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So how much will these latest iPhones cost you?
Many of us can breathe a sigh of relief. Apple maintained a proven pricing model for new devices, releasing entry-level phones for $ 700 and up and high-end phones starting at $ 1,000, both prices in line with previous years.
What is different this year is that Apple will sell four iPhone models, up from the typical three in recent years.
At the entry level, the iPhone 12 Mini will start at $ 700 and the iPhone 12 at $ 800. Last year, the iPhone 11 started at $ 700, which means the flagship iPhone 12 will start at $ 100 more. People will still have a $ 700 option, but it will be smaller.
On the higher end, the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max will start at $ 1,000 and $ 1,100, identical to last year.
Apple could have been able to keep prices mostly stable this year by not including more headphones and a power adapter. The company said it was an environmental decision, but that it also likely saved it money and will cause many customers to buy additional accessories from Apple.
Analysts and investors have long anticipated the new iPhones as a sales boost for the company’s top products. A larger than normal portion of existing iPhone owners need to upgrade, and many have held out in favor of a 5G iPhone, not wanting to invest in a device that didn’t work with faster wireless speeds.
Whether Apple was able to capitalize on growing demand for a 5G iPhone was a matter of doubt this year when the coronavirus disrupted its supply chain in China. But its Chinese manufacturing partners recovered quickly, and the iPhone event was delayed just a month past its usual September date.
Most importantly for Apple is that it will begin shipping the new devices before the crucial holiday sales season.
The iPhone 12, the successor to last year’s iPhone 11, has come with an improved screen and a faster chip, among other improvements.
Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, recalled the new device on Tuesday, emphasizing that it has the ability to run on next-generation 5G cellular networks, for much faster speeds.
The new iPhone is also 11 percent thinner, 15 percent smaller, and 16 percent lighter than its predecessor. It has smooth, flat edges, unlike the rounded corners of previous models. The screen uses OLED, a brighter display technology that replaces the previous LCD technology in the latest entry-level iPhone. Apple said it also hardened the touchscreen glass, making it four times more likely to survive a fall.
The iPhone 12 will also come in two screen sizes: 5.4 inches and 6.1 inches. The smallest model, called the iPhone 12 Mini, may appeal to people who prefer smaller phones.
Apple also introduced updates to its iPhone Pro models, its most expensive smartphones. The premium models have an additional camera lens and their processors are a bit more powerful for taking special photos with extra high resolution, what Apple calls “deep fusion.” They also include a Lidar scanner, which is a depth sensor that uses lasers to scan 3-D objects, which could improve augmented reality applications.
Cook spoke extensively about 5G speed improvements, calling it “super fast” and offering a “new level of performance for downloads and uploads.” But in particular, his description lacked specificity: He didn’t say how much faster 5G was than current 4G phones, which many would already consider super-fast.
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, joined Apple to discuss 5G, highlighting its top speeds. But those top speeds won’t be available in most parts of the country. Current 5G coverage across the country is only incrementally faster, if at all, than we have with 4G.
So here’s the bottom line: The design changes to the newer iPhones are, in the short term, more notable than the addition of 5G.
Nonetheless, Apple and other phone makers, including Google and Samsung, are working to emphasize 5G in their new phones to help carriers communicate the network change to consumers.
As an aside, Apple said it would stop including headphones and power chargers on its iPhones. He framed the move as an environmental decision, which will also likely save him money and encourage people to spend more on those accessories. Apple said iPhones would come with a USB-C cable, which will allow for faster charging.
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It is the season for new devices of all kinds, including new smartphones. So how do you find out if you really need one?
There are three easy questions to ask yourself to discover the answer.
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Can I receive software updates on my current phone?
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My device cannot be repaired?
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Am I not satisfied with my phone?
Apple’s first in its new product line on Tuesday was a HomePod Mini, a smaller and cheaper version of its HomePod smart speaker, which hasn’t been as successful as the products it emulated, the Amazon Echo and Google Home.
To distinguish the HomePod, Apple has emphasized the speaker’s ability to fill a room with high-quality sound. The original device was not popular, largely due to its higher price of $ 350. Also, Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, is not as capable as Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa. In our tests, Siri on HomePod was dumber than Siri on other products, including the iPhone.
Apple said on Tuesday that Siri kept getting better.
Regardless, the HomePod has a long way to go. The company has not disclosed its sales, but market research firm Strategy Analytics estimated that in the fourth quarter of 2019, Apple had less than 5 percent of the global smart speaker market share, well below 28 percent. from Amazon and 25% stake for Google.
The HomePod Mini will be priced at $ 99, Apple said. That compares to the Amazon Echo at $ 99 and the mini Echo Dot at $ 49. The Google Home, now called Nest Audio, costs $ 99 and its mini version, Nest Mini, is priced at $ 49.
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Many of us are eagerly anticipating Apple’s new iPhones on Tuesday because they are expected to include a major new feature: 5G, for the fifth-generation cellular network.
5G-capable phones have fared much better than our current devices. This is because carriers like AT&T and Verizon have touted 5G as a life-changing technology, capable of delivering data speeds so fast that you can download a full-length movie in seconds.
But lower your expectations, at least for now. In the short term, the new cellular technology probably won’t be a big step up from its predecessor, 4G. Instead, in most cases, 5G will only be incrementally faster, if at all.
This is what you need to know:
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The ultra-fast and highly publicized variant of 5G is known as “millimeter wave.” But its scope is limited at the moment. This type of 5G allows operators to transmit data at blazing fast speeds. The capture? Its signals travel shorter distances, covering a park in New York but not a wide swath of the city, for example. He also has trouble getting through obstacles like walls. So for now, carriers are focusing their deployment on large venues like sports stadiums and open-air amphitheaters.
That’s good news if you like to stream concerts or games. But it is unlikely that we will witness such events in the short term in this pandemic.
And due to technical limitations, we are unlikely to see this blazing-fast 5G rolled out nationwide anytime soon, which means that we won’t get its blazing speeds in the vast majority of places.
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Our cellular networks are widely changing to a version of 5G that is less exciting. Let’s call this 5G vanilla. Vanilla 5G will have speeds that are only slightly faster (about 20 percent faster) than current 4G networks. Its main benefit is that it will reduce a delay known as latency. When you do a web search on your phone, for example, the results appear after a delay that can often last for hundreds of milliseconds. In theory, 5G technology will reduce latency to a few milliseconds.
That said, 5G networks are still in their early stages. So in some areas it can be even slower than 4G to start with.
That’s not to say that 5G isn’t exciting. It is expected to have a significant long-term impact on how our technology works. Reducing wait times could make virtual reality applications and online games work better. If all goes well, 5G could lay the groundwork for autonomous cars, which will need to be able to instantly communicate with each other to avoid collisions.
(The New York Times on Tuesday announced a technology partnership with Verizon to explore how 5G connections could help its journalism; The Times maintains editorial control of its storytelling.)
Meanwhile, there may be improvements to Apple’s new iPhones that will affect it more than 5G. The devices are expected to be accelerated with new processors and have a completely new design and improved cameras. Those, along with the secondary benefit of 5G, would provide a significant upgrade for people who have older 4G iPhones.
