The iPhone 14 just isn't worth it for most people
Look, the iPhone 14 Pro is a whole other story. But if you've got the 13 - or heck, even the 12 - model, there's not much value in upgrading.
Look, the iPhone 14 Pro is a whole other story. But if you've got the 13 - or heck, even the 12 - model, there's not much value in upgrading.
Apple has just held their big, annual September event and unleashed a bevvy of new mobile devices into the world, with the Apple Watch SE (2nd Generation), Apple Watch Series 8, iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max in stores last Friday.
While new iPhones always used to be an exciting event, packed full of new features that would change the way people used their phones, that’s been a tougher challenge in recent years for Apple.
Last week even the daughter of Steve Jobs had a crack about the new releases.
Apple last year debuted the A15 Bionic system on a chip (SoC), which is the chip that acts as the brain for the iPhone 13 Pro, 13 Pro and iPhone 14 base models. This SoC blew all non-gaming Android phones out of the water when it came to speed and power efficiency.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and Google Pixel 6 still don’t even come close.
Most apps don’t even take advantage of the full power of the A15 Bionic. This is pretty impressive from a technical standpoint, but it really didn’t leave Apple much room to move and innovate for the iPhone 14, because when it comes to phones in 2022, there are really only four things to innovate on: chip speed, battery, camera and form factor.
Read how the new iPhone might save your life.
Apple, quite predictably, says that the iPhone 14 generation comprises the best iPhones ever. But what does that mean in 2022, and does it even matter anymore?
iPhone 14
The big improvements to the iPhone 14 (from $1399) over the iPhone 13 (from $1229 in the 6.1” size, $1049 for Mini) are that it now has the A15 Bionic that was in last year’s iPhone 13 Pro Max (but with an updated thermal design that makes it run a bit cooler and thus even better), a redesigned camera system that’s better in low light, and car crash detection.
It is kind of odd that the iPhone 14 is sticking with the A15 Bionic chip that was in the 13 models. Normally there would be a new chip each year. This isn’t the same as the one that was in the base 13 last year - it does have an extra core to add speed and the updated thermal design stops it from overheating so much during large tasks. But given it’s such an impressive chip, it didn’t really need an upgrade. However, given iOS update support lifespan tends to be tied to chips, the question is whether this means iPhone 14 buyers won't get support for as long as the Pro model, taking away one of the reasons to buy the 14 over the now discounted 13.
What you’ll notice the most out of these updates is the camera system. While it’s a little difficult to tell the difference between the iPhone 13 and 14 in regular light conditions, the difference in low light is stark. Because the camera sensor is so much larger, you no longer need to hold the phone still for as long to get a good low-light shot.
That extra warmth and better quality images isn’t just down to the redesigned hardware, but improved software, too. The Photonic Engine, initially introduced last year, now uses Deep Fusion earlier in the process to lace together different frames to capture more details and improve colour.
That’s a lot of words to say that it uses a bunch of maths to make reds redder and hair look more hair-like in mid-to-low-light photos. It works pretty well most of the time, though you’ll only really notice it in low-light.
The final camera improvement is auto-focus on the selfie camera (which goes for the iPhone 14 Pro range, too), which is handy and makes for much better selfies.
For safety, car crash detection builds on fall detection in Apple Watch to make it so your phone can recognise if you’re in a car accident and call emergency services for you, even if your phone is in the backseat. I couldn’t test this feature, for obvious reasons, but if it works as advertised, it might save someone’s life, even though the vast majority of users will never trigger it.
In terms of power, the enhanced efficiency means you get an extra hour of use over the iPhone 13, which is perhaps the most important factor.
All up, the iPhone 14 is a decent minor iteration on the iPhone 13. Take the iPhone 13 out of the equation and it’s an excellent phone that is peerless in its category. But with the iPhone 13 in the picture, you start to see the innovation stuttering a bit for the base-model iPhone. This is iPhone 13.5 or the iPhone 13S.
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max
I really loved my iPhone 13 Pro Max, and after a year of heavy use, my only complaints were that I would like a little more battery, for it to get a little less hot during long gaming sessions, and I would like the low light photography to be a bit better. Some people were really irritated by the notch, and while I didn’t love it when I was reading books, or it ate into the side of a game that hadn’t changed the UI to allow for it, it really didn’t bother me that much.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max addresses all of those concerns and adds an always-on display for good measure, which I will eventually adjust to.
The big headline new Pro feature is the Dynamic Island, which takes the dead zone that was the camera notch (the little black cut out at the top of the screen for the light sensor and front camera) and makes it a feature.
The camera cut out is now pill-shaped, and notifications and information appear around it. It’s a really clever way to take something that nerds complained about and make it the most talked about positive feature of the new phones. It’s most useful for people who set timers on their phones rather than on their Apple Watch, and when you’re waiting for a car because you can see the countdown, but it’s also used for music. Fun fact: the little waveform that appears on the righthand side of the Island is the actual waveform of the song you’re listening to, rather than just a random animation like so many other waveforms you see.
The Dynamic Island isn’t perfect yet, it still needs a little refining and more apps to support it properly for it to live up to its true potential. But while the Dynamic Island doesn’t really add a whole lot to the functionality of the phone yet, it is a status symbol that differentiates this year’s phone from previous models and is fun.
With the iPhone 14 getting the A15 Bionic, the Pro range has been upgraded to the A16 Bionic, to just move the goalposts even further for mainstream Android phones. There is nothing I do that takes full advantage of this extra speed and bandwidth, but given people hold onto their phones for 3-4 years now, it’s a nice little bit of future proofing. Playing NBA 2K22 on it, the phone barely gets warm and is a bit more responsive. Moving from the iPhone 13 Pro Max to the 14 Pro Max is like the difference between going full speed in a Ferrari and then going full speed in a Lamborghini: it all seems very fast, and I’m having a great time, but I’m not sure how much difference this makes when I’m just going about my daily business and am not in a race. That said, all that extra headroom will give app developers the freedom to go all out in making games and experiences, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what people can do with this power.
