iPhones 2020: The ToF Sensor Could Play a Key Role

Early reports on the iPhones to be launched next year by Apple have started hogging more headlines the past few days than the ones to be released in September this year. Though the iPhone 11 models of 2019 are not going to be pushovers on any count, the expectation levels have been heightened over the changes being contemplated by Apple for the 2020 iPhones. The latest rumor is talking about the Time of Flight sensors that the iPhone 12 models will be fitted with.

ToF Sensors are the New Rage among Smartphone Makers

The discussion on the Time of Flight sensors has been triggered by none other than Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst who has hardly got it wrong. According to his recent post, the ToF sensor on the two higher-end models, the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 Max will have a feature that will measure how far objects are from the iPhone inside a room. Interestingly, Kuo has gone a step ahead and given out an estimate that Apple will ship out 45 million pieces of these two models in 2020, “equipped with front and rear VCSEL (front structure light and rear ToF)”.

The market usually clutches on to every word that Ming-Chi Kuo utters and these will be music to the ears of those diehard Apple fans. They may get bragging rights to Apple’s superior technology in offering better photography apart from 3D mapping and other AR-based capabilities on the iPhones. These will be made possible with the rumored optics arrangement in the next year’s iPhones.

Kuo had earlier indicated that the ToF cameras may be fitted on other Apple devices like the iPads too. Though his recent investor note does not make a mention of iPads, Apple would want to build on the technology and offer more options on the iPads than the iPhones. One has to wait for the company to come up with the details in due course.

On the display sizes of the iPhone 12 models, the prediction is that while the iPhone 12 will have a 5.4-inch display, the iPhone 12 Max will sport a 6.7-inch display while the budget model iPhone 12 R will have a 6.1-inch display, not altering the size from the existing model. There has also been this assertion that all three phones will be 5G enabled though the connectivity technology may differ offering higher and lower speeds.