Ahead of Apple’s upcoming event on Tuesday, last-minute leaks and rumors continue to surface regarding the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro. This weekend, leaker Max Weinbach has shared a handful of details about the iPhone 12 lineup related to battery life, camera technology, and more.
Through his @PineLeaks account on Twitter, Weinbach reports that the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max variants should get a slight boost in battery life with “at least a 1 hour battery life increase.” On the other hand, the iPhone 12 mini is expected to “perform worse than the current iPhone 11” because of its smaller form factor.
As for Face ID, today’s rumors indicate that a feature referred to as “dynamic zoning algorithm” will ship with the iPhone 12 lineup. This feature will reportedly improve Face ID performance. For the iPhone 12 mini, the notch is expected to be smaller horizontally, but “slightly” larger vertically to make room for Face ID sensors.
Weinbach also reports that digital and optical zoom capabilities will get a “massive boost” with the iPhone 12 this year. This comes after reliable leaker Kang reported on Friday that the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max will feature improved optical zoom at 4x zoom and 5x zoom, respectively.
Improved digital zoom will be achieved by combining several frames at different zoom levels and stacking them together – an hybrid of cropping and optical zooming. An algorithm based off of Deep Fusion will take care of correct alignment and sharpening. Smart HDR 3 does the rest.
Weinbach goes on to add that the “Ultra Wide is definitely getting a larger aperture” this year, improving low light performance across the board. You will also reportedly be able to “get closer to objects compared to the current iPhone 11 Ultra Wide” for improved macro capabilities.
The report also points out that while portrait mode capabilities for video recording have been in development for a while, it’s unclear if the feature will make the cut for this year’s iPhone. It could also theoretically be added in a future iOS 14 update. Finally, today’s leak corroborates that the iPhone 12 will support 4K at 120fps and 4K at 240fps.
Apple will officially announce the iPhone 12 lineup during its “Hi, Speed” event on Tuesday, October 13. The event will kick off at 10 am PT.