The iPhone we hope wouldn’t get disrupted by the Coronavirus outbreak by the time of it’s release which is towards the end of the year but the obvious thing is that the device will most likely feature a whole new design specification and aesthetics.

While we’re not yet sure what the device will be called (so we suggested iPhone 12, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max), the devices will come feature-pack and will be equally expensive maybe close to the regions of $2000 (Just kidding!)

According to a report on 9to5Mac  the device will feature the forthcoming iOS 14 right out of the box all based on code snippets the media company got their hands on.

But OS upgrade aside, the device is said to come with the ToF or Time-of Flight sensor which will make up the fourth sensor on the device rather than the triple setup we’ve seen on the current model, the iPhone 11 series. Meanwhile the news has it that only the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max will have the ToF sensor.

While the rumors of ToF has been running around for quite some times now, this is likely going to be the first time we’ll be seeing it on an iPhone and it’s going to debut on the Pro and Pro Max model and also there is report it could also be on the iPad Pro models but all these aren’t official.

As part of the iOS 14 code poking, it has been confirmed that the 2020 iPhones are codenamed d5x. And only two models are listed as supporting the ToF sensor – likely meaning the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

After all, multiple cameras shouldn’t be the only thing setting the base and premium model apart which is why the inclusion of the ToF on the higher-end models will make sense. Also the ToF sensor is expected to allow the iPhones that have it to create 3D Models of their environment and then feed the data into apps that can use it though we still don’t know how relevant this will be.

The time-of-flight sensor will feature an infrared projector, similar to the front-facing TrueDepth camera present in iPhone X and newer models. That enables the iPhone to capture point clouds from the environment so it can generate 3D models based on them. One of the purposes of the ToF sensor that we can confirm is related with the Measure app, which will be able to make accurate distance and measurement calculations on these devices.

9to5 Mac

But why Apple is including the ToF sensor isn’t very clear so far but it’s probably all in effort to keep the device’s camera more powerful and make the portrait modes more realistic and better with the iOS 14 further enhancing the quality of whatever photograph it takes.