iPhone 12: With a bigger and cheaper line up, Apple joins the 5G race

 

The new products will test whether Apple can ride a wave of consumer excitement around 5G wireless data networks.

Apple Inc on Tuesday launched its next-generation iPhone 12, with faster 5G connectivity that the California company hopes will spur consumers to trade in their old phones and keep its sales booming through the end of the year.
The core of the line-up, the iPhone 12 with a 6.1-inch display, will sell for $799, while a 'Mini' version with a 5.4-inch screen will be slightly cheaper at $699. A 'Pro' version with three cameras and a new 3-D 'lidar' sensor starts at $999, with the largest 'Pro Max' starting at $1,099 and going up to $1,399.

The new products will test whether Apple can ride a wave of consumer excitement around 5G wireless data networks, whose speediest variants outstrip their predecessors' data rates multiple times over.

But whether iPhone buyers see a dramatic speed boost will depend heavily on where they are and which carrier they use - what Bob O'Donnell, head of TECHnalysis Research, called "lots of little niggly details that get in the way of delivering on the promise of 5G."

He said Apple may be setting some customers up for disappointment when phones ship but offer only modest speed increases until carriers build out networks.

"I don't feel like Apple clarified that as much as they could have," O'Donnell said.

Apple said all iPhone 12 models in the United States will support millimeter wave 5G, the fastest variant of the technology, as well as lower-frequency bands.