Is the new iPhone 12 line a good buy?

Apple’s second product launch this fall came as expected on Tuesday with its biggest but not out-of-the-box highlight: the iPhone 12 lineup with 5G technology.

Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, unveiled four new iPhone 12 models at the empty Apple Park, California headquarters through a virtual presentation, detailing performance, camera features, durability, and Most importantly, fast wireless connections.

The core of the line, the iPhone 12 with a 6.1-inch screen, will sell for $ 799, while a “Mini” version with a 5.4-inch screen will be a bit cheaper at $ 699. A “Pro” version with three cameras and a new 3-D “lidar” sensor starts at $ 999, with the largest “Pro Max” starting at $ 1,099 and going up to $ 1,399.

Compared to the iPhone 11 lineup, the most obvious and probably the biggest design change from the full screen is the edge. All the edges of the new iPhone 12 models are squared.

Upgrades also include more colors, higher definition display technology, professional-grade camera system, shock-resistant display, and a super-fast network experience.

But to a measure that may upset some consumers, Apple will no longer offer free charging adapters on the new line, noting that the smaller, lighter boxes are more environmentally friendly. The power adapters will be sold separately for $ 20 and $ 50, depending on how fast the phones charge.

The new products will test whether Apple can harness a wave of consumer excitement around 5G wireless data networks, whose faster variants exceed the data speeds of their predecessors by several times.

The much hyped 5G connectivity

Apple said that all iPhone 12 models in the United States will support millimeter wave 5G, the fastest variant of the technology, as well as low-frequency bands.

But whether iPhone buyers see a dramatic speed increase will largely depend on where they are and which carrier they use, what Bob O’Donnell, director of TECHnalysis Research, called “a lot of annoying little details that get in the way of deliver on the 5G promise. “

However, using the next iPhone or any 5G-enabled device on the current network will be “like having a Ferrari … but using it in your local town and you won’t be able to drive up to 200 miles per hour, simply because you can’t maintain those speeds.” explained Boris Metodiev, associate director of the research firm Strategy Analytics.

Read more: Apple’s new ‘iPhone 12’ will offer 5G speeds that US networks cannot offer

Current US 5G networks primarily use low-band wireless spectrum, or airspace, which is slower than high-band spectrum, but more reliable over longer distances. It will likely be years before the huge speed increases that telephone operators promise make augmented reality and real-time cloud gaming perfect.

Several telecommunications operators in the US have deployed networks based on lower spectrum bands, with speeds slightly higher than 4G. A noticeably faster “mid-band” variant of 5G is also being rolled out, but it’s unlikely to reach three-quarters of Americans by 2025, estimated Apple analyst Gene Munster at venture capital firm Loup Ventures.

In South Korea and China, faster 5G networks are more widespread. But Apple will compete against local brands such as Samsung in South Korea, which is already in its second line of 5G phones, and Huawei in China, whose sales have increased after the telecommunications giant was banned in the United States.

Supporting China’s GPS system

Location is a basic but important function for smartphones. The positioning and navigation capabilities are compatible with the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) built into the devices.

Although GPS is the most common GNSS, other nations, including Russia’s GLONASS, China’s BDS, and the EU’s Galileo, are deploying, or have deployed, their own systems to provide complementary and independent positioning, navigation and timing capabilities.

After all Chinese smartphone brands and even South Korea’s Samsung claimed that their phones have access to China’s BDS services, Apple for the first time confirmed that the service is now accessible for its iPhone 12 models as well. .

As one of Apple’s largest overseas markets, China has always been on the top list of the company’s marketing strategy. With more than 100 million views, the “iPhone12” tag ranked No. 1 topic on Weibo similar to Twitter in China after the official product launch.

But this year’s launch generated mixed reactions in China with fans cheering for a 5G model for their favorite brand, while others planned to wait for the next devices from local rivals like Huawei Technologies, especially when the much touted 5G capability is no longer a strong suit. point of sale.

Chinese brands like Huawei and Xiaomi have already launched high-end 5G devices a year before Apple. “In China now, 5G is not a premium feature, it is a must-have feature,” said Nicole Peng, who tracks China’s smartphone sector on Canalys.

Canalys expects 50 percent of Chinese phone owners to use a 5G device by the end of 2020, as phone brands and networks have aggressively driven adoption. Only 29 percent of US phone owners will be on 5G devices at the same time.

(With input from Reuters)