Apple to launch iPhone 14 today — what can we expect?

The wait is about to be over and Apple would finally be unveiling the four iPhones — the 6.1-inch iPhone 14, the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max/Plus, the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, and the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max — today.

While the Pro series of the iPhone 14 (or whatever Apple ends up calling it) will undoubtedly boast of many of the tech giant's best innovations made over the past year, they are going to the on the expensive end of the spectrum and, predictably, consumer interest is likely to be higher on the less expensive base iPhone 14 and especially its larger-screened sibling, the 14 Plus or 14 Max — we don't know the official name yet, but let's call it the 14 Plus to avoid confusion, at least for the sake of this piece.

The 14 Plus is an unusual entrant in Apple's annual lineup of iPhones. Apple, for the first time ever, launched four iPhones simultaneously in 2020 — the iPhone 12 Mini, 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max. This trend continued in 2021 and looks set to continue in 2022, only this time, the Mini is being replaced by the Plus-sized variant, a first in Apple's history that its flagship (the Pro Max) and a mid-level entrant will have the same screen size and, possibly, battery life.

My prediction is this model will be the most popular among those who want a large-screened iPhone but don't want to shell out nearly Rs 1.3 lakh to get their hands on it. After all, the 14 Plus will come with a 6.7-inch OLED screen but will feel lighter than its Pro Max counterpart, as Apple will use aluminium for its frame, which is not as heavy as the stainless steel frame used in the more expensive variant.

If rumours are to be believed — and it's 50:50 at this point — the iPhone 14 is expected to be priced the same as last year's base 13, at Rs 79,990. This means the 2022 line-up of iPhones' starting price will be Rs 10,000 higher, as there's no Mini, which was priced at Rs 69,990.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. It is usually normal for Apple to sell the previous two base phones in the lineup after introducing a new iPhone while discontinuing the previous year's Pro series. For instance, last year, when the iPhone 13 was unveiled, Apple sold the iPhone 12 and iPhone 11 at reduced prices but discontinued the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max.

However, this year, if supply-chain analyst Ming Chi-Kuo and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman are to be believed, then the base 14 series will feature the same A15 Bionic chip that powered last year's lineup, except in this case, with two extra cores for a small power boost.

This begs the question — why should you buy the iPhone 14 for a higher price when you can just buy the iPhone 13 at a discount right now, especially if the processor is the same?

Honestly, there is no good reason for you to wait, unless you're very keen on the camera upgrades and possible battery life improvements that are expected to come with the new iPhones. However, considering that the iPhone 13 series boasted of stellar battery life, and also considering there will likely be no change in the screen technology, as things stand right now, the iPhone 13 seems like a very promising — and a better value — prospect.

This is tricky to answer. The most likely scenario is that Apple will discontinue the iPhone 13 series altogether in favour of its latest generation. The iPhone 11 and 12, and possibly — but unlikely — the 13 Mini might still be sold, but regardless of how low the iPhone 13 is priced to show that the iPhone 14 is a better device, it will always be a more tempting buy than the new iPhone. So my prediction is that the iPhone 13 is on its last legs where official sales are concerned.

The most obvious explanation is the ongoing — and slowly easing — global chip shortage, which meant that Apple could not produce as many A16 Bionic chips as it might like for the entire 14 series, so it decided to go with last year's A15 chipset for the non-Pro lineup.

Another, less impressive explanation is that Apple wanted to clearly separate its Pro series from its vanilla series and so, the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus will be powered by a slightly boosted A15 chipset, while the 14 Pro and Pro Max will be powered by the latest A16 flagship chipset. Even last year, though the entire lineup boasted of the A15 chipset, the SoC used in the non-Pro iPhone 13 had two fewer cores compared to the Pro and Pro Max.

Not just that. The notch will remain on the 14 and 14 Plus, while the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are expected to get a pill-shaped cutout instead, further differentiating the two lineups.