San Francisco, Nov 26 (IANS): Driven by new design language of the phones and support for 5G connectivity, Apple has told its supply chain partners to expect over 100 million orders for the iPhone 12 in 2020, the Digitimes has reported.

For 2019, Apple had predicted iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro were expected to sell around 80 million units.

Apple reportedly has given supply chain partners its shipment forecasts for the next-generation iPhone to be released in 2020, expecting a sharp rise compared to the estimated amount for the iPhone 11 series, according to sources from Taiwan's supply chain, Digitimes reported on Monday.

These expected figures are very optimistic given the overall slowdown of the global smartphone shipments in the last year.

Meanwhile, the iPhone maker is yet to officially confirm that 5G will be included in its 2020 line up of iPhone models. However, Qualcomm has already hinted at it.

The technology is expected to impact the manufacturing cost of the iPhones, but it's expected that despite being late to 5G, these next iPhones will become market leaders, according to Apple Indsider.

According to recent speculations and rumours, Apple is due to release a total of four iPhones next year with the 12, 12Pro/12 Pro Max, and long-awaited SE 2.

The Pro models are believed to come with 120Hz "ProMotion" OLED screens and smaller notches at the top.

The two flagship models are also expected to come with a 3D ToF camera around the back and 6GB RAM alongside the A14 Bionic chipset and mmWave 5G support, according to GSMArena.