iPhone 14 series was launched globally on Wednesday at Apple’s ‘Far Out’ event. As suggested in scores of leaks and rumours over the last few months, the newest series of smartphones from Apple comprises four models — the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. While the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro are the smaller models, the iPhone 14 Plus and iPhone 14 Pro Max are the ones aimed at those who prefer larger screens. The series also include the first series of iPhone Pro handsets that have got a redesign on the front since iPhone X. The famous notch has been replaced by a pill-shaped hole-punch cutout that has the front camera and sophisticated Face ID technology.
Furthermore, while the non-pro models come with last year’s Apple A15 Bionic SoCs, the Pro models get the latest Apple Bionic A16 SoC under the hood. The latest smartphones come with E-sim activation without Wi-Fi in the US. For the first time, the iPhone models in the US will not have a SIM tray.
The smartphone also come with satellite emergency communication technology that can be used to send SOS message over satellite. The feature will be starting in US and Canada and it will be free with iPhone 14 for two years. All the phones also come with crash-detection feature that will automatically dial emergency services when a user is unconscious or unable to reach their iPhone.
iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max price in India, sale date
In the US, the iPhone 14 price starts at $799 (roughly Rs. 63,700). Similarly, the iPhone 14 Plus starts at $899 (roughly Rs. 71,600). Both the phones will be available for purchase in Blue, Midnight, Purple, Starlight, and (PRODUCT) RED colour options.
The iPhone 14 pre-orders will begin September 9. The iPhone 14 will go on sale starting September 16 and the iPhone 14 Plus will go on sale from October 7.
In contrast, the iPhone 14 price in India starts at Rs. 79,900 and and the iPhone 14 Plus price in India starts at Rs. 89,900.
In the US, the iPhone 14 Pro has been priced starting at $999 (roughly Rs. 79,555) and the top-of-the-line iPhone 14 Pro Max price starts at $1,099 (roughly Rs. 87,530). The preorders of these models start on September 9 and they will be available for purchase from September 16. They will be available for purchase in Deep Purple, Gold, Silver, and Space Black colour options.
In contrast, the iPhone 14 Pro price in India starts at Rs. 1,29,900 and the iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at Rs. 1,39,900. The phones can be purchased from Apple online store and through Apple Authorised Resellers.
iPhone 14 specifications
The iPhone 14 gets a flat-edge aerospace-grade aluminium frame, with Ceramic Shield material on the front, and IP68 dust and water resistance rating — like the previous generation. The handset sports a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display which is said to be better in terms of brightness and colour reproduction as compared to last year’s handset. It is said to offer 1200nits peak brightness and support for Dolby Vision.
Under the hood, the iPhone 14 gets the last year’s Apple’s proprietary A15 Bionic SoC that powers the last year’s iPhone 13 series. Apple continues to offer the Face ID technology as the only biometric security option to unlock the phone.
Apple does not officially disclose the amounts of RAM and the battery capacities of each model, however, third-party teardowns in the coming weeks should be able to shed more light on this information. Apple says that the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Plus will be able to deliver more run time as compared to last year’s iPhone models.
As far as the camera is concerned, the iPhone 14 gets a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera that combines a 1.9um sensor and an f/1.7 aperture aperture lens. There is a 12-megapixel sensor paired with f/2.4 aperture ultra-wide angle lens with 120-degree field-of-view. Apple says there is new 12-megapixel front TrueDepth camera with f/1.9 aperture lens.
The company also highlighted a few camera trick up the handsets’ sleeve, which include improved video recording with a new stabilisation feature, called Action Mode. This mode uses the phone’s motion sensors to better correct video. The Cinematic mode is now available in 4K at 30fps and 4K at 24fps. Apple also touted the better low-light performance, thanks to the new Photonic Engine.
It is claimed to have improved low-light performance up to 2x on the ultra-wide camera, 2x on the TrueDepth front camera, and 2.5x on the main camera. It applies computational benefits of Deep Fusion in the imaging process. There is also an improved True Tone flash that is 10 percent brighter, Apple says.
iPhone 14 Plus specifications
The iPhone 14 Plus features similar hardware to the iPhone 14 except the bigger screen size and battery backup. The handset gets 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display and Apple claims that the iPhone 14 Plus are said to have the best battery life ever in an iPhone. Under the hood is the A15 Bionic SoC that powers the vanilla iPhone 14 and the camera setup is also identical on both models.
iPhone 14 Pro Specifications
As far as the Pro models are concerned, Apple has used surgical-grade stainless steel that’s said to be abrasion and corrosion-resistant. The iPhone 14 Pro gets a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR Always-On OLED display with Apple’s ProMotion refresh rate feature. The Pro models can scale as low as 1Hz in order to provide a combination of smoother motion and power-efficient system.
The display also offers the highest outdoor peak brightness in a smartphone: up to 2,000 nits, which is twice as bright as iPhone 13 Pro. The iPhone 14 Pro comes with Ceramic Shield front cover which is touted to be tougher than any smartphone glass.
As mentioned, the major difference in display is the introduction of a pill-shaped hole-punch cutout in place of the famous trend-setting notch. Apple is calling it Dynamic Island, an “interactive space” that expands for notifications alongside other information such as music player, calling interface, Maps, among others. The company says that the feature works with third-party apps.
Under the hood is Apple’s new in-house A16 Bionic SoC which is said to be the most powerful chip in a smartphone. It has two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. The new 6-core CPU is claimed to be up to 40 percent faster than the competition. The A16 Bionic SoC also features an accelerated 5-core GPU with a claimed 50 percent more memory bandwidth and a new 16-core Neural Engine capable of nearly 17 trillion operations per second, Apple says.
The company says that the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and image signal processor work together to support the new camera hardware and perform up to 4 trillion operations per photo.
Now that we are talking about the camera, for photos and videos, Apple has gone a step ahead to refresh the camera hardware of the Pro models. There is a new 48-megapixel main camera with second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilisation and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, f/2.8 aperture lens and optical image stabilisation. The third is a 12-megapixel sensor with f/2.2 aperture ultra-wide angle lens that has 120-degree field-of-view.
The quad-pixel sensor combines four pixels into one pixel for maximum light intake. It also enables a 2x Telephoto option and the new machine learning model allows the iPhone 14 Pro to shoot ProRAW. It also has Photonic Engine that is claimed to offer a better low-light performance — up to 2x on the main camera, up to 3x on the ultra wide camera, up to 2x on the telephoto camera, and up to 2x on the TrueDepth front camera that has 12-megapixel sensor and f/1.9 aperture lens.
iPhone 14 Pro Max specifications
Equipped with nearly the same hardware as the iPhone 14 Pro, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is an option for those who prefer larger displays. The top-of-the-line handset gets a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with the same Apple’s ProMotion refresh rate feature. It gets a triple rear camera and all new machine learning and photography mode as the iPhone 14 Pro.