Apple’s iPhone 12S Pro line is reportedly coming later this year with an improved ultrawide camera, but a new report from noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that all of next year’s iPhones will have the feature.
Backing up a report from analysts at Trendforce last week, Kuo says that the iPhone 12S Pro and 12S Pro will ship with an autofocus-capable ultrawide lens. The current ultrawide cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro models are of the fixed-focus variety. This change will enable greater flexibility for iPhone photographers and allow for improved framing similar to the regular wide and telephoto lenses. Kuo also backed up reports that the new ultrawide camera would be a six-element lens, bringing it up to par with the regular wide camera.
You won’t need to pay the Pro price for long if you want to try out these updates. Kuo says that Apple is currently working on rolling these out to all the 2022 iPhone models, Pro or otherwise. Speaking of this year’s iPhone range, it’s expected it will be called the iPhone 12S, due to some cultural superstition around the number 13. If this turns out to be true, it is unlikely Apple will suddenly take on the iPhone 13 name in 2022, and will probably skip over to the iPhone 14 moniker. Apple has already used this approach with the iPhone 8 to iPhone X transition.
When will the next iPhone models arrive? It’s likely to be around September or October, and a report from Digitimes claims Apple has begun ramping up its component orders for its 2021 iPhones. While this would not ordinarily be notable, as the company would normally do the same around June and July each year in preparation for its late summer launches, the company last year experienced a delay in launching its iPhones as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted in a staggered launch, with the iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max launching especially late. With this ramp-up now taking place in June, Apple is more likely to secure its components this year in time for a September launch.