The Apple 2020 Fall iPhone Event Live Blog 10am PT (17:00 UTC)
by Andrei Frumusanu on October 13, 2020 12:15 PM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Apple
- Smartphones
- iPhone
- Apple A14
12:55PM EDT - Hi all - I hope everybody's doing great when reading this, either from work or at home - or from work at home! The event should start in 5 minutes.
01:00PM EDT - The event is starting - Apple Park at night intro clip.
01:01PM EDT - Apple CEO Tim Cook taking the stage.
01:01PM EDT - Recap of the September event talking about the watches and iPads.
01:02PM EDT - "Exciting new product for the home"
01:02PM EDT - Homepod smart speaker with Siri.
01:03PM EDT - New variation of the HomePod - the HomePod Mini
01:04PM EDT - Compact design with a mesh design that provides "Amazing sound"
01:05PM EDT - Sound, intelligent assistant, and smart home - with focus on privacy and security
01:05PM EDT - Custom dynamic driver and two passive radiators to produce excellent sound quality.
01:06PM EDT - New S5 chip supports "computational audio" that smartly controls dynamic range and optimises sound quality depending on the track or content that's playing.
01:07PM EDT - Can be used as stereo units when you have two of them.
01:07PM EDT - Uses the iPhone's UWB chip to recognise near devices.
01:08PM EDT - "Siri keeps getting better"
01:09PM EDT - Tight integration with your iPhone applications and assistant functions.
01:10PM EDT - Controls all your HomeKit settings via the HomePod
01:11PM EDT - Intercom functionality to communicate between HomePods in your home as well as all your Apple iDevices.
01:12PM EDT - Privacy and security at the forefront.
01:13PM EDT - $99 starting shipping November 16th, order November 5th.
01:13PM EDT - Moving onto iPhones.
01:13PM EDT - "#1 smartphone in the world" regarding iPhone 11
01:14PM EDT - "The next generation is here"
01:14PM EDT - 5G is here for iPhone
01:16PM EDT - Ensuring the best possible experience between iPhone devices and networks around the world.
01:17PM EDT - Verizon's CEO taking the stage and talking about their mmWave network.
01:17PM EDT - Up to 4Gbps download speeds over the 5G network in ideal conditions.
01:17PM EDT - 200Mbps uploads.
01:18PM EDT - Capacity will play a big role in 5G, enables much better experiences in crowded areas, such as stadiums.
01:19PM EDT - Verizon's mmWave network to be expanded to 60 US cities by year end.
01:20PM EDT - Verizon is also launching their sub-6 5G network, reaching 200 million US residents.
01:20PM EDT - 5G across the entire iPhone lineup today.
01:21PM EDT - iPhone 12 with 5G
01:21PM EDT - "All new design"
01:21PM EDT - Smooth flat edges.
01:21PM EDT - "Designed with 5G in mind"
01:22PM EDT - 5G antennas integrated around the aluminium frame
01:22PM EDT - 6.1" screen, but with smaller bezels, resulting in a smaller iPhone
01:23PM EDT - OLED display on the regular iPhone
01:23PM EDT - Double the resolution of the iPhone 11
01:23PM EDT - Supports all the newest HDR features, peak brightness up to 1200 nits
01:24PM EDT - New glass cover "Ceramic Shield"
01:24PM EDT - "Tougher than any smartphone glass"
01:24PM EDT - "4x better drop performance"
01:25PM EDT - Custom designed antennas and RF
01:26PM EDT - "Smart data mode" switches from 5G to LTE when higher speeds aren't needed in order to optimise power efficiency.
01:27PM EDT - 3.5Gbps peak speeds
01:27PM EDT - mmWave seemingly only in the US based on the presentation wording?
01:28PM EDT - Talking about the new A14 SoC
01:29PM EDT - Reiterating that the A14 the the industry's first 5nm chip.
01:29PM EDT - 11.8bn transistors
01:29PM EDT - 6-core CPU, claiming a 50% performance advantage over any other competing mobile chip
01:30PM EDT - The same advantages quoted for the GPU, 50% faster than the next best competitor
01:31PM EDT - It's pretty unusual to see Apple compare to other Android SoC counterparts.
01:31PM EDT - Even less details about power efficiency in this presentation.
01:31PM EDT - League of Legends brought to iOS
01:33PM EDT - Apple's first 7-element lens.
01:33PM EDT - 27% improvement in low-light
01:33PM EDT - SmartHDR 3 algorithm for high dynamic range retention.
