The apple event which held on the 13th October 2020 brought with it a lot of exciting news and products which all apple fanatics are raring to see when they eventually start shipping worldwide. Here is all you need to know from the Apple event
1. Homepod mini
The first reveal from the Apple event was the much smaller version of the Apple Homepod, which was the Homepod mini. This doesn’t show too much difference from its predecessor asides the size which comes with the name and a much more reduced price while offering the full range of Homepod benefits.
The Homepod mini is a short, spherical shaped speaker which has the ability to combine with other speakers in a room intelligently, creating a stereo sound feature. It also connects with other iPhones in the same room, making it convenient for other users to also access the Siri function while their phone is also connected. The new app, “intercom” introduced with the Homepod gives users of the iPhone the ability to do things with the Homepod when connected together, giving some sort of smart home connectivity.
The Homepod mini is way cheaper than the Homepod, starting at $99 and is available for preorder from November 6th and would start shipping on November 16th.
2. 5G
This is probably the most expected asides the new iPhone release, with apple announcing a partnership with Verizon that is meant to serve their 5G phones very comfortably with the fastest network on the 5G bands of every 5G enabled device. The 5G is of course still a thing planned with the future in mind, with a lot of cities in the US which is the only country it is going to be available in yet to get the 5G capabilities.
The 5G on the new iPhones is also touted to use some sort of smart switching, which means it would only be active on 5G when there is the need to tap into that level of speed where the network is available, otherwise it would maintain 4G usage.
3. Magsafe
Perhaps one feature that is somewhat interesting and conflicting at the same time is the reintroduction of Magsafe for iPhone, and this time used as wireless charging for the new Apple devices with a magnet incorporated in the build of the new iPhones which makes it easy to magnetically attach to the iPhones and start charging automatically.
Perhaps why it is so conflicting is the fact that Apple tends to introduce new problems in their new products before bringing a solution to fixing the problem that has been created… cue in the introduction of a single port to be used as charging port and also earbuds port which was introduced from the iPhone 7, before they then introduced the AirPods which solved the problem of having to physically plugs earbuds into the port. This begs the question if we are going to be seeing iPhones completely void of physical (traditional) charging ports in the nearest future. To further enhance this suggestion, apple now no longer ships the new iPhones with a wall-mounted charger, citing environmental reasons for not adding a much-needed device, shipping a casing that is now much smaller and contains only the iPhone and a USB-C to lighting cable.
4. iPhone 12
We’ve spoken about the features of the new iPhones, and now to the core part, the actual iPhone 12. I didn’t know whether to tag this part ‘iPhone 12’ or ‘iPhone 12s’ given that apple is spoiling us with choice with the release of the new iPhones ranging from a regular iPhone 12, to a much smaller and very handy iPhone 12 mini and to the bigger iPhone 12 pro and iPhone 12 pro max which is the biggest iPhone by size and features.
A feature for all of the iPhones is the 5G capabilities, the new “ceramic shield” screen which is believed to have a 4X better drop capability (hopefully you don’t start dropping your iPhone to test this feature). Of course, there is the physical shape of the phones, with flat edges, taking us back to the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 design which makes it possible for your phones to be able to stand upright on flat surfaces.
The iPhone 12 is a 6.1-inch phone with two rear cameras that would both support night mode. It can be preordered for $799 from October 16th and would start shipping from October 23rd. The iPhone 12 mini meanwhile is a 5.4-inch phone that would appeal to users who like a much smaller sized phone with the iPhone 12 capabilities. It can be preordered for $699 from November 6th and it would start shipping from November 13th.
The bigger iPhone 12 pro and pro max have the distinctive feature of having the best smartphone cameras, with three rear cameras which offer a 5X optical zoom range along with a lidar sensor which would improve the camera autofocus and also enhance augmented reality on the iPhones. The iPhone 12 Pro is a 6.1-inch phone which can be pre-ordered for $999 from October 16th and start shipping from October 23rd. the iPhone 12 pro max, on the other hand, is much bigger at 6.7-inch, making it the biggest iPhone ever with a price starting from $1,099 and it can be ordered along with the 12 mini from November 6th and it starts shipping from November 13th.
