Apple iPhone 14 preview – PhoneArena

Unlike the last few iPhone series editions, the iPhone 14 would be the most basic and affordable of Apple’s 2022 iPhones. Thus, you should not expect any drastic changes in design or hardware as Apple would like to keep its profit margins intact by introducing something very similar to the iPhone 13.

By very similar we mean exactly the same, as most changes are tucked under the hood, with only the eventuality of slightly thinner bezels and a new chameleonic purple color left for the exterior. 

Would an Apple iPhone 14 at a $799-$999 price range with new selfie camera, faster modem, and bigger battery be worthy of an upgrade from an iPhone 13 or an iPhone 12 then? Hardly, but let’s entertain the thought…

• New 12MP ƒ/1.9 front-facing camera with autofocus
• Faster, more energy-efficient 6nm Qualcomm 5G modem made by TSMC
• 50% more RAM
• Wi-Fi 6E internet connectivity
• Penta-core GPU
• New purple color
• Larger battery

iPhone 14 Models

The iPhone 14 is the cheapest in Apple’s 2022 iPhone series of four new phones (sorry, no mini iPhone this year, the 14 will have to do):

iPhone 14 Design & Colors

Same old buttons setup and an aging Lightning connector that doesn’t allow very fast charging, too, so you’d have to wait for the iPhone 15 to upgrade on that front. The two rear cameras sitting on an oversized “stove top” are a go, too, but at least a new color is in store. The iPhone 14 colors will likely include a new purple shade-shifting hue:

• Midnight
• Starlight
• Sky Blue
• Project (RED)
• Purple

iPhone 14 Display

No Always-on display mode

The iPhone 14 would sport the same 6.1-inch 1170p OLED display and Apple won’t introduce the new playground for iPhone enthusiast on it, an Always-on Display mode. It’s been a staple on Android phones for a good while, particularly Samsung ones, but Apple is just getting around to it. 

At the fixed 60Hz refresh rate on the iPhone 14, however, it could be a battery hog, so Apple isn’t taking any chances, though a larger battery pack and more frugal connectivity chips could offset the power draw of the Always-on display feature.

If the rumors for a new, taller 20:9 aspect ratio materialize, Apple’s notch at the top of the iPhone 14’s display could lose the visible gains from narrowing it in the previous iPhone 13 generation, but then the phone would be slightly narrower, too, and thus easier to operate with one hand.  so it will be a slightly narrower screen compared to the 19.5:9 screens Apple used in previous iPhones.

Expect stellar display benchmarks from the iPhone 14, though, a comparatively high peak brightness for the category, and individually color-calibrated units coming straight from the factory. No amount of calibration can beat the lack of a refresh rate faster than 60Hz, though.

iPhone 14 Camera

Same old, same gold

• 12MP main camera
• 12MP ultra-wide
• 12MP front camera with AF and f/1.9 aperture

Other than that, you can expect the same amazing 4K video capture that has become Apple’s trademark with iPhones lately, as well as the photography staples like Cinematic Mode and Styles that got introduced with the iPhone 14’s predecessor.

iPhone 14 Performance & Benchmarks

Old A15 chip, but new for the non-Pro series

Unfortunately, one of the biggest added values of new iPhones – a faster chipset every time – won’t be available on the new iPhone 14. Apple has assumed that the A15 is fast enough for its iOS 16-powering, 4K video recording, or 3D-gaming duties on the lower refresh rate of the iPhone 14’s display, so it stayed last year’s course for the first time. 

As if to offset the pain of the old chipset, the Apple A15 Bionic for the iPhone 14 family could be taken directly from the iPhone 13 Pro, with higher clock ratios and extra graphics processing cores compared to the iPhone 13. 

Moreover, it is widely expected that Apple will bump the operating memory paired with the A15 chipset to 6GB of RAM, up 50% from the iPhone 13 and the same as on last year’s Pro models. Just don’t expect it to be of the faster LPDDR5 generation, yet you’d be able to keep more apps and services open in the background at the same time. 

We could also see a 256GB amount of base storage, double the starting one of its predecessor, but we aren’t holding our breath for that particular rumor, given that there are flagship phones now that start from 128GB.

The only big hardware upgrade area on the iPhone 14, besides the front-facing camera, would be its connectivity chippery. The iPhone 14 series would be using a custom low-power 5G modem, based on Qualcomm’s current Snapdragon X65 model, as the 4nm X70 isn’t coming before far into Q4. 

Apple ran into trouble with the development of its own 5G modem, as Qualcomm’s expertise in band filtering and power draw is unsurpassed. That is why Qualcomm reportedly raked in a 100% of the iPhone 14 5G modem orders and will be supplying it with a smaller, more energy-efficient cellular connectivity chip that will help increase the iPhone 14 battery life and free up some space for a larger pack.

iPhone 14 Battery life and charging speeds

The shrunk modem chip and perhaps the new aspect ratio may have allowed Apple to place a larger, 3279 mAh battery in the iPhone 14, compared to the 3227 mAh piece in the iPhone 13.

Its predecessor already has great endurance and the iPhone 14 battery life won’t be an exception thanks to the frugal connectivity chips and the efficient iOS 16 task distributor. With the Always-on Display turned, well, on, however, all battery life bets are off on a fixed 60Hz refresh rate, so we’ll run our battery benchmarks before we pass judgment on the iPhone 14 battery life details.

As for the iPhone 14 charging speeds, expect the same slow pumping of electrons through the aging Lightning port and the puny 20W charger that Apple asks you to buy separately if you don’t have one lying around. There is some speculation that the MagSafe wireless charging will offer faster speeds this time around, but remains to be confirmed, too.

iPhone 14 Competitors

iPhone 14 Summary

The iPhone 14 has a package virtue going for it – a compact 6.1″ design coupled with the fastest mobile processor this side of the iPhone 14 Pro models. You can, however, use any Apple A15 or even A14-powered vessel to carry your new iOS 16 features.