01:34PM EDT - Night mode to all cameras, finally, including the Ultra-Wide
01:35PM EDT - Big improvements in low-light for video capture.
01:35PM EDT - Video clip showcasing the iphone video recording capabilities in low-light - scene in Las Vegas
01:36PM EDT - Wireless charging becomes easier with the iPhone 12
01:37PM EDT - MagSafe for iPhone
01:37PM EDT - Up to 15W wireless charging, magnets to align the coils with MagSafe accessories.
01:38PM EDT - MagSafe Duo Charger
01:38PM EDT - Already starting with third-party accessory development, such as from Belkin
01:39PM EDT - 2030 net zero carbon footprint target
01:40PM EDT - Removing headphones and power adaptors from new iPhones. Smaller box.
01:41PM EDT - USB-C to Lightning cable is still included.
01:43PM EDT - Apple just seriously upped the bar when it comes to small form-factor phones with the new iPhone 12 mini
01:44PM EDT - Smaller than an iPhone SE, but with all the new modern features and new design.
01:45PM EDT - $699 for the iPhone 12 mini, and $799 for the iPhone 12 - Those are some killer prices
01:46PM EDT - iPhone Pro lineup now
01:47PM EDT - Premium materials for the iPhone Pros
01:48PM EDT - New bigger screens for the new Pro models
01:50PM EDT - Deep Fusion for all camera hardware this year, including the front camera
01:50PM EDT - Your standard trifectra of cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro
01:51PM EDT - the 12 Pro Max supposedly has even better cameras
01:51PM EDT - New telephoto from 52mm to 65mm focal length
01:52PM EDT - New huge sensor with 1.7µm pixels - this should be an 1/1.7" unit
01:52PM EDT - New sensor-shift based OIS
01:53PM EDT - One full f-stop light gathering improvement through the new stabilisation
01:53PM EDT - Apple ProRAW capturing format
01:54PM EDT - Includes all the image processing that's usual, but maintains your usual RAW information depth
01:55PM EDT - "Flexibility of RAW with the benefits of Apple's computaitonal photography"
01:56PM EDT - 10-bit HDR video recording
01:57PM EDT - Also able to record in Dolby Vision HDR
01:59PM EDT - Now covering the iPhone Pro's LIDAR scanner
02:00PM EDT - In low-light, the LIDAR can help autofocus
02:00PM EDT - That alone is a great feature and rationalises the feature
02:06PM EDT - $999 for the iPhone and $1099 for the 12 Pro Max
02:07PM EDT - Quite odd discrepancies in the availability dates, the regular sized phones are available on October 23rd, while the Pro Max and the mini only become available November 13th
02:08PM EDT - That's a wrap for it today folks!
56 Comments
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eastcoast_pete - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
That mm wave 5G is, yes, fast, but largely a bad joke as long as carriers are throttling speed after whatever allotment is used up. Plus, mm wavelength means line-of-sight only, and that's not the case most of the time. Verizon can barely get mm 5G working in large, open stadiums, so never mind built-up areas like cities. So, mm 5G won't be a consideration for my next phone purchase. I am curious how much beam-forming and MiMo in sub-6 GHz 5G add versus current 4G LTE, and would like to see a deep-ish dive on that.Lastly, will be interesting to learn who makes the i12 5 G modem. Qualcomm?
Random username - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
A joke is that it's so difficult and expensive to get unlimited data in USAMeteor2 - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
It's literally an enlarged iPhone 4 😲. Not very pretty."It's pretty unusual to see Apple compare to other Android SoC counterparts" -- as Anandtech pointed out, the generational improvement here is slight, so much so they can't use it in their marketing. That run of performance improvements had to come to an end eventually! (Also suspect a lot of their design team will have been dedicated to ARM for Mac)
Meteor2 - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
"5G antennas integrated around the aluminium frame" -- who's going to bet that it'll be possible to hold it "wrong" again?dudedud - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
They corrected it on the 4S... or that's what I remember :/Meteor2 - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
I know, I'm joking :-) .It is fascinating that they appear to have styled the phone entirely for the purposes of mmW reception
patel21 - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
Yes, looking at A14 and A12Z, it seems their SoC teams are busy with ARM for Macsyeeeeman - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
"all new design" - back to iphone 5 design :))still using 12mp camera.......
the only nice thing here is the price
SR-71 - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
I bet Apple cameras will literally destroy any Android camera. Can't wait for the first reviews and of course Andrei review. ;)biigD - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
Literally huh? Android cameras will just spontaneously combust when around an iPhone? ;)