2 years ago
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From near to right: the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Pro, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Samuel Axon
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The backs of the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Samuel Axon
Whether we’re talking astir the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Pro, oregon the iPhone 14 Pro Max, this year’s update focuses connected the cameras.
Yes, the Pro models person always-on displays and an oh-so-very-Apple attack to replacing the arguable surface notch. But arsenic nifty arsenic those perks are, they shouldn’t beryllium the reasons you bargain these phones.
The cameras are present truthful prominent—in the Pro models especially—that it’s starting to consciousness similar we should telephone these devices "smartcameras" rather than smartphones.
The smartphone has been much oregon little perfected implicit the years; determination aren’t galore caller frontiers to research successful that space. But successful ways some large and small, Apple (along with its competitors) keeps uncovering caller ways to amended the amateur integer photography experience.
As a result, the iPhone 14 models are immoderate of the champion smartcameras you tin buy—even though they're not a revolutionary upgrade implicit the devices that came earlier them.
About the iPhone 14
Because the iPhone 14 is specified a humble year-over-year update, we’ve lumped it successful with the 14 Pro successful this review. Most of the reappraisal volition sermon the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, but we’ll sermon the regular 14 concisely successful its ain conception here, and we’ll measure the phones unneurotic successful the show and cameras conception of the review.
The iPhone 14 is hardly a measurement up implicit 2021’s iPhone 13. It has the aforesaid plan and, astatine slightest astatine launch, the same diagnostic set. It besides has the aforesaid system-on-a-chip (SoC), the A15, truthful it offers identical performance, though the thermals are reportedly a small amended for sustained performance.
The iPhone 14’s astir important advantages implicit the iPhone 13 are successful artillery beingness and photograph quality. Whereas the iPhone 13 advertises up to 19 hours of video playback, the iPhone 14 promises up to 20. It’s not overmuch of a leap (and we didn't announcement it) but hey, we’ll instrumentality what we tin get since fewer things are much important than artillery life.
As for photograph quality, we’ll look astatine immoderate examination shots successful the camera conception of this review, but here’s the speedy rundown: there’s a caller front-facing, TrueDepth camera with a faster aperture and enactment for autofocus. The main applicable payment from those improvements is that the camera should have better low-light performance.
The wide-angle camera connected the backmost of the iPhone 14 has a larger sensor and a faster aperture, and it promises 49 percent amended low-light photograph show than its predecessor. Apple has expanded the bundle suite for the camera somewhat to connection improved low-light show crossed each the cameras connected the phone. In different words, the regular iPhone 14 is getting immoderate perks that were seen successful past year’s Pro models.
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The iPhone 14.
Samuel Axon
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Here's the back.
Samuel Axon
When repair shop/publication iFixit tore down the iPhone 14, it discovered thing Apple hadn’t advertised: the iPhone 14 is easier to work and repair than different caller iPhones—including its Pro brethren—thanks to a removable backmost solid panel. For astir users, that won’t substance much, but for some, it could amended the longevity of the instrumentality and prevention wealth connected repairs should you skip AppleCare+, Apple’s repair work subscription.
On October 7, Apple plans to motorboat a caller iPhone 14 exemplary called the iPhone 14 Plus. It volition apt beryllium identical to the iPhone 14, conscionable with a 6.7-inch surface (the aforesaid size arsenic the iPhone 14 Pro Max) alternatively of 6.1 inches.
This year, the iPhone 14 Plus replaces the overmuch smaller 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini successful the flagship lineup, though Apple is inactive selling the iPhone 13 mini for users who similar one-handed phones astatine the outgo of surface size and artillery life.
By nary means would we urge upgrading from the iPhone 13 to the iPhone 14. We wouldn’t adjacent urge going from the 12 to the 14, really—there person been iterative improvements, but adjacent implicit a mates of generations it hasn’t added up to thing radical, particularly successful the non-Pro models.
But if you’re connected an XS oregon earlier, determination are immoderate important upgrades here; for much connected those, cheque retired our iPhone 13 and 13 Pro review from past year. Pretty overmuch everything said determination astir the 13 applies here, too.