Another thing I really like is the extra battery efficiency, which gives me an extra 2 hours of use, compared to the 13 Pro Max. I was finding myself having to charge my phone after dinner most days, while now I can limp on 10% until I get to bed. (Admittedly, I am on my phone for about 8+ hours a day, several of those playing games in front of the TV, so people with more healthy screen time limits will have a better time with battery life.)
An always on display is something I’ve really liked on Android phones, so it’s nice to see it finally come to the iPhone. What the phone does is quite a clever piece of engineering, slowing the refresh rate to 1Hz (one frame per second, so it can still count down a timer and show notifications) and dimming the background photo in a way that preserves the colours while still dropping the brightness right down. Pairing that with the lock screen personalisation from iOS16 makes it super useful. If you want to preserve even more battery life, putting the phone face down or in a dark bag will turn off the screen. If you’re wearing an Apple Watch, the screen will also turn off if you walk away and turn back on when you return.
My one issue with the always on display is that it’s perhaps a little too on, and I find it a bit distracting. The time on a black background on Android was nice, and my brain is too hardwired to think “screen is on, there must be a notification”, but I’m sure I’ll unlearn that with time.
Of course, the thing that most people care about on phones these days are the cameras, and the redesigned camera system in the iPhone 14 Pro Max is great. The main camera now has a 48MP sensor, but uses it to make 12MP photos with much more detailed pixels to better preserve textures. This also means that in addition to the 0.5x, 1x and 3x native lenses, there’s a new 2x mode, that just zooms in on the 48MP main camera to have a clean zoom.
Looking at the dark mode pictures, you can once again see how much better the flowers look on the 14 Pro Max as opposed to the 13 Pro Max. The 14 Pro Max photo looks a bit more natural, because the larger sensor let in more light, so the phone doesn’t have to make as many guesses about light and texture.
On the main camera, you can see the benefit of the new camera system’s ability to take faster shots in the way the telephoto lens has captured these ducklings jumping into the pond. They were moving so quickly, and yet you wouldn’t know it if it wasn’t for the one mid-jump.
Still on the main camera, this portrait mode of Frankie, the three-month-old puppy, makes it look like she was holding still for the photo, when in fact she was constantly moving. Yet you can see the details in her fur, almost as though she wasn’t shivering in excitement and turning her head every which way.
The camera system on the 13 Pro Max is still good, but if given the choice between the 12 Pro Max and the 14 Pro Max, I know which one I’m choosing in a heartbeat.
Who are these phones for?
If you’re coming from an older generation phone, there’s a lot to look forward to that was introduced with the 13 models and stuck around for the 14, like ProMotion on the Pro models, which boasts a higher dynamic refresh rate, which makes scrolling much smoother. It doesn’t sound like much, but actually makes a huge difference to comfort and ease of use. The A15 and A16 Bionic chips are the best there is, the camera systems on both models are a huge leap over the iPhones 11, XS, X and 8.
If you have an iPhone 13 or 13 Pro, you really don’t need to be thinking about these phones.
Heck, even going from the iPhone 12 to the iPhone 14 wouldn’t be much of a leap for normal use. Perhaps the 14 Plus for the bigger screen and longer battery life? But I haven’t had proper time with one of those yet to assess how it stacks up (though I’d guess it’s just the 14, but bigger).
On the other hand, the iPhone 14 Pro models have quite a lot to offer iPhone 12 users and older, with slightly less for 12 Pro users, but still enough that if you’re hankering for a new phone and have the cash, I’d encourage you to go for it.
So, the short answer is:
The iPhone 14 is for people with an iPhone 11 or older who don’t mind spending a little extra over the iPhone 13 to get slightly more battery and slightly better cameras, and can’t wait for next year’s iPhone 15. Or it’s for people who worry about car crash detection and don’t need an Apple Watch Series 8, like taxi, Uber and truck drivers.
The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are for early adopters, and power users with an iPhone 12 or older, plus the car crash people.
Which phone should you buy – iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, or one of the iPhone 13 models?
A lot of the improvements in these iPhones that I enjoy the most (and didn’t mention here) are actually iOS16 features, which are coming to iPhones newer than iPhone 8 for free. So, the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini, which are going to stick around for a little while, aren’t a bad choice.
Usually, buying last year’s model would mean you wouldn’t get access to free iOS updates for as long, given iPhone chips are usually only supported by new operating systems for about 5 years. That remains true for the 14 Pro Max, but given the regular 14 uses the same chip as the 13 Pro Max, all bets are off. No one but Apple knows whether the iPhone 14 will be supported for a year longer than the 13, but it’s difficult to see how they’d justify it.
That said, Apple is not like most other brands, where releasing a new product means the old one is available at a deep discount for two months after release. The iPhone 13 is still available for $1229. That $170 saving is decent, but it isn’t so much that it makes going for the 13 over the 14 a no-brainer, especially given the iPhone 14 is essentially the 13 Pro without the telephoto lens.
If you’re wanting to save more money, and don’t need all the whizbang features of the iPhone 14 range, the second-generation iPhone SE has the A15 Bionic chip, a 4.7” screen, and a pretty good camera and starts at $719. Given it has the same chip, that $500 saving makes it a very compelling option over the iPhone 13.
On the other end of the scale, if you really want one of the new phones, and have a decent phone to trade in, then the Pro models offer the biggest technical improvements, the best cameras, and the most improved experience.
The iPhone 14, 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max phones are in stores now, with the iPhone 14 Plus coming out on October 7.
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