iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini unveiled: Price, release date, specs and more

(Image credit: Apple)

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini have officially been announced at Apple's iPhone 12 event. These are the first iPhones to deliver 5G, sport a brand new aluminum design and as expected will feature the same A14 Bionic that is found in the iPad Air 4.

Here's everything you need to know about the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini.

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini price and availability

The iPhone 12 mini starts at $699 and the iPhone 12 at $799. 

The iPhone 12 will be available for pre-order starting on October 16 and will ship the following week while the iPhone 12 mini will ship starting on November 6. 

(Image credit: Apple)

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini design

The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini come in five colors (blue, green, black, white, and (PRODUCT) RED. The design mirrors the leaks that we have seen with the squared-off aluminum design that is reminiscent of the iPhone 5 and the new modern iPad Pro and iPad Air design.

The bezels surrounding the display appear to have been at least slightly reduced, while the notch remains similar to what exists on the iPhone 11 models.

Durability remains excellent with IP68 water and dust resistance. 

(Image credit: Apple)

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini display

The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini both feature new OLED Super Retina XDR displays. Apple boasts they will deliver twice the peak brightness of the iPhone 11 at a staggering 1,200 nits. Support for HDR video is vastly improved with HDR 10, Dolby Vision and HLG.

The iPhone 12 comes in at 6.1-inches while the iPhone 12 mini Apple boasts is the thinnest, smallest and lightest 5G smartphone in the world with its 5.4-inch display.

A new "ceramic shield" coating on the displays will deliver superior durability with nano-ceramic crystals in the glass that should boost drop durability by 4x. 

(Image credit: Apple)

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini cameras

The primary camera on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini include a 12MP primary wide-angle camera, with an awesome f/1.6 aperture that is the fastest Apple has ever offered. The ultra-wide is also 12MP, but at something less than f/1.6.

Apple claims that the faster aperture will allow the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini to deliver superior low-light photos with up to 27 percent more light and an improved Night mode thanks to the more robust computational photography made possible by the A14 Bionic.

While Apple sounds ready to challenge Samsung and Google when it comes to photography, it didn't sleep on video where it already maintained an advantage.

The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini will be able to capture HDR video with Dolby Vision, which according to Apple makes it the first to offer an "end-to-end Dolby Vision experience." Apple's already industry-leading video stabilization is reportedly improved as well.

(Image credit: Apple)

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini performance

Both the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini feature the new 5nm A14 Bionic as we first heard about last month. Apple is flexing its in-house chip advantage by boasting 50% faster CPU and GPU performance when compared to other smartphone chips.

As with the iPad Air 4, the 16-core Neural Engine of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini were highlighted extensively. Apple claims an 80 percent increase in machine learning performance which should be felt throughout the operating system.

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini charging

No, sadly there's no switch to USB Type-C for charging, but as rumored Apple is bringing back the MagSafe name for a new wireless charging tech for iPhone. Fortunately this isn't a new standard, it is compatible with Qi-charging, but it adds magnets that help the charger snap into place so you don't have to worry about finding the sweet spot.

The charger supports fast wireless charging at up to 15 watts and will be offered from a variety of third-party manufacturers in different form factors.

Sean Riley

Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more.  Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. But Laptop Mag has also proven a perfect fit for that broad range of interests with reviews and news on the latest laptops, VR games, and computer accessories along with coverage on everything from NFTs to cybersecurity and more.