EXCLUSIVE: What the 2021 iPhone 12s will look like

It’s officially iPhone season! July, just months before Apple opens it’s doors (likely virtually) for us all to see what they’ve been working on for the next generation iPhone. It’s also the time of year when sources inside the factories of China start leaking information, and even mock-ups of the next iPhone, which we believe will be called the iPhone 12s.

I’ve said all along the iPhone 13 sounds weird, it’s an unlucky number isn’t it? So we believe in the spirit of the iPhone 3Gs, 4S, 5s, 6s and Xs, we’ll see another mid-generational advance with the iPhone 12s.

We can’t really speak to what it will do differently, or it’s performance other than to say you’d get short odds on a multi-x leap in CPU, GPU and camera performance.

But what will it look like? As Apple nears production, the millions of different accessories are also needing to come to market, and for the smaller case makers they need to know what’s changing to design cases around the new phone, in the hope they can have product ready to sell on Day 1 of the iPhone 12s being available.

EFTM has obtained “dummies” of the next iPhone, and we’ve taken a look at what might be changing.

The iPhone 12s Lineup – (2021 or iPhone 13 lineup):

We’re looking at four different phones once again, with a Mini, Standard, Pro and Pro Max.

This year the camera bump on the Standard iPhone 12s and the iPhone 12s Pro are a different size, meaning cases will need to differ.

There’s been some tweaks to the button and SIM tray placement on some, but overall the design appears almost identical in basic width, height, depth and overall style.

A smaller notch?

Expectations that Apple reveal a smaller “notch” on the top of the phone are high. And with these dummies we see one radical change.

The speaker at the top of the phone moves from just inside the device to the very edge. Now that alone doesn’t indicate a notch change, but it does allow a realignment of all the sensors and cameras too which would be the key requirement for a smaller notch.

Out guess: A notch half the size is coming.

2021 iPhone 12s Mini:

Identical in size, the mini version of the 2021 sports a slightly different sized camera bump, the likely smaller notch and higher speaker position, and a new alignment for the cameras.

While the cameras may be the same style as 2020, putting them on a diagonal alignment allows people to spot a new iPhone in the wild. As mad as that sounds, it’s a big deal.

The iPhone 12s:

We see a different alignment of the buttons and SIM tray on the 12, but a similar size overall.

This is the big seller of the bunch, so it too gets that standout camera alignment.

As it does the raised speaker position and likely smaller notch.

iPhone 12s Pro gets a better camera?

We think the camera bump on the 12s Pro will be bigger, thus cases for the 12s won’t fit the 12s Pro.

Otherwise, it all looks a lot of same-same.

Interestingly, the Camera bump seems the same size as the iPhone 12s Pro, thus we could see it gain the highest spec camera system also in 2021.

iPhone 12s Pro Max for 2021:

The big daddy of the all stays the same except for that bigger camera bump and notch re-alignment.

Cases for the 12 Pro Max won’t fit the iPhone 12s Pro max, and we’re unable to tell if there will be any major changes to the device overall, but we expect screen improvements, refresh rate, performance and more leaps forward on camera technology.

When will the iPhone 12s be announced?

Impossible to say, other than to suggest it will be early to mid-September, to re-align the announcements on years gone by after things pushed out to be later in 2020. If we had to bet, We’d set aside the morning of September 8 and 15 for the big reveal (September 7 and September 14 in Cupertino).

When will the 2021 iPhone’s be available?

Working on that announcement timeline we’d expect iPhone 12s (or iPhone 13!) to go on sale Friday 17th September or Friday 24th September 2021.