Apple often introduces a new wave of hardware at its fall event, and this year the company seems to be preparing a fresh trio of iPhones. The new models will be powered by Apple’s A13 chip and will still be equipped with Lightning ports rather than USB-C.
The news comes from Guilherme Rambo at 9to5Mac, who has produced some reliable Apple scoops in recent months.
He cites people who have seen the devices. Paired with the latest claims from Apple’s supply chain, this is looking like a plausible picture of what we can expect from Cook and crew later this fall.
The three models of what would likely be dubbed the iPhone 11 are reportedly intended to replace the three iterations of the iPhone XS that debuted last year. The replacement for the iPhone XS is internally known as the D42, while the D43 will sub in for the iPhone XS Max. The N104 will replace the less expensive iPhone XR.
The three new models will have the same screen resolutions as the existing iPhone XS counterparts. The screen technologies will also stay the same, with the D42 and D43 sporting OLED Retina displays and the N104 running a 2x Liquid Retina display.
The arrival of the A13 chip will likely mark a step up in power for the Apple devices. Chip engineering and architecture has been a growing focus for the company. The A12 chip in the iPhone XS models increased the number of operations per second from 600 billion to 5 trillion, and the A12X system-on-a-chip in the 2018 iPad Pro delivered better stats than the 2017 and 2016 models of the MacBook Pro. We’ve mostly just seen rumors and guesswork about the A13, but it seems that Apple will want to keep pushing for ever bigger and more impressive stats in this area.
One of the more notable changes being reported for these phones is a new type of Taptic Engine. We’ve heard that the engine’s code name is leap haptics, but that’s about all the insight available presently. The new haptics are expected to potentially replace Apple’s 3D Touch system.
Cameras have received lots of attention from Apple in recent years, and the new models seem to come with another fresh batch of updates. The front camera on the devices will add support for slow motion video capture at 120fps.
In addition, Bloomberg previously reported that a wide-angle image option was in development and that it will be unveiled on the D42 model. Design-wise, it works as three separate cameras on the back of the phone, all contained in a square. The camera trio is being used for an option called Smart Frame, which will capture more of an image than appears in the framed area to offer more options for cropping and framing in post-production. 9to5Mac reports that the extra information captured by the wide angle would be discarded after a grace period due to privacy concerns.
