The New 2019 iPhone: A Photographer’s Wishlist Fulfilled?
A day ago, Apple shocked the world by announcing that it would be canceling its premium 5.8-inch iPhone X/XS/11 and, will instead be replacing it with a follow-up to the iPhone SE, except for the fact that the follow-up will have flagship specs.
So, for those of us who’ve been asking ourselves, “when does the new iPhone come out?”, unfortunately, we’re left with even more questions as Apple has not given an official iPhone release date.
Read: 10 Great (and Free) iPhone Apps for Marketing Professionals in 2019
iPhone 12: The Rumours filtered through a Photographer’s Lens
If you have been waiting with bated breath for a new iPhone in 2019, Apple has indeed delivered on their promise of a new iPhone, however, it’s just not the actual iPhone we were hoping for.
That does give us some time to speculate a little about what we’d like to see, and what could possibly be in the iPhone 12.
One thing that has become abundantly clear is that the next iPhone to be released will be 5G-enabled. That means faster internet access speed and less latency. Another interesting spec that might be brought back is Touch ID directly on the screen, which would make the next iPhone pretty standard, considering what the competition has been up to, we’ll also explore what the ramifications of that would be for an iPhone photographer.
Will the iPhone 12 Mean Improved iPhone Photography?
The upcoming new iPhone will apparently come with an upgraded 3D camera, which would serve the function for augmented reality. Unlike today’s “dot projection tech” that current-generation Apple iPhones use, the new iPhone camera would be powered by a laser scanner, which would mean improved iPhone photography, greater depth of field as the laser will be able to cover a larger distance than the current system, and yes more of that elusive bokeh!
“The rear-facing, longer-range 3-D camera is designed to scan the environment to create three-dimensional reconstructions of the real world. It will work up to about 15 feet from the device,” Mark Gurman and Debby Wu from Bloomberg said in January 2019.
How do we know this to be true? The current TrueDepth camera is currently front-facing, so the fact that the same concept that is able to recognize your face (even when you have a face mask and glasses on) will now be rear-mounted and allow you to take pictures of your surrounding in greater detail should make you excited.
Unlike the iPhone that was announced a few days ago, these upcoming iPhones slated to be released in 2020 would be a follow-up to the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Rumour has it that the larger follow-up to the iPhone XS Max will be even bigger with a 6.7-inch screen, compared to the current iPhone XS Max’ 6.5-inch display.
That would make it the biggest iPhone to date, and it could possibly replace the iPad for a lot of iPhone photographers who consider themselves digital nomads — you probably might use it less like a phone and more like a tablet if you wanted...
What does that mean for an iPhone Photographer? Less guess-work when doing image editing on the fly, and yes, the even greater possibility of video editing on the 2020 iPhone 12. We will know for sure in September 2019, whether the rumors and speculation are true.
Read: 5 Tips to Upgrade your iPhone Photography for Instagram
Speaking of image editing, what about the display quality?
Both iMore and MacRumors, based on a Kuo Ming-Chi’s report, anticipate that the 2020 iPhone will continue Apple's new trend of having OLED displays.
OLED has resulted in both the iPhone XS and XS Max having a full high-dynamic-range (HDR), which helps to mitigate problems like burn-in, and off-axis color shifting. So again, for the photographer, what you see IRL and what you see on the phone display will come closer to being identical.
Will the 2020 iPhone have Touch ID?
Apple replaced Touch ID way back in 2017, and replaced with Face ID on the iPhone X. Apparently, the reason why we couldn’t have both was because back then, both would have made the iPhone X even more expensive.
According to MacRumors, Touch ID might make a sort of comeback. Not quite what any of us would have expected, but a return, nonetheless. MacRumors calls this, “acoustic fingerprint technology that could allow for full-screen Touch ID.”
That means we might be able to authenticate our identity anywhere on the iPhone screen if the 2020 iPhone does away with the home button like its predecessors. Especially considering how the sneak peeks at iOS 13 work.
That will mean even less fiddling when taking images on the fly, as currently the iPhone XS and XS Max Face ID has its moments of requiring a passcode under low-light situations where the AR simply cannot detect and verify the face.
Read: 15 Hitcase iPhone Accessories You Won't Be Able to Live Without
2020 iPhone and Ports: An iPhone Photographer’s Kryptonite
When the iPad Pro received a full-on USB-C port, there was increased speculation about whether the iPhone 12 could also receive the same treatment.
According to some rumors that have been swirling in the mill, Apple’s vendors are moving towards getting rid of all the buttons and all the ports. Apparently, this is supposed to make the phones, even more, water-resistant and reduce mechanical failure.
That’s a tough question and one that every iPhone Photographer will need answers to.
Summary
Basically, while Apple may have caused pandemonium by pushing the iPhone 12 back by yet another year, if we follow the past trends, we can probably assume that the next iPhone will be announced in September 2019, and ship shortly after.
Price-wise? We don’t think it’ll be anything less than $999, and at that rate, getting your hands on a Hitcase iPhone case will probably be a no-brainer. If Apple is willing to forego ports and buttons to make sure that the phone is even more water-tight, it would be a terrible waste if any other disaster would befall it. (wink)
So, here’s our question to you;
What are you, as an iPhone Photographer, looking forward to seeing in the iPhone 12? Tell us about these specs in the comments below.
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