We’re just months away from when Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 14 and it feels like only recently the company revealed all about the iPhone 13.
The iPhone 13 Pro is our favourite smartphone right now, with the regular iPhone 13 following further down the list. The iPhone 13 Pro Max earned a spot on our best camera phone list as the best phone for video and we loved the iPhone 13 Mini for packing its power into a truly pocket-sized design. September is just months away, meaning we aren’t far from when we expect Apple to unveil its next flagship phone – or at least we didn’t think we were until recently. According to the latest rumours, the aftermath of a Covid-19 lockdown in China may have pushed iPhone 14 production up to three weeks behind schedule. Scroll down for more on this, along with everything else we know about the iPhone 14 so far…
Release date
Apple hasn’t hinted at a release date just yet, which isn’t really surprising considering we’re still a number of months off the usual launch period. Going by previous iPhone launches, we’d expect the iPhone 14 to arrive in either September or October 2022. However, a recent report by Nikkei Asia has warned of delays in the making of the iPhone 14. According to the report, production of the phone may have fallen behind schedule by up to three weeks after Shanghai and its surrounding areas were subject to a Covid-19 lockdown in late March.
Price
As far as price is concerned, the cost of the flagship iPhone is sadly rumoured to be rising in 2022. The iPhone 13 line started at S$1,149 for the Mini, S$1,299 for the standard iPhone 13, S$1,649 for the Pro and S$1,799 for the Pro Max. LeaksApplePro recently tweeted that prices for the iPhone 14 will start at US$799 (around S$1092.34) for the base model and go up to $1199 (around S$1639.19) for the 14 Pro Max. This would mark an increase with rising production costs to blame, according to the tipster.
These pricing rumours were also supported by idropnews, which stated that it is the brand’s policy to ensure a $200 gap between the Po and non-Pro variants.
According to South Korean publication ET News, this price increase could be due to a new front camera with autofocus from LG Innotek that will cost Apple around three times more than that featured in previous models. Design and display The biggest change to the design of the range, according to multiple sources, seems to be that there will be an iPhone 14 Max, but no iPhone 14 mini. This policy would shake up the template set by the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13, both of which have a pint-sized phone in the range, but it’s good news if you want a bigger screen without forking out top dollar for a Pro Max model. Not much is known about the iPhone 14’s design just yet, but as always there are rumours that Apple will do away with the notch at the top of the display. According to @dylandkt on Twitter, the Pro model will swap about the notch for a pill-shaped punch-hole style front camera, similar to those found in some Android phones. The tipster also explained that the sensors needed to power Apple’s Face ID facial recognition feature will move below the display in the 14 Pro. This apparently shouldn’t affect the functionality of Face ID in any way, though the screens might be slightly taller to accommodate the difference.
This was seemingly confirmed by Ross Young, the CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), who provided a visual representation of the “hole and pill” design, where the secondary hole will be hidden from view underneath the screen.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predicts we’ll see a “revamped iPhone 14 range with a hole-punch-sized notch in the fall”, though this rumour didn’t specify which models would get the upgrade, meaning there still could be hope for the entry-level iPhone 14. The Elec has also reported that we’ll see punch-hole cameras on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max this year, though the Korean news site does warn that the regular iPhone 14 likely won’t be ditching the notch this time around. The iPhone is also rumoured to be getting more durable this year, with MacRumors reporting that Apple will swap out its usual aluminium and stainless steel frame for a new titanium alloy chassis. However, if you were hoping that Touch ID will make its long-awaited return to the range, then I’m afraid you’re set to be disappointed once again. On this subject, Dylan KT writes: “I am in full agreement with recent information provided by fellow Analysts and Leakers. An in display Touch ID sensor will not be coming to any iPhone 14 model or to any Apple product this year and ProMotion will be exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro models.” Camera Last year, the iPhone 13 launched with dual 12-megapixel cameras on the base and Mini models and triple 12-megapixel cameras on the Pro and Pro Max versions. According to a report by MacRumors, Apple will be adding a new 48-megapixel lens to iPhone in 2022, though it’s unclear whether the sensor will be limited to just the Pro models. Previously, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has hinted that the iPhone 14 Pro will support 48-megapixel and 12-megapixel output, which could be achieved through methods like pixel binning. The Pro model could also be capable of shooting video in 8K this year – an upgrade from the 4K video recording on the current iPhone 13 Pro and something Samsung’s Galaxy S Series is already capable of. However, MacRumors warns that you shouldn’t hold your hopes up for a periscope lens, which could significantly improve optical zoom if the brand were to choose to introduce one. Instead, you’ll likely need to wait until the iPhone 15 launch next year to get your hands on an iPhone with a periscope camera. As mentioned in the price section of this guide, a new high-end LG Innotek front camera with autofocus could be one of the reasons the iPhone 14 sees a cost increase this year. The ET News report wasn’t the first to touch on an upgrade to the selfie camera as Kuo had previously suggested autofocus will be coming to the front sensor. This would replace the current fixed focus sensors and enhance the focus effect in FaceTime calls, while a lower aperture of f/1.9 could bring a major boost to selfies thanks to its shallower depth-of-field. Performance The iPhone 13 series is powered by Apple’s latest A15 Bionic, so you might naturally expect the iPhone 14 to run on the A16 Bionic. However, the rumours we’ve come across so far have actually thrown that assumption in doubt.
For starters, renowned Apple expert Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that only the Pro versions of the iPhone 14 range will receive this update, with the standard models set to keep the same A15 Bionic that was present on the iPhone 13.
However, don’t expect this to be as obvious as that when the phones are unveiled; a more recent rumour alleges that the A15 Bionic will be rebranded as the A16 Bionic when the launch rolls around, with the new chip being called the A16 Pro in order to distinguish it. While this decision could help Apple avoid the shipping delays that have bedeviled other companies this year, this marketing stunt will apparently be used to justify a significant price bump to the Pro models this time around. According to a report by GSMArena, the iPhone 14 could go even further than the iPhone 13 Pro when it comes to storage options. The phone is rumoured to be coming with a massive 2TB of storage – twice that found on the highest-end iPhone 13 Pro – and its unclear right now whether the 2TB configuration will be available on just the Pro models. Regardless, the base models are expected to see a boost in storage too, with the iPhone 14 and 14 Mini increasing the cap from 512GB to 1TB, an amount which is currently reserved for the Pro. As for RAM, it seems that there’s a significant boost on its way to the Pro models at least. According to the relatively unknown source yeux1122 on Korean blog Naver (and first published by MacRumors), both the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro could have 8GB of RAM onboard, with would be quite the upgrade from the 6GB that Apple’s topline smartphones currently offer. Battery life We don’t know much about the iPhone 14’s battery just yet, but the iPhone 13 series certainly impressed us with its improved battery life. There are rumours that Apple will finally ditch the Lightning cable and use USB-C charging, as it has done with 2021’s iPad Mini 6 and iPad Pro 12.9, but we’ll have to wait and see whether Apple finally makes the change. ✅ Ledger Authentic Nano X, (New) Nano S+ & Nano S Crypto Wallet + Above Freebies
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