iPhone 12 and more: all the announcements from Apple’s October 13th event

October saw the iPhone 12 line’s reveal, along with the release of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro. The other two phones in the lineup, the 12 mini and the 12 Pro Max, which are the smallest and biggest models, respectively, are now available. Apple has also opened up orders for the HomePod mini, which costs $99; we’ve detailed how to order that device in a separate article.

If you are looking to upgrade your phone and grab the latest iPhone, it can be overwhelming. If you want to compare each iPhone 12 family, my colleague Chaim Gartenberg wrote an in-depth article detailing key differences between each model.

Apple announced its second smart speaker to date, the HomePod mini, during its hardware event in October. The device is now available for order for $99. Apple also opened up orders for the iPhone 12 mini and 12 Pro Max, and we’ve laid out all order deals for both phones in a separate article.

The HomePod mini is a smaller version of the original HomePod. It features a spherical design with one speaker, and retains the mesh fabric exterior and a small LED display on the top of the device. You can also pair two HomePod minis to use in a stereo configuration.

Apple’s newest iPhones — the iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max — were announced earlier this month, and they’ve generated a lot of interest from iPhone fans. In fact, with this many iPhone models, it can be a bit overwhelming to decide which iPhone 12 model is best for you. (To make things easier, my colleague Chaim Gartenberg wrote an in-depth article detailing key differences between the each model in the iPhone 12 line.)

The iPhone 12 and 12 Pro are available for purchase online and in-store. Below, we tell you where you can order them and what deals you can get from each retailer.

If you buy an iPhone in the future, you’re not getting an included charging brick or earbuds. Apple says the reasons are environmental. Giving out fewer “free” accessories with every phone means using less materials, the company claims, and also makes for smaller boxes that can be shipped more efficiently. So going forward, those boxes will just come with a phone and a Lightning to USB-C cable. 

I think Apple’s approach is generally a good thing, but it should have gone further by switching away from its proprietary Lightning port entirely and fully embracing USB-C. Right away, that Lightning to USB-C cable would turn into a much more useful USB-C to USB-C cable that could charge basically all of your electronics. Or better still, Apple could remove the cable entirely and just ship the phone by itself, eliminating even more duplicitous waste.

By now, you’ve probably read my colleague Nick Statt’s piece about how the iPhone 12’s MagSafe magnetically-attached wireless charging cable opens up a future where iPhones won’t need ports at all.

That sounds futuristic! Now, let’s talk about something a little more practical... something legions of people already do with their phones.

After months of rumors, Apple announced yesterday that it would be removing wired EarPod headphones and wall chargers from iPhone boxes. The only accessory you get in the box is a USB-C to Lightning cable. Apple is positioning this as an environmentally-friendly move that will reduce carbon emissions and let the company ship more devices on a single pallet. But if you had come to rely on getting a new pair of headphones and a wall charger when you bought a new iPhone, those are now only available as separate purchases.

Thankfully, Apple has made those accessories a little less expensive than they used to be. A set of EarPods with a Lightning connector now costs $19, which is a $10 discount from their previous price. And Apple has also introduced a new $19 20-watt power adapter, discontinuing the older 18-watt charger that cost $29. If you opt to buy both of them, though, that still means you’re paying an extra $38 on top of what you’re already paying for your iPhone 12.

This week, Apple unveiled the iPhone mini, the smallest iPhone it has debuted in years, and it looks like the iPhone I’ve been wanting for a very long time.

I haven’t been a fan of the trend toward bigger smartphones. The first one I bought for myself was the iPhone 7 Plus. I returned it within a week because it was too big and got the iPhone 7 instead, which I loved. Last year, I upgraded from the iPhone 7 to the iPhone 11, but returned that within a week, too — even though the 11 is smaller than the 7 Plus, I still found it unwieldy. I then paid a $300 premium over the 11 to get the iPhone 11 Pro purely because it was the smallest available iPhone with the newest specs at the time.

There are a lot more iPhones than there used to be these days. Picking a phone used to be simple: Apple would offer just a single new iPhone model, where all you had to do was choose a color and storage size. This year, Apple has launched four new phones: the iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max, which join the already available iPhone SE that was released earlier this year for a total of five new phones in 2020.

It’s the most iPhone models that Apple has ever released in a single year, bringing new additions like the A14 Bionic processor (Apple’s fastest yet), a more durable “Ceramic Shield” glass coating, improved cameras, a new design, and the resurrected MagSafe branding for a new wireless charger and accessory system. That’s all in addition to the iPhone 11 and iPhone XR, which Apple will be keeping around as well at new $499 and $599 prices, which means that it’s even harder to choose between the various iPhones you can buy brand-new at a store.

