As a slew of new iPhones come in, several models go out. This year, Apple pulled the plug on a couple of familiar standbys to make room for the iPhone 13, as MacRumors points out.
The iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max have disappeared from Apple’s online store outside of refurb models. This is customary for Pro models when the lineup is refreshed, even though they’ve been shipping for less than a year. If you absolutely must spend more than $1,000 on a brand-new iPhone that isn’t the iPhone 13 (or you love that dark blue colorway), your options today are carriers and third-party retail shops.
While the devices are likely to appear as cut-rate options at places like Woot from time to time, Apple’s retail option cuts out the option of buying last year’s high-end model for a little less as opposed to choosing the latest and greatest — which, in the case of the iPhone 13 Pro, includes spec bumps all over.
The other model that no longer makes the cut is the iPhone XR. Introduced in 2018 as a cheaper LCD-equipped alternative to the iPhone XS, it hung on as a midrange-priced device with the Neural Engine, second-gen Face ID, and plenty of colors to choose from.
The iPhone XR’s arrival coincided with the disappearance of the last iPhones to feature headphone jacks. While this year’s transition isn’t nearly so dramatic, it includes a shift in the cheaper options in the lineup.
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The iPhone XR was available for $499 unlocked, but the iPhone 11 price has dropped by $100 to cover the slot. At the iPhone 11 launch, Apple said the newer device offered up to an hour of extra battery life over its predecessor, the U1 ultrawideband chip for finding things, and a newer A13 Bionic CPU. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini also received $100 price cuts from Apple, making their starting prices $699 and $599, respectively. The iPhone SE remains $399.
As far as the new Pro devices go, they aren’t any cheaper, but once the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max start shipping on the 24th, they will offer high refresh rate displays, a new camera system, plus improvements to the CPU and GPU.
