Summer has officially dawned in the Northern Hemisphere, which means we’re one step closer to an iPhone unveiling this fall. Apple is expected to reveal the iPhone 13 in September (unlike the delayed October reveal last year caused by the COVID pandemic), but as has become the trend in recent years, most of the information that the company plans to share has leaked.
Market intelligence company TrendForce released a report on Monday in which the group projects that the annual total iPhone production will grow by 12.3% year-over-year in 2021 to 223 million units. The report also includes a number of details about the new model, which it repeatedly refers to as the iPhone 12s rather than the iPhone 13. Apple has all but abandoned the “S” branding on its devices in recent years, but perhaps superstition surrounding the number 13 will change that.
Mirroring other leaks and reports, TrendForce claims that the iPhone 12s will feature a smaller notch on the top of the screen due to the decreased size of the sensor housing. Virtually every leaked render and believable rumor has suggested that the notch will change sizes for the first time since it debuted on the iPhone X, and this is just the latest report to corroborate those rumors.
Aside from the smaller notch on the display of the upcoming iPhone 12s, TrendForce says that “other upgrades will mostly relate to the optimization of existing functions and features,” and also that “the degree of innovation is not particularly significant in terms of appearance, and the four new models can be regarded as an extension to the iPhone 12 series.”
The lack of significant changes to the hardware also leads TrendForce to believe that “Apple will continue the proactive pricing strategy that it adopted in 2020 so as to maintain its market share for high-end smartphones.” TrendForce notes that prices for key components used to build smartphones have increased due to the supply constraints being experienced the world over, but the prices of the iPhone 12s series models should be the same as those of the iPhone 12 series.
Here were the prices of each of the iPhone 12 models at launch last fall:
- iPhone 12 mini: $699
- iPhone 12: $799
- iPhone 12 Pro: $999
- iPhone 12 Pro Max: $1,099
TrendForce also included additional details about the hardware upgrades of the iPhone 12s:
The iPhone 12s series will feature the A15 processors manufactured at TSMC’s 5nm+ node. Regarding the display, the new models will be equipped with flexible AMOLED panels with On-cell touchscreen technology; the two Pro models will also feature a 120Hz refresh rate. Judging by the iPhone 12s series’ starting prices as well as the differences among various models’ retail prices, TrendForce expects the new handsets’ memory capacities to remain the same as their iPhone 12 counterparts. On the camera front, Apple has upgraded all iPhone 12s handsets’ main cameras to include sensor-shift image stabilization technologies. For the Pro models, not only are their ultra-wide cameras now equipped with 6P lens (which is an upgrade over the previous generation), but they are also capable of autofocus functions. Notably, it should be pointed out that LiDAR scanners are available in the Pro models only.
There have been rumors that Apple would add a 1TB model to the 2021 iPhone line, but TrendForce’s report suggests otherwise. The group expects the iPhone 12s to account for nearly 39% of Apple’s annual production volume in 2021, and while there will be an iPhone 12s mini, the company is reportedly going to focus on the sales of the iPhone 12s, iPhone 12s Pro, and iPhone 12s Pro Max.
