. (like Active Directory vs. LDAP).

    • To the contrary ... they tried and failed to figure out their own solution with "airpower" and this latest announcement is basically admitting defeat and reverting to the shared standards. They're just putting their own spin on it with magnetic alignment because they have to at least appear to be designing something unique.

    • We miss them. They were awesome. :(

  • Apple has lost its luster. Same old over-priced offerings.

    • There's really nothing compelling in this phone, or for me, any phone beyond my cheapo Moto G. Yeah, the photos are better, but you're not Mario Testino. You're photographing your kids outside Big Ben and sharing it on Facebook. And a Moto G does that absolutely fine. More CPU? For what? What are you running on it? Super Retina XDR? OLED? You're going to watch Barry Lyndon or 2001 on your phone and enjoy the picture quality?

      But I look at it this way: the suckers buying this make my next £200 Moto G be

      • Congratulations!

        You are the 1,000,000,000th Slashdot poster to post that a new piece of hardware doesn't do anything that your current one doesn't do, except for a few things which you personally don't find useful and you are unable to understand why anyone else could find them useful.

        If you post your name, address, and phone number I will mail you a dot matrix printer, a ribbon, and an LPT to LPT cable.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by aaronjp ( 51549 )

          The printer will go well with his 16K of Ram.

        • Is your LPT cable SPP, EPP or ECP?

        • There's a big difference between the shift from early brick phones, to smaller phones, to early "smart" phones to iPhones and then Moto Gs. I used to upgrade at the earliest opportunity because the shift in phone tech every 2 years had significant improvements. But what's the significant useful feature on new phones?
          • Thank you for reiterating my point, even though you did so unintentionally.

            You already know what features new phones offer that previous ones do not. This article lists some of them, and links to the others. Whether or not you find them "significant improvements" is a question only you can answer, for yourself. You can't answer it for others no more than they can for you.

    • Apple has lost its luster.

      Yes it is true by making phones shinier they are more shiny than lustrous now.

      Same old over-priced offerings.

      Not really, the Lidar for example is a pretty impressive feature to add and helps a ton with quicker focus and way better computational photography, since you have such good understanding of where elements in a scene are.

      Also all of the chips - CPU, GPU, Neural engine - are significantly faster.

      Also it has more cores...

      Also it (well the Max) has a physically larger image sen

  • Apple products (Score:3, Insightful)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @02:00PM (#60603724)

    From TFA:

    They will be compatible with $49 clear and silicone cases that use hidden magnets to ensure alignment, as well as with a $59 Leather Wallet attachment that holds cards inside.

    A great way to push their Apple Pay product. Erase your credit card mag stripes.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jeti ( 105266 )
      I was thinking more of the magnetometer. Don't iPhones have one for navigation? Almost all Android phones do.

      • Not sure what you're replying to, but afaik iPhones have had magnetometers back to the iPhone 4, and the 3GS before that. Apparently that was the first smart phone to have a compass.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by PPH ( 736903 )

        I was thinking more of the magnetometer. Don't iPhones have one for navigation?

        Yeah. That and Apple Maps.

  • Progress marches ever forward with cameras and CPUs and whatever, but honestly, I think the best change is the magnetic alignment. I suspect that in a couple years, every phone in the market will have a similar system, because it's actually just really handy. Align your charger, snap a new case on, pull it off, put on just the wallet attachment, whatever. It's the difference people will actually notice, rather than the slightly better photos, or downloading tiny files a fraction of a second faster.

    5G is ter

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The Nexus 7 had magnetic alignment 7 years ago. If it was a great idea it would have taken off.

      The problem is that every device has magnets in different places, as does every charger. So you need a special charger for your device.

      The other problem is that unless the charger is very heavy or stuck to the desk your phone lifts it up along with it. You need two hands to pick up your phone.

      There's a better solution. Multiple coils, loose alignment e.g. on a stand, or have s moving coil. I have a pad with the la

  • No Touch ID, Bummer (Score:3)

    by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @02:16PM (#60603786)
    Maybe I'm the only person on the planet that likes Apple's Touch ID over Face ID, but I'm surprised that they redesigned it and included it in the most recent iPads as a part of the top button, but didn't include it here with their new phones in the side button that serves as a similar purpose as the top button on the iPad. Being able to unlock a phone without having to look at it has a fair bit of utility.

