New iPhone: 2019 line-up to include three phones – with three cameras each

Photos set to be central feature of new handsets, rumour suggests

Andrew Griffin
Friday 11 January 2019 15:17 GMT
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In this file photo taken on September 12, 2018 attendees gather for a product launch event at Apple's Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California
In this file photo taken on September 12, 2018 attendees gather for a product launch event at Apple's Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California

Apple is planning to release three new iPhones this year – with three cameras each, according to rumours.

The company's 2019 line-up will include the same rough categories of phones that were released last year: a premium one, a bigger version of the premium one, and a cheaper one that sits somewhere in between in terms of size. But each of them will be upgraded when the new phones are released, most likely in September this year.

Probably the biggest of those upgrades – and certainly the strangest to be leaked so far – is the fact the premium versions of the phone will include three lenses in its camera. Those three lenses and the features they allow are likely to be a central part of the marketing for the new phone, the Wall Street Journal reported.

It is still not clear what abilities the third lens on the iPhone will add, but it has now been repeatedly rumoured to be on the way. Apple might use them to capture more light and colour, or offer entirely different features such as the ability to take 3D images.

Those features will be restricted to the bigger version of the phone, which will replace the current iPhone XS Max. Apple has kept its most premium camera features to the bigger phones in the past, with the 7 and 8 Plus featuring dual cameras that would eventually make their way to the iPhone X and XS too.

In the current line-up, the bigger and smaller versions of the iPhone XS have all of the same main features, apart from their size.

The WSJ report also suggests that the cheaper phone – the replacement of the current iPhone XR – could finally get a dual-lens camera system. The year after, it could then also drop the LCD screen that is one of the features that allow the XR to be cheaper, moving its entire line-up to the OLED display found in the X and XS.

It's not clear how any of the new iPhones will be named, or whether Apple will continue the unusual conventions that began with the iPhone X and carried into the iPhone XS and XR. Some have taken to referring to the new handset as the iPhone 11, but no clear rumours have emerged about what it will be called – and are unlikely to until the marketing is more confirmed, as the September release date approaches.

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