Apple has announced its iPhone 12 lineup, and as ever, the phones’ camera systems were the focus of much of the company’s presentation. This year, though, there’s more to differentiate each model than ever before. The iPhone range is getting improvements across the board, but Apple appears to be reserving the biggest advances for its biggest phone. The 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max has some serious hardware improvements that set its camera apart from every other iPhone.

Hardware-wise, there doesn’t appear to be much difference between the iPhone 12, 12 mini, and 12 Pro when compared to the 11 and 11 Pro. All of these phones use the same-sized 12 megapixel sensors for wide, ultrawide, and the Pro model’s telephoto cameras, while the shape and size of the camera bump remains essentially the same.

Apple has just announced its iPhone 12 lineup, and as part of today’s announcements, the company introduced a dizzying amount of camera tech scattered amongst the new iPhones. If you’re coming from an iPhone that currently has a single camera, or even a pair, you may find some serious upgrades here.

But first, let’s establish the baseline.

Apple has announced its very first 5G iPhones: the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. They range in price from $729 to well north of $1,100, but — as Apple proudly announced during the press conference — even the Mini offers access to speedy millimeter-wave (mmWave) 5G networks.

As it turns out, that’s why each new iPhone features this conspicuous groove along the right edge. It’s a special window for mmWave signals, and it appears to be designed so users can visibly see it and perhaps avoid holding it there for maximum signal strength.

Apple’s new iPhones have arrived (even if they’re a bit later than usual). And this year, Apple has launched four new phones: the iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max, its first iPhones with 5G and what Apple claims are the fastest smartphones ever made.

The new iPhone 12 and 12 mini effectively replace last year’s iPhone 11, but this year Apple is offering its cheaper iPhone in two sizes (something that the company has done with its higher-end models for the last two years). It’s also made some big upgrades on the hardware front: the display is now an OLED panel instead of LCD, there’s support for 5G, and an updated design.

Apple has just finished its “Hi, Speed” event, where it finally took the wraps off the four new iPhone 12 phones, which have all-new designs and will all support 5G wireless networks. Apple also unveiled the HomePod mini, a smaller and more affordable version of the HomePod smart speaker.

If you want to read the play-by-play of the event, check out our live blog with commentary from Dieter Bohn and Nilay Patel. But if you just want to read the biggest news from the show, we’ve got you covered right here.

Apple’s new iPhone 12 lineup will ship without wall chargers or Lightning EarPods in the box to reduce the phone’s environmental impact, the company announced today. Instead, they’ll come with just a USB-C to Lightning cable. As well as the new phones, Apple is also removing the accessories from its existing iPhone models going forward.

Apple says it’s not including a charger or earbuds with the iPhone 12 series on environmental grounds; similarly, it didn’t include a charging brick with this year’s Apple Watch models. The company says the move means it has to consume fewer raw materials for each iPhone sold. It also allows for a smaller retail box, which means 70 percent more units can fit on a single shipping pallet and reduce carbon emissions. Overall, Apple estimates the changes will cut over 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually, the equivalent of removing 450,000 cars from the road each year.

Apple has officially announced its 2020 flagship iPhones: the $999 iPhone 12 Pro and $1,099 12 Pro Max, featuring support for 5G and a new squared-off design that’s reminiscent of the iPhone 4. It’s also the first major redesign for Apple’s full-screen smartphones since it introduced the bezel-less design with the iPhone X in 2017.

Both the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro and 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max are bigger than last year’s 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro and 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max. The 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max, in particular, is notable for taking the crown as Apple’s biggest phone to date. The Pro models feature a stainless steel design (instead of the aluminum on the iPhone 12) in four colors: gray, stainless steel, gold, and a new blue.

Apple is announcing a new iPhone 12 mini today. It’s the first time Apple has used the “mini” moniker on its iPhone line, after using it on the iPod mini, iPad mini, and Mac mini previously. The new iPhone 12 mini has a 5.4-inch screen, which means Apple has squeezed a larger display than the 4.7-inch screen found on this year’s iPhone SE into an iPhone 12 mini handset that’s smaller overall.

Apple has made the $729 iPhone 12 mini smaller by removing Touch ID and replacing it with Face ID, alongside a significant reduction in bezels around the display. Apple claims it’s the smallest, thinnest, and lightest 5G phone in the world.

