Apple Prepares Consecutive Home Runs... iPhone 12 Mini and Pro Max Launch on the 20th

iPhone 12 Mini and Pro Max Pre-Orders Start from the 13th
South Korea as Second Wave Launch Country...Second Pre-Order 'Click War'
Domestic Cumulative Sales Expected to Surpass 1 Million Units by Year-End
Will 'Second Super Cycle' Come Fueled by Pent-Up Demand?

Apple's first 5G smartphone, the iPhone 12 series, was officially released in Korea on the 30th and is displayed at the Apple Store on Garosugil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Apple is preparing back-to-back home runs with the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Last month, a large number of pre-order applicants flooded online, and a second pre-order click war is expected to be reenacted in November.

On the 6th, Apple announced that pre-orders for the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max models will begin on the 13th, with the official release on the 20th. The iPhone 12 mini starts at 950,000 KRW, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max starts at 1,490,000 KRW.

Korea has been classified as a second wave release country again this time. Apple will start pre-orders on the 6th in 40 countries including the US, China, and Japan, and on the 13th in 25 countries including Korea and Brazil.

Pre-orders exceed 500,000 units, expected to surpass 1 million units by year-end

Last month, domestic pre-order sales volume for the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro models reportedly exceeded 500,000 units. Thanks to the design change to a squared frame, it received favorable reviews, leading to a surge in iPhone replacement demand. The telecommunications industry analyzes that cumulative sales will exceed 1 million units by the end of the year.

Telecom companies have also started preparing for the second pre-order. They see it as an opportunity to attract 5G subscribers. This is because the price range is diverse, making it easier to induce LTE subscribers to switch to 5G. Especially, the appearance of the flagship 'iPhone 12 mini' priced in the 900,000 KRW range is welcome news in the 5G smartphone market, which had been dominated by large-screen, high-priced devices.

Yoon Poong-young, SK Telecom CFO, said at the earnings conference call the day before, "With the launch of the 5G iPhone, we will not only increase wireless revenue through the migration of LTE iPhone subscribers to 5G but also lead the overall activation of 5G services." He added, "With various price range devices including the iPhone 12 mini being supplied, customers have a wider range of choices, and as 5G iPhone sales expand and various apps are developed, a strong virtuous cycle of the 5G ecosystem will be created."

The second super cycle since iPhone 7

There is also analysis that a second 'super cycle' since the iPhone 7 has arrived, driven by pent-up demand trying to resolve suppressed consumption after the COVID-19 pandemic. Early sales of the iPhone 12 and Pro models have recorded more than twice the sales of the iPhone 11 series. Wedbush Securities has also analyzed that out of 1 billion global iPhone users, 350 million will switch to the iPhone 12.

The iPhone 12 mini features a 5.4-inch OLED display, making it the smallest screen among the four series. It is equipped with the same 12MP wide and ultra-wide dual cameras as the iPhone 12. The colors are blue, green, black, white, and red, and the capacities are divided into 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB models. All iPhone 12 series are equipped with the A14 Bionic chipset, improving performance by more than 50% compared to the previous generation.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max boasts the largest screen among all iPhones at 6.7 inches with approximately 3.5 million pixels resolution. Like the Pro model, it includes a 12MP telephoto camera and a LiDAR sensor. The camera specifications of the iPhone 12 Pro Max are the best among the four models, and using the 65mm focal length telephoto camera provides up to 5x optical zoom. It is available in graphite, silver, gold, and Pacific blue colors, with capacities of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.