By — Danny Kistner

Photo curtesy — Apple

Apple’s second of three expected tech events for this year happened last week, wherein they revealed the highly anticipated iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max, among a few other updates to their overall lineup. 

First up was their new HomePod Mini. Starting at $99, this small, Bluetooth speaker is designed to sit in multiple rooms within a single home (though will pair to create a dual speaker system when in the same room together). Their new “Computational Audio”, powered by an S5 chip, allows for the speaker to analyze the music before sending it out, optimizing the volume and dynamic range as it does so. This also allows for some fairly awesome walky-talky features, meaning that you can talk to someone in another room in your home with it, as well as from your car with CarPlay. This particular feature was emphasized to be a family friendly feature, so no more yelling at your kid from the kitchen to get ready, or honking your horn at the house in impatience. 

The iPhone 12, and star of the show, saw what has been probably the most significant physical change to the iPhone line in years, flat edges taking people back to the days of the iPhone 4’s and 5’s. That said, it boasts a thinner, lighter, smaller frame with a larger screen. Speaking of the screen, users see improvement both physically, with “Ceramic Shield”, supposedly stronger than any other phone glass in the industry; as well as internally, with twice as many pixels as the iPhone 11 and an OLED display. They’ve also added two new colors alongside their black, white, and product(red), which includes a dark blue and teal. The Pro’s also have new finishes, a silver, gray, gold, and blue. 

5G was another big deal within the event, as it has finally come to iPhone with select carriers, though is hardly a recent development in the tech world, given its constant advertisement. More improvement could be found with the camera, Apple promising better nighttime photos as a result of higher aperture, available for all iPhones. Video has also improved, the company boasting that you shouldn’t even need a tripod to stabilize the videos themselves. Another fun and interesting edition was that of MagSafe in accessories, wherein things like wireless charging cables or wallets that stick on the back of the phones.