Apple has revived its MagSafe charging brand with a twist: it’s no longer for its MacBook line but instead for the new iPhone 12 line. The announcement, made during the company’s annual iPhone reveal, confirmed rumors from last week that Apple would be bringing back its magnetic charging cable that it began phasing out of its laptop line in 2016 with the first USB-C MacBook.

MagSafe for laptops was mostly a safety feature, ensuring you couldn’t ruin your cable or charging port — or send your MacBook flying off a table — by tripping over the cord. That’s because the magnets allowed for easy disconnection when pulled with any considerable amount of force.

Apple’s new iPhone 12 lineup will be the first to feature 5G. However, it’ll only use the faster networking speeds some of the time, thanks to a new “Smart Data Mode,” which will toggle between 4G and 5G based on when apps are making big bandwidth demands.

So if you’re out checking your email or Twitter, your iPhone 12 will still use regular 4G — even if you’re in a 5G area — to avoid using the additional (and apparently power-hungry) radio. Switch over to a streaming movie or a video call, and your phone will jump to 5G and its faster speeds and lower latency.

Apple has taken the wraps off its new iPhone 12 lineup today, and a standout feature is a new ceramic-hardened display named Ceramic Shield, available on the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Apple says Ceramic Shield is “tougher than any smartphone glass,” with four times greater resistance to damage from drops.

Apple isn’t the first smartphone manufacturer to incorporate glass-ceramic. The Essential Phone, Xiaomi’s Mi Mix series, and Samsung’s Galaxy S10 Plus all have ceramic panels, but they’re located on the rear of the handset (optional on the Galaxy). By using glass-ceramic for the display itself, though, Apple can claim greater utility for customers. After all, protecting your screen from smashing is more important than protecting your phone’s rear.

It might be happening a bit later than usual, but Apple has just announced the iPhone 12. Featuring the same 6.1-inch display size as the iPhone 11 and iPhone XR before it, the latest “main” iPhone — and likely the model most people will gravitate toward — is making the transition from an LCD screen to OLED. And as rumored, the phone has flat aluminum sides for an overall look that more closely matches the iPad Pro and iPad Air (plus the iPhone 4 from years ago).

The iPhone 12 will come in black, white, blue, red, and green. Pricing starts at $829. Preorders start this Friday, and the iPhone 12 will be available on October 23rd. For storage, you can pick between 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. Aside from the flat sides, it still largely resembles the iPhone 11. There’s still a notch at the top that houses Apple’s Face ID technology, though the bezels around the screen have been reduced — another perk of the OLED switch. (Crushingly, the combo Touch ID / power button from the new iPad Air didn’t make it to the iPhone this year.) Around back, the iPhone 12 has two cameras housed in a matte glass squircle, which makes for a nice contrast with the rest of the glossy back panel.

Verizon is making a big expansion of its 5G network: the carrier is now rolling out nationwide support for the new networking standard, which will reach more than 200 million people.

Until now, Verizon’s 5G has been almost exclusively focused on the mmWave band, which offers the fastest speeds but suffers from extremely poor range. That fact has meant that while AT&T and T-Mobile have been able to boast about broad 5G coverage for the entire country, Verizon has been limited to a few street corners of a small number of cities.

Apple has announced a new version of its HomePod smart speaker, the $99 HomePod mini — a smaller version of the speaker that shrinks down the original model into a more compact size.

Like the full-size HomePod, the HomePod mini still features a mesh fabric exterior in both black and white colors, along with a small display on top to show the Siri waveform and volume controls. The new model is more of a short, spherical shape, however, instead of the oblong design of the original. The HomePod mini features one main driver, two passive radiators, and an “acoustic waveguide” on the bottom.

Although it’s happening just a little later than usual, Apple is ready to announce its next iPhones. Widely expected to be called the iPhone 12, this year, there may be as many as four different models. Rumors point to an iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, and a smaller iPhone 12 mini.

Speaking of “mini” things, a late-breaking leak revealed a small, spherical HomePod that looks like a little Magic 8-Ball, and there’s also going to be a white version.

Photos of Apple’s next smart speaker, the HomePod mini, have leaked hours ahead of the company’s big product event happening today. The images, published by Evan Blass, reveal a smaller device than the original HomePod — though it’s still covered in the familiar mesh fabric and has a small display at the top.

The original HomePod was announced at WWDC 2017 and went on sale in early 2018, positioned as a high-end speaker centered on Apple Music and the company’s Siri voice assistant. Since then, Apple has added additional features to the HomePod. But this new version will presumably cost less and help the company better compete against Amazon’s Echo lineup and new products like the Nest Audio from Google.