Leaker Shares Full Details on Next Week’s iPhone 12 Announcement

At this point, we pretty much already know that Apple is preparing to unveil its entire new 2020 iPhone lineup next week, which will be comprised of two iPhone 12 and two iPhone 12 Pro models. We even have a pretty good idea of what will be included in all four, at least in terms of the broad strokes.

Now, however, it seems that a leak from a Chinese Weibo account has spilled the beans on the entire lineup, including camera specs, colours, pricing, and release dates. If accurate, this could very well be one of the most comprehensive pre-event iPhone leaks that we’ve ever encountered, potentially leaving little to the imagination for Tuesday’s event.

According to the leaker, who goes by the name “Kang,” Apple will be announcing all four iPhone models next week, but most notably, only the two 6.1-inch iPhone models will go on sale right away, with the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini and 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro delayed into November. This contradicts both early predictions by leaker Jon Prosser and a September report from Bloomberg that suggested it would be the “Pro” models that would be delayed. However, it also lines up nicely with a Digitimes report, which has been predicting all along that the 6.1-inch models would arrive first based on the timing of supply chain component orders.

The leak was shared on Twitter by @UniverseIce (via MacRumors), who has been known for sharing accurate details in the past, which provides a bit of credibility to the otherwise anonymous Weibo account, while also adding that Kang’s information has been “very accurate” in the past, and should therefore be taken seriously.

“Kang” also shares considerably more than just the release dates, however, although much of the other information is considerably less controversial and lines up with a lot of what we’re already expecting.

The iPhone 12

According to the leak, the iPhone 12 will, of course, be available in the expected two models. But as we already noted, only the 6.1-inch version will be available next week, with pre-orders starting on October 16th, and the actual retail availability on October 23rd, pretty much in line with Apple’s normal post-event release schedule.

The 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini, on the other hand, won’t be available for pre-order until November 6th, with products arriving on November 13th.

Other than size and availability, however, both models are expected to be identical in features, with OLED Super Retina XDR displays and dual-lens camera systems that “Kang” notes will have an f/1.6 aperture. The iPhone 12 mini will start at $699, while the standard iPhone 12 will retail for $799, both for the entry-level 64GB version. Higher-capacity 128GB and 256GB versions will also be available, which basically lines up with other reports we’ve heard recently.

In terms of colours, Apple plans to release the iPhone 12 in a more basic set of black, white, red, blue, and green options; there’s no word whether the red version will be a (PRODUCT)RED model, but that seems likely. If true, however, this would be a step back from the much more colourful iPhone 11 lineup, which includes more “fun” colours such as purple and yellow.

iPhone 12 Pro

The report suggests that the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro will also be arriving next week alongside the iPhone 12, with a price tag starting at $999 for a 128GB model, with upgrades to 256GB and 512GB available.

Meanwhile, the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max will actually be delayed even further, with a preorder date of November 13th, and an availability date of November 20th — a full week after the iPhone 12 mini is expected to arrive. The price for the iPhone 12 Pro Max will start at $1,099 for the 128GB version.

“Kang” also has a bit more to say about the cameras on the two Pro models, which roughly correspond to what we’ve already heard elsewhere, including a new LiDAR Scanner, a wide-angle camera with a “7P” lens, plus an f/1.6 aperture.

What’s notable, however, is that the report suggests that the iPhone 12 Pro Max will get a better camera system than the iPhone 12 Pro, with a 65mm equivalent telephoto lens offering up a 5x optical zoom, as opposed to the 6.1-inch iPhone’s 52mm/4x lens. If so, this would be the first time in recent years that Apple has offered significantly different camera technology between two differently-sized iPhone models in the same family.

With this better iPhone 12 Pro Max camera system will also include a “47 percent larger sensor,” as well as a super wide-angle capability that will be exclusive to the largest iPhone.

Not surprisingly, there’s no mention of the iPhone 12 Pro getting a better 120Hz OLED screen, as every report we’ve recently heard has suggested that Apple couldn’t pull that off this year. The suggestion here is that the two iPhone 12 Pro models will share the same OLED Super Retina XDR displays as their non-Pro siblings.

Both iPhone 12 Pro models are also expected to be available in Gold, Silver, Graphite, and Blue colours. It seems that “Graphite” is going to be the new black this year, with Apple going in much the same direction as it did with the Apple Watch Series 6.

What About 5G?

The Weibo leaker makes passing mention of 5G here as well but indicates that mmWave will only be coming to models that are being released in the U.S. At this point, that’s not going to be a huge issue, as Verizon is one of the very few major carriers in the world to offer mmWave 5G support at all right now, but the fact that Verizon only uses mmWave for its 5G network means that Apple pretty much has to offer a mmWave 5G iPhone if it doesn’t want to leave its Verizon users out in the cold.

There’s also mention of a “Smart Data Mode” feature that will allow all iPhone 12 models to intelligently switch between 4G and 5G depending on bandwidth needs to reduce the power requirements. The idea here would seem to be that the iPhone 12 would default to operating in 4G/LTE mode, only switching to the more power-hungry 5G for data-heavy tasks.

As MacRumors notes, “Kang” has a fairly reliable track record, having accurately predicted several of Apple’s event announcements this year, including the price of the iPhone SE and iPad Air, as well as the hand-washing feature introduced in watchOS 7.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]