I fondly remember the days when Apple events were packed with surprises (and “one more thing”), but those are long, long gone. The leaks are now rolling out earlier—and with more detail—then ever before, with a slate of new products reportedly on deck for this fall.
The newest leaks come courtesy of a duo with a relatively short, but accurate, track record. Front Page Tech vlogger Jon Prosser accurately predicted the details around the second-gen iPhone SE (minus the name, which he pegged as the iPhone 9), and on Sunday he leaked schematics of what he claims is the iPhone 12.
Here you go, internet. ???? pic.twitter.com/REfSw28KSX
— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) April 20, 2020
The notch appears to be much narrower than the notches on the iPhone X and iPhone 11 lineups, indicating that Apple plans to move the speaker and microphone to the top bezel, above the notch.
Prosser also claims that the iPhone 12 will sport a flatter design, more akin to the new iPads (and the iPhone 4, an absolute classic). And despite fervent wishes to the contrary, the iPhone 12 will absolutely not support USB-C, Prosser said.
This all lines up with the iPhone 12 rumours we’ve been hearing for months now, but the smaller notch rumour has only recently picked up steam. Android phones have been narrowing the notch (or getting rid of it altogether) ever since Apple popularised it with the iPhone X, but those phones don’t have quite as sophisticated facial recognition features as iPhones do.
But we won’t see an iPhone 12 until this fall. Fresh off the launches of the new generations of the iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and iPhone SE, Apple reportedly plans to release a new MacBook Pro and a new pair of AirPods as soon as next month, Prosser tweeted.
New AirPods (which were supposed to be at the March Event) are now ready to go.
Probably alongside the MacBook Pro next month.
— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) April 19, 2020
Another leaker, this one the anonymous Twitter account @L0vetodream, tweeted some interesting product predictions over the weekend. Normally we ignore these, but @L0vetodream has been accurately predicting Apple’s 2020 product launches since before anyone was paying attention. The account outlined the iPad Pro and iPhone SE launches in early March, before those details were announced, and has even tweeted out Apple’s full product roadmap.
大致布局应该是这样的：
airpods 3lite
apple tv
airtag
iPhone9 A13
imac
macbook 12 arm
mac mini
ipad pro 11 12.9 tof
airpods X头戴式耳机
无线充电板
homepod lite
ipad air4 全面屏11寸带指纹
ipad 2020 A12
游戏手柄
iPhone12 lite
iPhone12 6.1
iPhone12 pro 6.1
iPhone12 pro 6.7— 有没有搞措 (@L0vetodream) March 12, 2020
Many of these products have been leaked already from other sources, including Bloomberg and noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. But @L0vetodream references internal Apple product numbers and has added a few devices to the list of 2020 launches: most interestingly, a video game controller that could be used to play Apple Arcade games, which they tweeted could be released this year or next. An iPad Air with in-display fingerprint sensor, an ARM-based 12-inch MacBook, and a new pair of AirPods—called AirPods X—also piqued our interest. The account tweeted over the weekend that manufacturing of Apple’s A14 chip, expected in the iPhone 12 lineup, has been delayed.
We’ll have to wait to see if Prosser and @L0vetodream can match the accuracy of Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo’s reports, but right now, we’ve got nothing but time to kill reading rumours and deciding which ones we want to come true.