Apple's 2022 iPhone series could debut with an under-display fingerprint sensor and a wide-camera upgrade to 48MP. The lineup, expected to be the iPhone 14 series, is likely to include the regular iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
According to noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will sell an iPhone with a 6.7-inch screen for less than USD 900 in 2022, reported The Verge.
If this turns out to be the case, iPhone 14 buyers will have a less expensive way to get a screen size that Apple currently only sells on the 12 Pro Max, which starts at USD 1,099.
Kuo also predicted that Apple's 2022 non-pro iPhone lineup includes phones with 6.1 and 6.7-inch screens (the same sizes as the current iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, respectively).
Absent is the iPhone Mini with its 5.4-inch screen. Analysts, including Kuo, have said that the Mini will be going away in 2022 due to reportedly low sales.
While some may mourn the loss of an actual small phone option, from Apple's perspective, going big with its line of mainstream phones makes sense. Documents unearthed in the Epic v. Apple trial showed that Apple commissioned a report on the smartphone purchasing habits of consumers late last year.
The report showed both that many customers were buying phones that had screens larger than six inches and that more people were turning to Samsung than Apple for their big phone needs.
In addition to his prediction about the lower-end 6.7-inch iPhone, Kuo also said the 2022 iPhones will have under-display fingerprint readers, and that there will be a new iPhone SE with 5G.
Kuo's latest report did not detail what sort of design changes to expect with the iPhone 14 lineup. However, in the past, he has said that the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will ditch the notch design for a new 'punch-hole display' similar to what is used in some flagship Android phones.
These devices would serve as the successors to the iPhone 13 series that will be released later this fall.
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