September 2022 saw the launch of Apples latest offering, the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Plus. The look and feel of the phones have changed very little but there are some distinctive improvements ‘under the hood’
iPhone 14, the same but different
The all new iPhone is a wonderful smartphone with a very impressive CPU, beautiful screen, and decent cameras. It isn’t anything like as good as the iPhone 14 Pro, but then of course that is an extra £250.
Pros
+ Same familiar design and build quality
+ A new heat dissipation interior
+ Enhanced TrueDepth camera
+ Emergency satellite communications
Cons
– The notch is still there
– Uses the previous generation A15 Bionic chip
– Includes mainly minor upgrades
It’s quite difficult to get too excited about an iPhone that features last year’s chassis, last year’s screen layout, and last year’s CPU, however taken on its own and out of the substantial shadow of the new iPhone 14 Pro then Apple’s new iPhone 14 appears to be a really decent smartphone.
Although the iPhone 14 looks an awful lot like the iPhone 13, there are several upgrades under the hood that promise to provide a significantly improved experience.
The two rear cameras on the phone, a 12MP wide and a 12MP ultra-wide have new sensors, and the 12MP TrueDepth camera takes on even more light and can now also autofocus. All of the lenses use Apple’s new Photonic Engine. In a practical sense, this is a reordering of Apple’s imaging pipeline, which now utilises the Deep Fusion neural engine image processing to uncompressed images (obvious right!).
Something you will not find here is a 48MP sensor with quad-pixel binning or indeed any kind of zoom. For that, you will need to upgrade to the iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The phone still has the fantastic Super Retina XDR OLED screen, but if you really don’t like the notch then you might want to instead choose the 14 Pro or Pro Max, which are both sporting Apple’s clever new ‘Dynamic Island’, in addition to an adaptive refresh rate and always-on display.
Apple have also decided to keep the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus on last year’s Apple silicon. It’s not the same A15 Bionic that ran last year’s iPhone 13 and 13 mini, now instead of a four-core GPU, this A15 Bionic has a five-core GPU. It’s basically the same chip that was in last year’s iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, and should boast improved performance over the iPhone 13’s chip.
Now for all the obvious similarities, there are some great new features, for example crash detection where the phone knows if you’re involved in a car crash and will automatically alert the emergency services and your key contacts. In a piece of similar functionality, the iPhone 14 can now use satellite communications to contact emergency services. This is an industry first, and it’s really good to see that even Apple’s entry-level iPhone 14 has this new ability.
There are other significant under-the-hood updates to the iPhone, specifically a new heat dissipation system that will help the phone to manage temperatures more effectively, and work more efficiently. Apple has also stated that this iPhone is easier to repair than the previous models, because among other things, the glass on the back can now be replaced without having to change the entire enclosure.
APPLE IPHONE 14 PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
128GB: £849
256GB: £959
512GB: £1,179
On September 7th 2022, Apple revealed its entire iPhone 14 line: the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The iPhone 14 became available to pre-order on the 9th September and is now available, as of September 16. The starting cost is £849 for the 128GB model, however you can get it with up to 512GB of storage.
In contrast to most Android phones, there are no options for additional RAM, beyond the basic 6GB, although that is more than the base iPhone 13, which only had 4GB.
APPLE IPHONE 14 DESIGN
A nearly identical design to the iPhone 13
The SIM slot has gone (in the United States only)
The same notched Super Retina XDR display
Apart from a new selection of colours, the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 looks very similar to the iPhone 13. The aluminum frame, button positions, stereo speaker grilles, Lightning port, and even the screen, all look unchanged. There are, though, some tiny structural differences.
Sized at 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm, it is just slightly thicker than the iPhone 13. It is also a couple of grams lighter than the last phone, which we guess is down to the new thermal architecture inside. Even though the chassis is very similar, the iPhone 14 doesn’t quite fit in the official iPhone 13 MagSafe case, the body slides in ok but the iPhone 14’s two-lens camera arrangement is a little larger.
Each of the phones materials including the Ceramic Shield over the display are the same, also the dust and water resistance remains unchanged from the iPhone 13.
