2019 iPhone Models to Get Face ID Upgrades, Next-Gen iPad Models Arriving in Q4 2019: Ming-Chi Kuo

Now that both the Apple hardware events are done and dusted with, and the new iPhone, MacBook, and iPad launches for this year are over, predictions for the next year haven't taken much time to start coming in. A new investor note by TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that the next year iPhone models will come with improved Face ID, and that the next-gen iPad models will be released either in Q2 2019 or Q1 2020.

Talking about the upgraded Face ID experience, Kuo states that Apple will improve it by increasing the power of the flood illuminator to enable reduction in interference from different kinds of environmental lightning. He says that Face ID vendors like IQE, Lumentum, and Win Semi will benefit from these advancements, and the improved Face ID will reduce the number of failed Face Unlocks as well.

Talking about iPad models, Kuo states that the next iPad releases will be in Q4 2019 or Q1 2020. The new iPad could integrate Apple's new 3D modelling tech "Time of Fly" (ToF) in the camera, and this tech will then be introduced in the iPhones in 2020, after introducing it in the iPads first. Similarly, the TrueDepth IR features will also be coming to iPads first, and iPhones later. These new camera features should improve portrait photography by a huge margin in iPhones and iPads. Kuo's latest investor note was obtained by 9to5Mac.

At its recent New York event, Apple launched the new iPad Pro 2018 models. It comes in two sizes - 11-inch and 12.9-inch - and comes with upgrades like a sleeker design, thinner bezels, no home button, support for Face ID technology with Animoji/ Memoji, a faster Apple A12X Bionic chip, a USB Type-C port instead of the proprietary Lightning port, and a 7-core Apple graphics chip. In India, the 11-inch iPad Pro starts at Rs. 71,900, while the bigger model will retail starting at Rs. 89,900. Apple has said it will launch the tablets in the country "later this year".