Apple's Slate Of 5G iPhones Will Be The Star Of A Packed 2020 Product Lineup
September is usually a big month for Apple in terms of new devices, and while the COVID-19 pandemic might have delayed some of the launches Apple had lined up for this fall, those device reveals are still on the way. A new report today is essentially preparing us for the slate of devices Apple will reveal at some point in the near future, with Apple apparently asking its suppliers to produce 75 million iPhones for this launch.
According to Bloomberg, which spoke to sources familiar with Apple's plans, all of those iPhones will be 5G-compatible as well. By the time we close the book on 2020, Apple could ship as many as 80 million iPhones, which means that demand would be more or less equal to what it was last year. While the COVID-19 pandemic may have delayed production and the final stages of development, it seems that Apple doesn't expect it to impact demand in any significant way.
Apple is apparently planning to release four different iPhones this year, two of which will be standard, mainstream handsets with the other two being more expensive Pro models. In the standard iPhones, we'll see one phone with a 5.4-inch display and another with a 6.1-inch display, while the Pro iPhones will come in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch models. In addition to offering 5G, all of Apple's 2020 phones will have OLED displays as well.
Bloomberg's report also claims that these new iPhones will be drawing some inspiration from the iPad Pro. Not only will each phone have squared edges like the iPad Pro, but "at least the larger of the Pro phones" will use the iPad Pro's LIDAR camera to bolster augmented reality.
While Bloomberg's report mostly centered on Apple's upcoming iPhones, it also touched on the other devices we can expect Apple to reveal during its yet-unannounced product event. We'll also see the company reveal Apple Watch Series 5 and a lower-cost Apple Watch Series 3, a new HomePod that will use fewer speakers to cut down on price and size, a new pair of over-the-ear headphones, and finally, a new iPad Air with an edge-to-edge display. Details on all of these devices were relatively slim, but it sounds like Apple will have a packed show nonetheless.
The big question that remains is one of ship dates. Bloomberg says that Apple plans to ship the Pro iPhones later than the standard ones, and the company has already indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced it to move back its shipping dates by a few weeks. With that in mind, we might not see these new iPhones ship until sometime in mid or late-October or even possibly beyond that. All will be revealed during Apple's iPhone event, which should be announced at some point in the coming days or weeks.