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When it comes to Apple iPhone averages, there has never been a crop with larger screen diagonals or more expensive than the iPhone 14 series. The 6.08 inches of average display size of the iPhone 13 models have now turned into the whopping 6.36 inches thanks to the unveiling of the first big cheap iPhone 14 Plus, as Apple also announced a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro and a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Needless to say, that would also reflect the record average selling iPhone 14 price as the iPhone 14 Plus moves the starting tag needle a Benjamin or two north without having counterparts last year.
Will the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus be worth buying considering that the iPhone 14 Pro models now differ not only by screen and camera, but are also with Apple's newest A16 processor?
iPhone 14 from Apple: save $30-$630 with a trade-in
You can buy the new iPhone 14 at Apple, where the device is sold at its regular price. If you wish to save, opt for a trade-in. Trade-in discounts vary between $30 and $630, depending on your device and its condition.
AT&T iPhone 14 (256GB) at Walmart: save 23% right now
The iPhone 14 is now available to order with a carrier plan by AT&T Walmart. Prices for this device start at $21.64/month for 36 installments. The phone comes with 256GB of internal storage space. Currently, all color variants are available.
iPhone 14 Plus price: $899, October 7 release date
It was widely expected that he iPhone 14 would start at $799 for the 128GB model, while the iPhone 14 Plus would cost $899 for the same amount of storage, and the rumors were true. The 256 GB models are $100 more, while the 512GB versions will set you back $1099 and $1199, respectively
Apple is letting you buy them on installments during the preorder period that will start on September 9 and go until Friday, September 16, when the iPhone 14 will be released to the general public. For the iPhone 14 Plus release, you'd have to wait until October 7, however.
Our iPhone 14 deals roundup will help you find the best iPhone 14 Plus price, too, as this is expected to be the most sought after of the new 2022 iPhones.
Display size and colors
While the Apple iPhone 14 sports the same 6.1-inch display as its predecessor, the iPhone 14 Plus has a huge 6.7-inch one and is the first member of Apple's Plus family of yesteryear after several mini iPhone model editions. It has slightly thinner bezels and a bit taller aspect ratio and is the most interesting phone in the bunch on account of its upper midrange pricing and big, beautiful OLED display.
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The iPhone 14 Plus is an odd bird in terms of size and price, for sure, but may prove to be a very popular given how Apple misjudged the market for compact phones which users long ago moved from for the sake of big-screen handsets.
All new iPhone 14 and 14 Plus features
Apple is keeping the same tired iPhone 14 design it has used for the past couple of years. It inherits the narrower notch from its predecessor, though, plus it would sport a slightly more refined screen bezel and a bit taller aspect ratio. Don't expect anything but aluminum frame sandwiching a Ceramic Shield glass front and back.
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 - Midnight, Starlight, Blue, Purple, and Product(RED) - now include a new purple shade-shifting blue hue.
At the fixed 60Hz refresh rate on the iPhone 14, an Always-on Display mode 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.
New Apple iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus specs and features
New 12MP ƒ/1.9 front-facing camera with autofocus
New 12MP ultrawide camera with wider aperture
New main camera with larger, 1/1.65" sensor
Faster, more energy-efficient 6nm Qualcomm 5G modem made by TSMC
50% more RAM
Penta-core GPU
New blue color
Larger battery
Apple has improved the iPhone 14 in a few key areas, such as the frontal camera, battery life, and wireless connectivity (both cellular and Wi-fi), while at the same time slapping the faster A15 Bionic from the iPhone 13 Pro models on the iPhone 14.
The iPhone 14 takes some pointers from the iPhone 13 Pro camera, so Apple hasn't left us with an entirely unexciting camera setup on the base 2022 iPhones, too. The larger 12MP main sensor and better 12MP ultra-wide camera from the iPhone 13 Pro are here, as well as a brand new and svelte 12MP front camera with autofocus.
