With less than a week to go to it’s unveiling, we’re boiling up with anticipation about all the new features in the new Apple iPhone 11 (or as it will be officially called, iPhone IV). While some might be mere rumors, some facts are confirmed. Here are 10 things we’ve heard will be in the new 2019 iPhone!
1. It will be launched on September 10.
The iPhone 11 launch event is set to be on September 10. The pre-order date is predicted to be September 13, and the sale date is predicted to be on the 20th.
2. Bilateral charging coming to the iPhone 11
Similar to Galaxy phones, the iPhone 11 should let you charge AirPods (and other phones) with the back of the new iPhones.
Earlier this year, Apple officially killed its AirPower wireless charging mat, leaving us hanging with third-party solutions to power up our iPhones and AirPods. But the next-generation iPhone will support bilateral charging according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. That means you’ll be able to use your iPhone’s battery to share some juice with other iPhones or the new AirPods with the wireless charging case.
3. The A13 processor will power the iPhone 11
The A12 Bionic chip that powers the 2018 iPhones is incredibly powerful. According to analyst Ben Thompson, the processor is “so far ahead of the industry that it will still be competitive with the best Android phones in two years, and massively more powerful than lower-end phones.”
Apple doesn’t appear to be resting on its laurels, however — at least in the processor department. A Bloomberg article from May reported that Apple was then on the cusp of mass producing the next-generation processors expected to power the next series of phones. This could be a variant of the A12X processor that’s currently used in the newest iPad Pros — or a new chip, ostensibly called the A13.
4. The new iPhone is still very expensive.
The iPhone XS and XS Max start at $999 and $1,099 respectively. CNET’s analysis shows a pattern of hefty price increases in the premium smartphone market over the past two years, and we expect Apple, Samsung and others to continue pushing the boundaries of customer budgets for the foreseeable future.
That noted, there are some new factors at play this year, that could change things this year. The ongoing trade war between the US and China, and the recent implementation of additional tariffs, could drive prices higher.
And then there’s the fact that iPhone sales are slowing, which could also move Apple to change things up. In fact, the company slashed prices on the iPhone and a number of other products in China earlier this year. This follows an earlier move in 2018, when Apple began offering hundreds of dollars in incentives to customers around the world who traded in an old iPhone when upgrading to an iPhone XS or iPhone XR.
5. A different iPhone for China
A different iPhone for China: Apple may sell an even cheaper version of the iPhone 11 in China–and perhaps India, too–substituting a cheaper in-screen fingerprint scanner for Face ID, according to a report in Chinese newspaper Global Times.
6. New colors and new design details.
Zhihu, Slashleaks and MacRumors all published the transcript of an interview that says that the iPhone 11 will come in black, white, gold and dark green — and that the word “iPhone” will no longer be printed on the back of the phone.
7. A new mute button.
Apart from the redesigned rear camera, the iPhone 11 is expected to closely resemble the iPhone XS, with a virtually identical steel-and-glass design and similar notches, bezels, connectors and buttons. One of the few departures we’ve heard about is a tweaked mute button on the side of the phone. A smaller circular button will replace the elongated pill-shaped sliding button on the current model.
8. Three rear-facing cameras.
The biggest change coming to this year’s iPhone will likely be the camera setup. Since last year, we’ve been hearing that Apple would give at least one of the 2019 models three rear-facing lenses. And, in addition to keeping Apple in the ongoing lens-and-megapixel arms race with Huawei, Samsung and Google, the new array will give the iPhone 11 a greater capacity for wide-angle shots.
9. Jumping to USB-C
Apple has now replaced its proprietary Lightning connector with USB-C on the newest iPad Pros, MacBook Air and MacBook Pros, and Bloomberg reports that Apple is “testing” USB-C on some prototype iPhones.
10. Apple pencil support.
There is a possibility that the 2019 iPhone will support the Apple Pencil, according to Business Insider.