Now the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro have been given room to breathe, the speculation around the iPhone 12 is beginning to ramp up. Apple has always excelled at giving iPhone users what they want, and these new concepts, based on rumours from the Apple camp, show a new technology said to debut on the handset that could beat out its competitors, the Samsung Galaxy S11 and Huawei P40 Pro, in the camera stakes.
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According to news outlet PhoneArena, Apple is said to operate on a "three-year product refresh cycle" in which a concept is introduced and polished for three years, before the next radical change is introduced. According to Apple analyst and top leakster Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple's new concept for the iPhone 12, the start of another three-year cycle, is said to include an additional "time of flight" (or TOF) camera lens.
The TOF lens incorporates 3D-depth range scanning technology, and is said to be able to measure depth much more accurately than a regular camera. This is not only good for portraits and shots meant to highlight "deep" photos, but it's also great for augmented reality uses like Pokémon Go.
Whether this would make for a fourth lens, as pictured, to be added to the rear of the phone in the same style as the iPhone 11 Pro remains to be seen. PhoneArena has mocked up what this phone would look like, with a symmetrical quad-camera setup.
Other rumours claim the iPhone 12 will retain a small notch for the selfie camera, resisting the temptation to go full-screen with as few bezels as possible, and even debut new phone sizes. However, whether these concepts are accurate remains to be seen: we'll know more as the leaks increase as we get closer to the 2020 reveal.
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