The autofocus on the selfie camera, so important for TikTok-ing it in style, is in fact the only brand new hardware upgrade on the phone, as the rest are rehashed components from the previous year.
The iPhone 13 Pro, meaning larger sensors and wider apertures letting more light in, so, all in all, the iPhone 14 is shaping up to be a very decent photography upgrade.
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.
Penta-core A15 performance
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 is taken directly from the iPhone 13 Pro, with higher clock ratios and extra graphics processing cores compared to the iPhone 13.
There has been processor fragmentation precedents in the same iPhone series and we can look no further back than last year's iPhone 13 models. While the base $699 iPhone 13 mini and $799 iPhone 13 got the same Apple A15 processor with two high-performance Avalanche cores with peak 3.24GHz clock frequency, and four energy-efficient Blizzard cores clocked at 2.01GHz as did the $999 iPhone 13 Pro and $1099 13 Pro Max, there was a difference in the GPU core count.
The graphics subsystem of the A15 chipset in the Pro models uses a penta-core GPU, while in the iPhone 13 it has four active cores. That's precisely the "enhanced" A15 that we may expect to land in the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, soothing the FOMO of their owners as the difference in performance with the A16 will be rather negligible in terms of raw processing and graphics power.
In fact, TSMC's 5nm production node on which the Apple A15 is built, makes it at most 11% slower than the second-gen 4nm one that the Apple A16 is likely to be taped out with, and with just 6% lower transistor density. This has been a trend with Apple's processor families ever since the chip foundries started approaching these small sub-7nm nodes.
Before the Apple A15, the previous four generations of Apple processors offered at least a 20% performance boost over their predecessors, but from the A14 to A15 this shrank to 11%, and is now expected to be 11% again. Thus, the difference in performance between the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro will be very close to our iPhone 12 vs iPhone 13 benchmarks you see above, namely a single digit performance gain, so that's hardly what Apple must have aimed for with the iPhone 14 series processor fragmentation.
Moreover, Apple has most likely bumped 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.
5G modem, satellite, and e-SIM connectivity
А big hardware upgrade on the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus are the connectivity chips that now include satellite support, latest Bluetooth 5.3, and fast 5G. Apple has concocted a custom low-power 5G modem with up to 10Gbps download speeds, based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X65 model that is in the S22, as the 4nm X70 isn't coming before November rolls in.
Qualcomm reportedly raked in a 100% of the iPhone 14 5G modem orders as Apple ran into trouble with the development of its own 5G modem. 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.
The big surprise, however, is the satellite connectivity for SOS messages which can be sent in less than 15 seconds if you have clear skies when you are out in the boondocks and completely off the grid and cellular connectivity. Staring in November, the satellite connectivity of the iPhone 14 hits the US and Canada and it will be free for two years.
Last but not least, in the US the iPhone 14 models ship without a SIM card tray as Apple moves to e-SIM completely, a watershed moment in its carrier relationships.
Battery
Apple may have placed a larger, 3279 mAh battery in the iPhone 14, compared to the 3227 mAh piece in the iPhone 13, and a record large 4,325 mAh unit in the iPhone 14 Plus. These specs aren't listed, as usual, but the packs leaked before the iPhone 14 announcement, and Apple just confirmed enhanced battery life for the new base iPhones, indirectly confirming they have larger batteries.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max already has great endurance and the iPhone 14 Plus battery life pulls a record as it carries more frugal connectivity chips and a less pixel-dense display with fixed 60Hz refresh rate.
When it comes to charging speeds, however, expect the same slow trickle via a Lightning port that maxes out at 27W and is getting long in the tooth, so charging the iPhone 14 Plus, in particular, will take ages with Apple's puny 20W charger that it demands you buy separately if you don't have one lying around.
What do you think, are the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus worth spending eight or nine Benjamins given their boosted processing and connectivity chips, wider apertures, autofocus in the front camera, and longer battery life?
Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
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