iPhone 12: 5 big things we’ve still got left to learn

At this point, we seem to know almost everything about the iPhone 12 range, with a big leak recently filling in most of the rumor gaps.

If what we’ve heard is right, then we have a good idea of the design, power, storage, prices, sizes, features and names of Apple’s upcoming phones, but there are still a few big things that we’re not at all sure of.

Below we’ve detailed the five major things that we’re yet to learn – things that haven’t been leaked at all, haven’t been fully leaked, or where there are conflicting reports.

We’re still months away from the launch of the iPhone 12 so there’s every chance these things will be leaked before Apple takes the stage, but for now at least they remain something of a mystery.

1. The release date

The release date of a new iPhone is something we can usually take a very good guess at, as they generally arrive like clockwork in early September, but this year that might change, with rumors suggesting that Covid-19 has affected development and in turn may have caused delays.

Whether the iPhone 12 will be delayed and how long by though is a subject of some debate, with reports putting the delay at anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, and other sources suggesting there might not be a delay at all.

So while this is the one thing we usually have an idea of straight away, right now it’s one of the few big things that we’re really not sure of at all.

2. The camera specs

Will the iPhone 12 have better lenses than the iPhone 11 Pro Max?

We have a good idea about some aspects of the iPhone 12’s camera. For example, the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max are likely to have a LiDAR scanner (as seen on the iPad Pro 2020) alongside three other lenses, one of which might be 64MP, while the standard iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Max will likely just have two rear lenses, and no LiDAR scanner.

But we don’t yet know the details of those two lenses, or of two of the lenses on the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. We can speculate – based on the iPhone 11 range – that they’ll likely all be 12MP, but all this is for now is guesswork, and Apple has been using 12MP sensors for a while now so it’s about time we got an upgrade.

3. The battery capacity

Apple never reveals the battery capacity of its phones, so we’re usually left waiting for a teardown before there are any official numbers. That doesn’t tend to stop the specs from leaking, but so far we haven’t heard any details of the iPhone 12’s battery.

There are rumors that Apple might use a smaller battery protection module than previously, which could leave room for a larger battery, but that’s unconfirmed, and the exact capacity of the battery is completely unknown.

For reference, the standard iPhone 11 has a 3,110mAh battery and even the iPhone 11 Pro Max only has a 3,969mAh one – which isn’t particularly huge for a phone of its size and specs, so we’re hoping for a battery upgrade in the iPhone 12 range.

4. The screen resolution

Will the iPhone 12 Pro have a sharper screen than the iPhone 11 Pro?

There’s a strong consensus that the iPhone 12 will have a 5.4-inch screen, the iPhone 12 Max a 6.1-inch one, the iPhone 12 Pro a 6.1-inch one, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max a 6.7-inch one, but what hasn’t so far been leaked is the resolution of these screens.

Those sizes aren’t all the same as past models either, so we can’t even work under the assumption that they’ll have the same resolutions as the iPhone 11 range.

5. The colors

We have heard some news on the possible colors of the iPhone 12 range. For example, one source suggests that there will be a new navy blue model, and it’s likely Apple will stick with at least some of its current colors – meaning space grey, gold, silver, and midnight green for the Pro models, and white, black, green, yellow, purple, and red for the standard ones.

But which of those colors will stay, which will go, and whether there will be any additional colors offered (other than possibly navy blue), is so far unknown.

• Read our full iPhone SE (2020) review