The 2020 iPhone Lineup
A breakdown of what Apple is expected to and should bring to the 2020 iPhone lineup
The launch of the iPhone 12 lineup is fast-approaching. Apple usually unveils its yearly lineup of iPhones in September/October. The rumors point to major updates coming to the entire lineup, including a non-Pro Max model, called the iPhone 12 Max. This article contains the features that Apple should add to the 2020 lineup of iPhones to make them truly worthy of the flagship label in 2020. It also contains a lot of rumors, some of which may not be true.
ProMotion Displays
In the age of high-refresh-rate screens being present in almost every Android flagship phone on the market, it’s time for Apple to make the switch. “ProMotion,” Apple’s marketing term for high-refresh-rate displays, was introduced in 2017 with the 10.5" and 12.9" iPad Pro models. The difference between 60hz, 90hz, and 120hz is very noticeable, and this would bring the iPhone in line with Android flagships, which have had either 90hz or 120hz screens for a couple of years now. A lot of high-refresh-rate displays also feature a technology called LTPO (low-temperature Polycrystalline oxide), and this year’s flagship iPhones should have it. Apple themselves developed LTPO and introduced it with the Apple Watch Series 5. LTPO allows the display to dynamically scale the Serie 5’s display’s refresh rate. By allowing the display to scale from 60Hz down to 1Hz, it saves a lot of battery life. This same theory would apply to the iPhone, by using LTPO technology, it would increase the battery life of the iPhone depending on what a user is doing, however, rumors are conflicted on whether or not LTPO technology is coming to the 2020 iPhones, however, ProMotion displays are rumored to be coming to the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Faster Fast Charging
Apple’s 2019 iPhones supported a maximum of 18 watts of charging, and the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max actually included the 18-watt USB-C charger in the box, however, 18-watt fast charging is relatively slow when compared to what other companies have been including on their devices recently. Oppo, a large Chinese consumer electronics company that is owned by the same company which owns OnePlus introduced Super VOOC, which allowed their Reno Ace phone to go from 0% battery to 100% battery in 30 minutes using their 65-watt charging standard. Obviously, Apple doesn’t have to develop 65-watt fast charging to compete, but it needs to step up to at least 30-watt fast charging, in my opinion. Of course, another thing Apple could do is stop selling the incredibly slow 1-watt charging adapter and the slow but not super-slow 5-watt charging adapter. The 2020 lineup of iPhones is actually rumored to not include any accessories at all, no cables, no chargers, and no earbuds. It might sound dumb, but it will not only help Apple’s profit margins but reduce the environmental impact of shipping an iPhone.
5G Capability
2020 is going to be the year that the iPhone finally plays catchup, and 5G compatibility is yet another thing other flagships have had for at least a year that the iPhone has not had. The good news is that the rumors point to 5G being available on all four of the 2020 iPhones. The 2020 lineup will likely use Qualcomm’s X55 5G modem chip. The X55 5G modem chip is Qualcomm’s first 5G chip that supports all major frequency bands, operation modes, and network deployments. There have been some rumors about these iPhones potentially using the X60 modem chip as opposed to the X55, however that chip is not expected to release until February 2021. The 5G rollout has been rough, to say the least, however, with iPhones finally getting the hardware to take advantage of existing 5G networks, it should be a meaningful boost for the rollout of 5G networking hardware.
USB-C Connectivity
Apple’s lightning connector has been around since September of 2012 when it was unveiled as the replacement to the 30-pin dock connector. The iPhone 5 was the first device to use the lightning connector, among other products. Apple was actually expected to unveil USB-C iPhones as part of the 2019 lineup, however, they shocked many when they announced the lineup would not feature USB-C after all and instead maintain the lightning connector iPhones have featured for years. Apple actually replaced lightning in favor of USB-C on the iPad Pro in 2018, however, the 2018 lineup of iPhones as well as the 2019 lineup of iPhones both used lighting instead of USB-C. Rumors for the 2020 lineup expect that Apple will stick with lightning this year as well because it is rumored that Apple will ditch wired charging altogether in 2021 in favor of wireless charging which would be an extremely radical move from Apple, however, they were one of the first phone manufacturers to ditch the headphone jack, and they basically pioneered the notch.
OLED
If you’re using the iPhone X, Xs, Xs Max, 11 Pro, or 11 Pro Max, you already have an AMOLED screen produced by Samsung. If you have anything older than the X, you don’t have an OLED display. You also don’t have an OLED display if you have an iPhone Xr or 11, you likely have an LCD panel, which is not able to compete with the image quality of OLED displays. The good news for anybody looking at any of the four rumored 2020 iPhone models is that they are all likely to feature an OLED display. Some will feature non-Samsung panels, meaning the display could be worse than a Samsung display, however it won’t be bad by any means.
The TL;DR is that, in my opinion, the 2020 lineup of iPhones is poised to be a significant upgrade and update over the 2019 lineup of iPhones. Apple is expected to unveil four new iPhones, starting from $649 to $1099. The iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Pro are rumored to feature “ProMotion” technology, meaning the iPhone would likely have a display capable of 120Hz. The entire lineup is expected to feature a Qualcomm modem with 5G capabilities as well as OLED panels, which offer superior black levels compared to LCD panels. None of this will come cheap, of course, with the iPhone 12 Pro Max starting at $1099, however, Apple has always demanded a premium price for a premium product, and this year’s iPhone lineup will be much more the 2019 lineup did.