APPLE IPHONE 14 DISPLAY
Familiar 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR
The notch remains
Does not include adaptive refresh or always-on functionality
Still has a high-quality OLED display
With a 2532 x 1170, 460ppi resolution, the iPhone 14’s Super Retina XDR display is almost unchanged from the iPhone 13. The widely unpopular notch that has been removed from the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max survives in this now rather aging design. It includes an updated TrueDepth camera (it’s still 12MP but is now backed by an improved light-gathering sensor and has the ability to autofocus), an IR sensor, flood illuminator and above it all, the top speaker (the other speaker is on the bottom of the phone). This is highly likely to be the last appearance of the notch, as it is extremely unlikely that it will be included in next year’s iPhone 15.
APPLE IPHONE 14 CAMERAS
The usual 12MP main + ultrawide on the back
New sensors across all round
Photonic Engine improves image quality
New Action mode
The iPhone 14 has just two rear cameras:
A 12MP main (26mm, f/1.5)
A 12MP ultrawide (120-degree field of view, 13mm, f/2.4)
These are decent cameras with improved sensors and overall low-light performance compared to their predecessors. The front camera which is also 12MP now has autofocus too, which should make group selfies easier.
Each of the new cameras benefit from a new imaging pipeline. The Photonic Engine prioritizes Deep Fusion neural image processing earlier than previously, so it works with uncompressed images.
Photography using the iPhone 14 is great, although after testing the iPhone 14 Pro, we do miss having optical zoom and macro abilities at our fingertips. Even so, this level of photographic capability in addition to the high-quality output will certainly make most users happy.
Just like the rest of the iPhone 14 line, this model will shoot up to 4K video, and Cinematic Mode has now been increased to support 4K at 30fps.
‘Active Mode’ is new, and is is enabled by selecting the running person icon in the top right-hand corner of the camera app’s viewfinder. This is an extremely effective way of removing a lot of the unstable footage from action videos.
APPLE IPHONE 14 AUDIO
Apple has been consistent on the audio side of the upgrades. All four of the iPhone 14 models have stereo speakers and spatial audio support, and can create loud, clear sound. For movies and music that support it, spatial audio adds a kind of surround-sound effect. There are some titles on Netflix, Amazon, and other streaming services which will enable you to enjoy the feature, plus Apple Music has an entire spatial audio playlist to get into.
APPLE IPHONE 14 PERFORMANCE
It uses the iPhone 13 Pro’s A15 Bionic chip
New heat dissipation system gives the processor much needed help
Great performance for the price
Firstly we should make it clear that there is nothing wrong with the A15 Bionic. It is a powerful chip that has regularly outperformed the best Qualcomm has to offer, and it has substantial headroom, which means mobile games like Asphalt: Legends and PUBG run smoothly. It enables you to edit 4K videos, browse the web, do everything you can do with the faster and more efficient A16 Bionic found in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
Bringing the enhanced A15 chip from the iPhone 13 Pro to the iPhone 14 was pretty smart. It’s a decent cost saving move that will leave most people satisfied.
The A15 Bionic, inside the new iPhone 14, has a new internal design for more efficient heat dissipation. Apple claims this helps with the ease of repair, and a cooler chip should also run better.
APPLE IPHONE 14 BATTERY
More than enough charge for a busy day
Wireless charging + MagSafe
You have to buy your own adapter
You can buy a 5W adapter, or you can spend a bit more for Apple’s 20W charger which will get you to 50% charge in just 30 minutes. The phone is also MagSafe and Qi wireless charging compatible.
APPLE IPHONE 14 SOFTWARE
All iPhone 14 models delivered with iOS 16
Packed full of new features
Custom lock screens, unsending texts, and cleaner notifications are included
Each of the Apple iPhone 14 models are delivered with iOS 16. It is a worthwhile upgrade that provides some of the most significant platform changes we’ve seen in quite a while.
The highlights include a new lock screen. Instead of just one static screen you get multiple screens, each with their own focus mode.
There are some powerful image tools that enable you take a photo and use it on your lock screen with, for example, a portion of someone’s head poking out over the redesigned time readout. You can add widgets (different ones for each lock screen) to really personalise the experience.
There are also some other cool features like editable and retrievable texts, multi-stop directions in Maps, live text in videos, and more.
It is a really nice OS update, and we believe it improves any iPhone running it.
Now onto our favourite subject… iPhone 14 cases, yes as usual Wrappz were the first to launch a range of beautifully crafted, high quality phone cases for Apples new offering and these are all available to order now. We have clear cases, hard cases and our shockproof tough cases in stock. You can also order iPhone 14 Pro cases, iPhone 14 Pro Max cases and iPhone 14 Plus cases right now, personalise and protect the best phone on the market.
