The rumored iPhone 9 is expected to be the ‘tock’ in Apple’s release cycle in terms of design, but we may still see some interesting developments in Siri along with a specs bump.
Mark your calendars, Apple fans: The Cupertino tech giant on Thursday sent invitations for this year’s fall iPhone event.
The event will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. PT at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, Calif.
“Gather round,” the invite reads.
It’s official, and Apple’s invite is either telling us something or cleverly pretending to tell us something. pic.twitter.com/Nbo6BXBSsM
If history is anything to go by, Apple will announce at least three new models come September, and we have some ideas about what to expect.
For starters, it’s not entirely clear what the new naming convention will be. Last year, the iPhone 8 was the “entry-level” model, while the iPhone 8 Plus sported a high-resolution, 5.5-inch screen, beefier specs, and a dual camera sensor setup. But the iPhone X stole the show, named for the iPhone’s tenth anniversary, a top-tier model with an OLED display, a nearly bezeless design, and the infamous notch, which houses the TrueDepth sensors used for Face ID.
Theoretically, we could be looking at an iPhone 9, an iPhone 9 Plus, and an iPhone X2. But that’s too logical, and if there’s one thing phone manufacturers like to do, it’s skip numbers. Some rumors indicate that Apple could decide to call the new line the iPhone 9, the iPhone 11, and the iPhone 11 Plus, but that seems unrealistic. A more plausible option is for Apple to follow its strategy for the iPad and drop the numbering entirely in favor of just calling the new line the iPhone and using the X2 and X2 Plus to differentiate between sizes.
According to our sister site Mashable, the three phones we seem likely to get consist of a 6.1-inch model with an LCD and a single camera, a 5.8-inch iPhone X successor, and a 6.5-inch Plus version of the X. Naturally, the last one is expected to be the most costly, with a price between $900 and $1,000, while the smaller version may fall around $800-$900. The “affordable” 6.1-inch option could still cost around $700.
A rumor from a German site has indicated that preorders for the various devices might begin as soon as September 14, which would line up with an official announcement on September 12.
This year doesn’t seem to be one for revolutionary design changes. In the case of the iPhone 9 and the 9 Plus, leaks from the FCC indicate we may see a very similar glass and aluminum body and LCD screen for the two more affordable models. From what we’ve seen over previous years, there might be some minor design tweaks, a few new colors, and perhaps a new build material (there are rumors about Apple using a lighter and cheaper aluminum to decrease production costs). All the phones should have a glass back to take advantage of wireless charging.
In the case of the 6.1-inch iPhone, the LCD version is likely to have larger bezels in a 16:9 form factor, while the two other models will draw from the iPhone X to have an 18:9 aspect ratio and a notch at the top to host the sensors needed for the TrueDepth camera and Face ID. There’s no word on whether the fingerprint sensor is likely to make a return, either on the back or embedded under the screen, but we wouldn’t count on it.
The real question for fans of smaller phones is if there will be if there will finally be an iPhone SE2 to replace the aging iPhone SE. So far, there isn’t much indication of that happening. After starting down the route of bigger phones that maximize screen space, Apple may simply put the SE line to bed. At least there’s always Sony’s Xperia Compact series.
Given that this is a “tock” year after the big “tick” of the iPhone X, Apple will most likely be looking to update the already capable A11 chipset to the A11X or A12, likely focusing on optimizing the performance of augmented reality apps and eking more frames out of high-end games.
The 6.1-inch iPhone model looks like it’ll have a 12MP camera sensor, probably the same one that’s currently in the iPhone 8. The two higher-end model should have 2x optical zoom sensor and bokeh mode capabilities. They’re also likely to have better performance when it comes to AR apps.
Some Android devices have started coming out with triple-sensor setups. Phones like the Huawei P20 Pro use multiple sensors to take incredibly sharp photos. If Apple decides to go the same route, we’d only expect it on the most expensive X2 model.
Where we may see the biggest developments is with AI voice assistants and machine learning, an area Apple has typically lagged compared with Amazon and Google. According to ExtremeTech,Apple is restructuring its AI, Siri, and machine learning divisions so with the rollout of iOS 12 we may see some serious improvements on the functionality and voice assistant capabilities of Siri.
One interesting question is if Apple’s new processor will get a dedicated AI core. Companies like Qualcomm and Huawei have developed chipsets that are better able to run AI applications than the standard CPU or GPU. A dedicated core allows for more processes and a deeper range of functionality beyond just the intelligent scene recognition we’ve seen on AI-powered cameras like in the LG G7. If Apple doesn’t make big changes to its camera sensors in terms of hardware, much of the potential improvement may lie below the surface.
We’ll be keeping track of rumors, so stay tuned as we get closer to the anticipated September launch.
