TECHBOOK editor Adrian Mühlroth switched from Android to the iPhone 13 mini in 2021. Now that Apple has introduced the iPhone 14, it is happy to have the predecessor.
The September event is over and the iPhone 14 is official. Normally I always find good words for Apple’s flagship product, but this time I was a bit speechless. Last year the improvements in the iPhone 13 mini made me turn my back on my Android smartphone. But in my opinion, in 2022 nobody has a reason to switch to the iPhone 14.
What’s new anyway?
If you hand someone the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14, they will have a lot of trouble telling which model is which. Because externally, the new iPhone 14 does not differ at all from its predecessor. Except in the USA, where the SIM card slot is no longer available.
All information about the new iPhone 14 can be found in our overview article.
A new form factor for the standard iPhone
What changes, however, is the size of the second iPhone 14 model in Apple’s lineup. The iPhone mini variant is no longer available, but there is the new iPhone 14 Plus. With its 6.7-inch display, it is in the same league as the Pro Max version of the iPhone.
Improved cameras with new features
iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus have a new camera sensor. If you look closely, you will see that this is the sensor from the 13 Pro from last year. This one is larger and has a wider aperture than last year. Apple also worked on the selfie camera. The better sensor now has a lens with autofocus. This is a rarity in smartphones and means that selfies now get natural depth of field – also known as bokeh.
Completely new in all iPhone 14 models is the Photonic Engine with improved Deep Fusion technology. What that means is that Apple simply adjusted the steps in the image processing pipeline. This gives all cameras better light sensitivity at low light levels.
A new action mode is also practical for sports recordings. This provides stronger stabilization of videos with a lot of movement. However, the image is severely cropped at the edges, so the field of view is smaller.
Emergency SOS via satellite
Apple talked a lot at the September event about how its products can help people in emergencies. The normal iPhone 14 also supports the same emergency SOS function via satellite as the iPhone 14 Pro. Unfortunately, the service is only available with a subscription. A bit impractical if you fall while climbing a mountain away from all mobile networks and then realize that the emergency call subscription expired two months ago. After all, the service is free for two years when you buy the iPhone 14. However, the whole thing only works in the USA and Canada, at least for the time being.
Too little for too much money
In my opinion, Apple missed the mark with the iPhone 14. The innovations mentioned above cannot justify the higher price – more on this below.
No new chip
The iPhone 14 won’t get the new A16 Bionic chip that Apple unveiled at the keynote. This is reserved for the Pro models. Instead, this year’s iPhone comes with last year’s A15 Bionic. After all, Apple uses the version from the iPhone 13 Pro, in which an additional GPU core is activated – and not just the 4-core GPU from the iPhone 13.
Apple has only installed an old chip in a brand new iPhone once so far. And that was in 2013, when the iPhone 5c was introduced alongside the iPhone 5s. While the 5s got the all-new Apple A7, the more budget-friendly 5c had to make do with last year’s A6.
The gap between pro and non-pro is widening
Last year, the Pro models of the iPhone 13 received a ProMotion display with 120 Hertz for the first time in iPhone history. That’s already a striking difference, but this year it’s only going to get worse.
iPhone 14 and 14 Plus will still have to do without a ProMotion display. In addition, there is now the fact that they also have to do without the new always-on technology of the iPhone 14 Pro. This is made possible by the A16 Bionic and the LTPO panel, which allows the display to slow down to one Hertz refresh rate to save power. But not only that. The screen in the iPhone 14 Pro is now even brighter with 1600 nits of HDR brightness and up to 2000 nits of maximum brightness. The iPhone 14, on the other hand, remains at 1200 nits of maximum brightness. Although this is still a good value, it does not even come close to the iPhone 13 Pro from the previous year.
As if that weren’t enough, the iPhone 14 even has to do without what is probably the biggest innovation in the iPhone 14 Pro: the “Dynamic Island”. That’s the creative name Apple gives to the pill-shaped notch in the Pro variant’s display. “Dynamic Island” promises a fundamental change in interacting with the iPhone. The standard model does not have this new design and the associated functions. Instead, everything stays the same – with the notch, which was similar to the iPhone X from 2017.
What was Apple thinking with the price?
All new iPhone models have in the US the same starting price as their predecessors. The iPhone 14 starts at $799 like the iPhone 13, the iPhone 14 Plus is $100 more expensive ($899) with its new form factor. The iPhone 13 and 13 mini are down $100 each accordingly to $699 and $599. iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max cost $999 and $1099 respectively.
Outside of the iPhone’s home country, however, Apple has raised prices heftily. Instead of offering the iPhone 13 from the previous year at a lower price, the now one-year-old devices remain at their previous prices of 799 euros for the 13 mini and 899 euros for the 13. Apple is simply placing the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus above it and doing it the basic model is 100 euros more expensive. So it starts with 999 euros for the iPhone 14. The iPhone 14 Plus, on the other hand, starts at a whopping 1099 euros. Last year you could still buy an iPhone 13 Pro for just 50 euros more. This has a smaller display, but ProMotion, ProRAW video and an additional camera.
I would prefer not to say anything about the prices for the new Pro models. Apple seems to think an increase of 150 euros for the regular 14 Pro and 200 euros for the 14 Pro Max is reasonable. Dynamic Island and SOS via satellite aside, the new pricing structure is simply alien to non-US buyers.
My Opinion: Do not buy iPhone 14
When I see these prices, I’m glad I switched to the iPhone 13 mini last year. After all, why should I now spend the same money on a one-year-old smartphone?
However, if you want to upgrade from an old model this year, you are faced with a difficult purchase decision. iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are the most expensive “normal” iPhones to date. And last year’s iPhones have not fallen in price, so they don’t really represent an alternative. After all, why spend the same money as a year ago on hardware that is now outdated?
So what’s the solution? Unfortunately, if you want to buy a really new iPhone, you have to take a chunk of money and spend it on the iPhone 14 Pro. There is a somewhat new design with “Dynamic Island” and a completely new way of interacting with the iPhone. I don’t want to be tempted to justify the high prices with the innovations. But at least the iPhone 14 Pro offers the best and freshest iPhone experience in years.
The only tip I have is to look around for a 3rd party 13 Pro now. Last year’s Pro has the same A15 Bionic chip as the iPhone 14, the better display with ProMotion and an additional camera. The main camera is also exactly the same. Only the Action Mode and the software gimmick with the Photonic Engine are missing. There is no emergency call via satellite outside of North America anyway – so that falls flat as a purchase argument.