    I'm still a bit tempted to upgrade as my biggest gripe with the newer iPhones has always been the device size, but it seems like they've been getting that down. The 6.1" Pro has a much larger screen than the 6S (6.1" vs 4.7") even though the device isn't much larger (5.78" x 2.82" vs (5.44" x 2.62") so I could probably stand to use one. The Mini option 5.7" screen in a 5.18" x 2.53" form factor is even smaller.

    I still would have liked to see Touch ID added back in along with a change to USB-C, but I suppose they've got to have something to make people want to upgrade next year.
    • Same here, I prefer Touch ID over Face ID. When I am working I often have the phone lying flat on the desk, and I can unlock it just by jabbing my finger at it. For Face ID I either have to pick it up, or lean over the desk to unlock. First world problems for sure, but still...

      • For Face ID I either have to pick it up, or lean over the desk to unlock.

        Kind of a strange thought, but maybe Apple should have the iPhone unlock automatically if you have an AppleWatch on and are trying to open the phone, just like they automatically unlock Macs.

        it would also solve the mask issue.

        • It could be a bit risky unless it will unlock only when the phone is within a few inches of the watch. Any more than that and a phone pick picketed or left nearby in a table could be unlocked. With that limit itâ(TM)d be pretty handy,

          • Any more than that and a phone pick picketed or left nearby in a table could be unlocked.

            The way Apple solves that with unlocking Macs is that you just need to be reasonably close, but also the watch alerts you someone has just unlocked a device using the watch as well... it works pretty good as an extra security layer so someone can't unlock your phone you left on a table without you knowing.

      • I like your tag line.

      • I bought a $15 aluminum stand [amazon.com] and have the phone propped up at my desk at all times. It makes FaceID go from merely convenient to actually feeling amazing. When my phone has a notification, if I don't look at the phone, nothing happens. If I turn my head to it briefly, it unlocks and shows me my notification. It feels like the future.

    • I think they'll do it next year. Until now, only having one authentication method was best, but clearly now that we have to have our faces covered half the time means that they'll need the alternate method. That TouchID sensor in the power button of the iPad was weirdly serendipitous for this year, but it wouldn't have been part of the iPhone design, and they wouldn't have had time to cram it in.

      Now there's clearly a good reason to have both if you can manage it. I love FaceID...until I'm at the grocery sto

  • LIDAR (Score:3)

    by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @04:05PM (#60604250)

    I can't wait for people to wake up and actually use LIDAR for amazing applications. There was a really short part of the Keynote showing a company doing something with it, but the potential is there for so much more.

    You can almost be sure the future "Apple glasses" will have LIDAR.

  • At first, I was excited that there was finally a "mini" version. Then I found out that it's .7" smaller than the regular. A 5.4" screen isn't a mini phone, it's a mini tablet! I guess it's another generation of sticking with the SE...

    • Re:Mini? (Score:4, Informative)

      by gnasher719 ( 869701 ) on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @04:50PM (#60604398)

      At first, I was excited that there was finally a "mini" version. Then I found out that it's .7" smaller than the regular. A 5.4" screen isn't a mini phone, it's a mini tablet! I guess it's another generation of sticking with the SE...

      The body of the phone is actually smaller than the SE. The screen covers the whole front except for the notch, so you get a bigger screen in a smaller package.

      • I think he was probably referring to the 2016 iPhone SE. Many people who put priority on size are still holding on to 2016 iPhone SE since it is the only reasonably capable phone that is that small (iOS or Android)

        Dimensions:
        2016 iPhone SE - 123 x 58 x 7.6 mm
        iPhone 12 Mini - 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.4 mm
        2020 iPhone SE - 138 x 67 x 7.3 mm

      • Huh, you are absolutely correct. I must just have larger hands than the model in the picture. Bravo for Apple!

  • My Macbook Pro struggles to load their hideous, Frankenstein's vomit-inspired launch site: https://www.apple.com/iphone-1... [apple.com]

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