By
Steve Muchoki
November 3rd, 2023
The iPhone 12 brings the much-awaited upgrades in terms of design and features a wide range of next-generation 5G carriers supported across the globe. Analysts say that iPhone 12 will help Apple usher the next growth cycle.
On Tuesday, October 13, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) finally pulled the cover over its latest flagship smartphone iPhone 12 with the next-generation 5G technology. As expected, the iPhone 12 comes in four different variants starting with the “mini” version. All of the iPhone 12 versions feature flat design packed inside the aerospace-grade aluminum enclosure.
They also come with a ceramic front-shield cover for high-end durability and a super-immersive edge-to-edge Super Retina XDR displays for immersive viewing experience. Besides, all of them feature Appl’es latest A14 Bionic chips delivering a similar power-packed performance.
All the iPhone 12 models introduce the company’s new MagSafe features catering to high-powered wireless charging and an all-new ecosystem of accessories that can easily attach to the handset. The most-important upgrade that everyone has been waiting for is the support for blazing-fast 5G internet speeds. Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said:
“The arrival of 5G marks the beginning of a new era for iPhone and we’re thrilled to bring these impressive new capabilities to our customers with iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini.”
Both – iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini – integrate the top-notch hardware and software capabilities. Thus, they offer advanced 5G experience on a global scale boasting ultra-fast downloads and uploads. Featuring a wide range of 5G bands, the iPhone 12 comes with the “broadest 5G coverage worldwide”. Besides, the smartphones come with Smart Data mode to balance between the 5G data usage and power in real-time.
Apple iPhone 12 Hardware and Camera System
As said, all iPhone 12 models – mini, pro, and pro max – features the latest A14 Bionic chip built using a 5-nanometer process. The A-14 Bionic chipset comes with a 16-core Neural Engine while unleashing the top limits of Machine Learning (ML). Its CPU and GPU is 50% faster compared to other smartphones in the segment.
As said earlier all iPhone 12 models host an all-screen fully-immersive Super Retina XDR displays. It comes with twice the peak brightness of its predecessor delivering an immersive HDR viewing experience.
Coming to the camera, the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini feature a dual-camera system. On the other hand, the pro variants come with a three-camera setup. All iPhone 12 camera systems are designed to take computational photography to a whole new level. It comes with better picture quality, better contrast, low-light settings and the Night mode. The announcement notes:
“iPhone 12 features the first camera to shoot HDR video with Dolby Vision and is the first and only device in the world to enable an end-to-end Dolby Vision experience,6 allowing customers to easily capture, edit, and share cinema-grade videos natively on iPhone. Dolby Vision grading is processed live while recording, and sustained during editing, whether in the Photos app or iMovie”.
The iPhone 12 mini starts at /4699 while the standard variant iPhone 12 starts at $799. On the other hand, the iPhone 12 Pro starts at $999 while the iPhone 12 Pro Max starts at $1099. All the versions come in four different color options of black, white, red, green, and blue. Harsh Kumar of Piper Sandler & Co. wrote in a research note:
“The pricing dynamics are the killer app for the phone launch,. Pricing was lower than our expectation, which is important in the current global pandemic.”
AAPL Stock Corrects but Analysts Are Bullish on Apple’s Growth
Despite the much-awaited announcement on Tuesday, AAPL stock price corrected 2.655 ending the day at $121. The Apple stock has already jumped over 50% year-to-date taking the company to over $2 trillion in valuations.
Analysts are also hopeful about the company’s growth following the iPhone 12 launch. Wedbush Analyst Dan Ives expects that a large number of iPhones are ready for the upgrade. This can give a major boost to sales of the iPhone 12.
“With our estimation that 350 million of 950 million iPhones worldwide are currently in the window of an upgrade opportunity, we believe this will translate into an unprecedented upgrade cycle for Apple,” he said.