Apple unveiled its highly anticipated iPhone 14 during its 'Far Out' event on Wednesday along with the iPhone 14 Plus variant, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. This new lineup is inspired by the iPhone 13, with sharp metal edges, rounded corners, a glass back, the recognisable notch at the top of the handset, and a lightning port.
The most significant change in the lineup is that the iPhone 13 mini will not be updated with this generation. Instead, the iPhone 14 will be available in two sizes: the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Plus. They both have 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch displays respectively. There is no new smartphone for users who prefer phones that are handy and can fit within their hands.
"iPhone 14 also has an updated internal design that improves thermal performance," VP of iPhone Product Marketing Kaiann Drance said. For instance, you can play games for longer sessions.
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are powered by Apple's A15 Bionic chip. It's the same chip seen in the iPhone 13 range.
The Pro and Pro Max sport the brand new faster A16 Bionic chip and an always-on display. Both these new smartphones, which come in 6.1- and 6.7-inch options, have a new pill-shaped cutout that houses Face ID, selfie camera and privacy indicators. It's a replacement for the notch and can adjust dynamically.
With the new A16 Bionic chip, which has a six-core CPU, housing two high-performance cores that use 20 per cent lower power and four efficiency cores, the company is focusing on power efficiency, display, and camera
A new primary camera is placed at the back of the phone with a bigger sensor and a quicker aperture (f/1.5). It has optical picture stabilidation with sensor shift. Apple claims a 49 per cent improvement in low-light performance.
A new TrueDepth camera with a faster f/1.9 aperture features on the front. For the first time, the selfie camera includes autofocus, which should aid in keeping faces sharp.
The iPhone 14 places a strong emphasis on its camera. According to Apple, the image processing algorithm has been improved, with deep fusion appearing earlier in the pipeline. There is a new advanced stabilisation mode for video. It's called action mode, and it uses the entire sensor to stabilise video without the use of any additional hardware, no gimbal necessary.
On the camera front, Apple has changed its 12-megapixel sensor with a 48-megapixel one and the new primary camera brings improvements to low-light photography. It has a quad-pixel sensor with an f/1.78 aperture and 24mm focal length.
Macrophotography and low light photography will be getting an improvement due to the new ultra-wide camera. The flash has also been upgraded. In the video mode, the cinematic mode can now do 4K resolution at 30fps and 4K at 24fps.
As per The Verge, all in all, the iPhone 14 Pro offers a lot more this year than the modest upgrades to the iPhone 13 Pro models last year, which moved to a 120Hz ProMotion high refresh rate display and three all-new cameras.
Apple is discontinuing the SIM tray in the United States. Customers will instead have to migrate to eSIM. Apple clearly stated that this is a change for American consumers; international iPhone models should still include a SIM tray.
The iPhone 14, like the Apple Watch Series 8, features improved sensors that can detect a car crash. It can aid you in contacting emergency services more swiftly. And even if you're in the midst of nowhere with no Wi-Fi or cell coverage, the iPhone can still assist you with an emergency SOS via satellite. You can send a message to emergency services as long as you're outdoors and have an unobstructed vision of the sky.
You can see where satellites are and how to direct your phone towards them using your phone. Once connected, you must provide and obtain enough information to receive assistance. Apple developed their own short-text compressing method. Sending a message can take anywhere from 15 seconds to a few minutes. To speed up the chat, you can also select common responses from a collection of preloaded messages.
You can utilise this satellite-powered capability to update your location in the Find My app even if you don't need assistance. It can come in handy if you're going on a long hike, for example.
At the event, Apple CEO Tim Cook called the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max the "most innovative pro lineup yet."
The iPhone 14 is priced at USD 799, and the iPhone 14 Plus is USD 899. The iPhone 14 Pro will start at USD 999, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at USD 1,099.
Pre-orders will begin on September 9 and will be available in stores on September 16.
