We’re more than halfway between the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 , which means the rumor mill is at full churn. So far we’ve …
We’re more than halfway between the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13, which means the rumor mill is at full churn. So far we’ve seen a number of rumors, leaks and pretty renders of varying credibility. We expect to see Apple unveil the iPhone 13 ( or the iPhone 12S, if that’s what it’s called) at an event in September sometime. Most of the recent iPhone 13 rumors revolve around the phone’s design. Will the iPhone 13 come in pink? Will the notch slim down? Will the camera bump beef up? Will the Lightning port be put out to pasture? And what else can we expect from Apple’s 2021 lineup? According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, we should expect to see four models again this year: the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max — just like the iPhone 12 lineup. We’ve collected all of these iPhone 13 design rumors, camera rumors, and other rumored iPhone 13 features and specs we’re excited about. We should have another four or five months of speculation before Apple unveils its next flagship, so buckle up and read on. We’ll update this story as new information becomes available. So far, there’s no official or unofficial word on when we can expect to see Apple’s next iPhone. An April report suggested the manufacturing of the iPhones’ new chips were running ahead of schedule, putting the iPhone 13 release date back on Apple’s pre-pandemic timeline. Usually, we can predict with some degree of accuracy when Apple’s iPhone events will occur and extrapolate a release date based on that. But 2020 was a different story — it was the first September Apple event in eight years without an iPhone — thanks to delays in production due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year, however, Kuo is also forecasting business as usual for Apple’s supply chain. If that’s the case, we can expect to see the iPhone 13 unveiled at an event sometime in September. Let’s synthesize the info we have: A few years ago, CNET took a deep dive into the Apple event timeline and emerged with a compelling Labor Day hypothesis, which you can read about here. Based on the 2021 calendar, the Labor Day rule would put the September Apple event (and unveiling of the iPhone 13) on Sept.8, with a Sept.17 release date. Read more: iPhone 13 wish list: What Apple needs for its next phone to succeed We’re going with the name «iPhone 13» for now, but the moniker is not a sure thing. Considering high-rise buildings tend to omit the 13th floor from their elevator buttons for superstitious reasons, Apple could succumb to its own triskaidekaphobia and skip the number 13. Read more: iPhone 13 might be the phone that never hits shelves. Here’s why people think so iPhone 12S is a worthy guess for the name of Apple’s next generation of iPhones. Just as 2014’s iPhone 6 gave way to 2015’s iPhone 6S and 2017’s iPhone X preceded 2018’s iPhone XS, without a major redesign in the works (more on that below), the 2021 iPhone is just as likely to be positioned as an improvement on the iPhone 12. Or maybe Apple will take a page out of Samsung’s book and name its next phone after the year of its conception: iPhone 2021 has a nice ring to it. Or what about the iPhone XXI? Or, dare to dream, Apple could go in a completely different direction and name it something fun, like the Motorola Citrus or LG Chocolate of yore. Apple’s iPhone 12 lineup included four phones at four prices, with even more variation among carriers and storage configurations. At launch, the baseline iPhone 12 carrier model cost $799, an increase of $100 from 2019’s iPhone 11, largely due to the addition of 5G support. Because the iPhone 13 is not expected to have such a major technical upgrade, analysts are predicting a similar price structure for 2021. Here’s the iPhone 12’s US pricing, for reference: There is some speculation that Apple might consider lowering the price of its next phone lineup. Several rivals rose to the occasion of the economic downturn by releasing more affordable models in 2020, such as Samsung’s Galaxy S20 FE and Google’s Pixel 5: Both are the same price as the iPhone 12 Mini, but about $100 less than the iPhone 12.
