Only a week after the launch of the iPhone 13 lineup, the rumor mill has already started on what might be ahead, and not surprisingly one prediction is that Apple Inc. will release a wide range of new models in 2022.

The predictions come from famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who despite having a strong track record, wrongly predicted that the iPhone 13 would have satellite connectively.

According to Kuo, Apple will release a new low-end iPhone SE with 5G support in the first half of 2022, a prediction he had previously made. Kuo claims that Apple will follow up with “two new high-end models equipped with a punch-hole display (replacing the notch area design) and a 48MP wide camera” in the second half of the year.

The two new phones, expected to be called the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, will be the only phones in Apple’s 2022 lineup that will feature a hole-punch display. The hole-punch display has become a standard feature on a wide variety of Android phones ranging from flagships to lower-end devices, whereas Apple has stuck with a more dated notch design at the top of the screen.

Along with the new iPhone Pro and 14 Pro Max, Kuo predicts a “new and more affordable” 6.7-inch phone to be released in the fall, likely the standard iPhone 14.

Touch ID

Backtracking on his previous predictions, Kuo no longer believes that iPhone 14 range will include an in-display Touch ID. Another feature found in Android phones that has yet to make its way to Apple products, it allows users to scan their fingerprint to gain access to a phone through a sensor embedded in the screen.

Kuo now believes that feature is another year off, believing the feature will first appear in the iPhone 15 in 2023. Another of his previous predictions, a foldable iPhone, previously predicted for 2023, has been revised out to 2024.

The previous specifications on the folding iPhone included a device with an eight-inch QHD+ flexible OLED display with a 3,200-by-1,800-pixel resolution.

The delay in bringing both to market is said to be the result of slower-than-expected development progress. Kuo notes that the delay of both “will hurt iPhone shipments in 2022 and 2023.”

The risk for Apple here is that it may miss the boat on both. In-display fingerprint checking is something that has been in Android devices for years, so non-Apple consumers expect it now. Foldable phones are a newer technology but are predicted to be the next big thing. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has already released multiple foldable phones and the Chinese phone makers are also bringing their own versions to market.

Image: Apple