The official invites are out, with the image you can see above: Apple is holding a "by innovation only" event on Tuesday, September 10, where it's expected to unveil the iPhone 11 handsets to the world. Apple hasn't said anything about the phones yet, but thanks to a host of leaks and rumors, we've got a pretty good idea of what's coming.
Most inside sources agree that we're in line for three new iPhones: a successor to the iPhone XR, and successors to the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max that will carry the "Pro" name. Apart from the "Pro" part, it's not clear exactly how Apple is going to name its 2019 iPhone range.
Those two higher-end iPhones are probably going to have triple-lens cameras, up from dual-lens cameras last year, and they'll be housed in a rectangular camera bump that's visible on every leaked render from the last few months. That extra lens will enable improvements to zoom and field of view, and there's talk of some special photography tricks (like combining multiple photos together) being introduced.
Video recording is being tipped to get a serious upgrade too, with the improved cameras and boosted internals enabling features such as real time filtering and cropping. Get ready for the Camera app to dominate a lot of stage time at the September 10 event.
Speaking of internals, rumors that the new iPhones will feature an A13 chip are almost definitely correct – Apple gives its iPhones a processor bump every year. Whether or not Apple will add to the 4 GB of RAM (3 GB inside the iPhone XR) remains to be seen.
Design-wise, we're not expecting too many changes to the phones besides the rear camera array on the Pro models. The front notches will still be in place, though we have seen whispers that Face ID is going to be improved to work at almost any angle. You can see the three phone sizes and styles in a recently-posted mock-up video.
There's some interesting talk around reversible wireless charging, like we've seen on the Galaxy phones this year. Apparently the same feature is coming to the 2019 iPhones, so you will be able to charge up your AirPods (and maybe other gadgets) by putting them on the back of any of the new iPhones.
And are there any clues in the event invite, shown at the top of this article? Maybe, maybe not. One suggestion is that the colors of the apple might represent the colors of the 2019 iPhone XR – or maybe Apple is bringing back its old rainbow logo for its new iPhones.
We don't have any other major improvements or innovations to report, though it's always possible that Apple will spring a surprise on the day that hasn't yet been leaked. Some tipsters are suggesting the new iPhones will support the latest Apple Pencil, which seems plausible, though it sounds like you'll have to wait until 2020 for a 5G iPhone.
Something we know for sure is that the new handsets are going to come running iOS 13 and all the new features that it's bringing with it: a dark mode setting, improved privacy and security controls, and more intuitive management for your photos.
Both the iPhone X from 2017 and the iPhone XS Max from 2018 came with a starting price of US$999, and it seems likely that Apple will stick to it again this year, with the XR and XS Max follow-ups a little bit cheaper and a little more expensive respectively.
Apple typically livestreams its iPhone unveiling events on the web, so you can watch along on the Apple Events page. We will of course be bringing you all the announcements as they're made on New Atlas too.