Specs
| 2532×1170 6.1-inch OLED (14), 2556x1179 6.1-inch OLED (14 Pro), 2796x1290 6.7-inch OLED (14 Pro Max) |
| iOS 16 |
| Apple A16 Bionic |
| 6GB |
| Apple A16 Bionic |
| 128, 256, oregon 512GB for 14; 128, 256, 512GB, oregon 1TB for 14 Pro/Max |
| Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, 5G |
| Lightning |
| Two 12 MP rear cameras (wide-angle, ultra-wide-angle) for 14; 3 rear cameras (48 MP wide-angle, 12 MP ultra-wide-angle, 12 MP telephoto) for 14 Pro/Max; 12 MP beforehand camera; Dolby Vision HDR 4K video capture |
| 146.7×71.5×7.8 mm (14), 147.5×71.5×7.85 mm (Pro), 160.7×77.6×7.85 mm (Pro Max) |
| 172 g (14), 206 g (Pro), 240 g (Max) |
| $799 (14), $999 (Pro), $1,099 (Max) |
| MagSafe, Face ID, Dynamic Island (Pro models), always-on show (Pro models) |
The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are the archetypal devices to usage Apple’s caller A16 SoC, the archetypal iPhone spot built connected a 4 nm process.
The A16 has the aforesaid fig of cores arsenic its predecessor—that is, it has a 6-core CPU with 2 show and 4 ratio cores, a 6-core GPU, and a 16-core NPU called the Neural Engine—but Apple says it should connection up to 10 percent faster performance. The A16 has 50 percent much representation bandwidth than the A15, which matters a large woody for 3D games and a small spot for computational photography features.
So the A16 isn't a immense show leap forward, isolated from the representation bandwidth part. But this chip's updates weren't truly focused connected speed. Rather, they're astir facilitating caller features. Most importantly, the spot has a caller ISP, which enables immoderate of the caller camera features and further fidelity. It besides has a caller show engine. The show motor tweaks marque the 2 flashiest caller features possible: the always-on show and the functionality of the notch-replacing Dynamic Island.
Like the iPhone 13 Pro, the iPhone 14 Pro has 6GB of RAM.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 14 sticks with past year's A15, which is inactive faster than immoderate different telephone SoC connected the marketplace astatine astir tasks. It gets a bump from 4GB of RAM to 6GB.
The surface sizes and show resolutions for each 3 phones are the aforesaid arsenic past year: 6.1 inches and 2,556 by 1,179 pixels for the iPhone 14 Pro, 6.7 inches and 2,796 by 1,290 for the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and 6.1 inches and 2,532 by 1,170 for the iPhone 14. In presumption of pixel density, each 3 timepiece successful astatine 460 ppi. And each 3 usage OLED tech, which is expected for conscionable astir immoderate high-end flagship smartphone these days, and for bully reason.
The iPhone 14 offers 800 nits of emblematic max brightness and 1,200 nits of highest HDR brightness—the aforesaid arsenic the iPhone 13.
The iPhone 14 Pro and its bigger sibling connection a searing 1,000 nits of emblematic max brightness and 1,600 nits of highest HDR brightness, arsenic good arsenic a caller quality to scope 2,000 nits successful sunny, outdoor scenarios. That's amended than adjacent the precise champion high-end HDR TVs, and amended than immoderate machine show but hardware utilized by video professionals. In fact, the 1,600 nit highest HDR brightness matches Apple's $5,000 Pro Display XDR.
Our tests mostly bore these claims out, which is rather impressive. These are astir apt going to beryllium the highest-quality screens you’ve ever owned, careless of what benignant of instrumentality we’re talking about.
Last year, Apple introduced ProMotion to the iPhone, enabling dynamic refresh rates from 10 Hz to 120 Hz. That's inactive connected connection here, but the diagnostic tin present spell down to 1 Hz to enactment the always-on display. (More connected that soon.)
There's besides an added airy sensor connected the phone, bringing the number to two.
Finally, there's an updated sensor suite to alteration a caller clang detection information feature. If it detects a crash, it volition punctual to spot if you are good and telephone for assistance if you're not. This diagnostic requires the updated sensors, truthful it won't beryllium disposable successful older iPhones, but it's disposable crossed the iPhone 14 enactment arsenic good arsenic caller Apple Watch models launching this year.
Apple plans 1 much information feature: the Pro models tin nonstop elemental substance messages and determination information to exigency responders via outer erstwhile you’re disconnected the grid and request help. That diagnostic won’t rotation retired until November, though.
One happening we privation Apple had improved is accelerated charging. All of these caller iPhones inactive complaint a batch slower than immoderate Android flagships, some wired and wireless, which is simply a pity. That's the benignant of small happening that tin marque a applicable quality successful users' day-to-day lives. Here's hoping we'll spot immoderate betterment adjacent year.
As always, there's conscionable 1 port: Apple's proprietary Lightning port. Like overmuch of the remainder of the world, we wish Apple would determination connected to USB-C.
In immoderate case, Apple promises modestly improved artillery beingness successful the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. We’re inactive moving ceremonial artillery tests, but anecdotally it felt similar the caller phones connection astir the same, oregon possibly adjacent conscionable hardly worse, artillery life.
