Apple has finally whipped the covers off its latest — and much anticipated — iPhone lineup. At a virtual event at its campus in Cupertino on Wednesday, Apple announced four new iPhones — the 6.1-inch iPhone 14, the 6.7-inch Plus, the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, and the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max. All iPhones, as rumoured, are getting emerge\ncy satellite connectivity.
As expected, the Pro lineup boasts of many of the tech giant's best innovations made over the past year — a pill-shaped "completely interactive" cutout on the screen replacing the notch; a new display that boasts of 1600 nits of peak brightness, and 2,000 nits when required; and the much-awaited Always-On Display, with 1-120 Hz variable refresh rate.
We expect consumer interest to be higher on the less expensive base iPhone 14 and especially its larger-screened sibling, the 14 Plus, which will be powered by a slightly more powerful version of last year's A15 Bionic chipset, improved cameras, battery life, et al.
The 14 Plus is an unusual entrant in Apple's annual lineup of iPhones. It will be the first time an iPhone with a screen size of more than 6.5 inches is priced under Rs 1 lakh, and is likely to draw many customers who want a large screen but aren't willing to shell out tens of thousands of rupees more.
The iPhone 14 is similar to the 14 Plus except for a smaller screen at 6.1 inches and a slightly better battery over its predecessor — Apple says the 14 Plus can last several hours morethan the iPhone 13. Both models sport 12 MP lenses with advancements to computational photography.
The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max boast of a 48MP main camera — a 4x jump over last year. The battery life, which was already a killer feature on last year's lineup, is supposedly even better — the 14 Pro lasts "all day", Apple claims.
The Pro lineup is powered by Apple's latest A16 Bionic chipset. The two smartphones also feature LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) technology, which allows variable refresh rate between 1 Hz and 120 Hz, depending on the content. The Pro lineup also gets the always on display, made possible by the LTPO screens.
Starting prices:
| Model | Price |
| iPhone 14 | Rs 79,990 |
| iPhone 14 Plus | Rs 89,990 |
| iPhone 14 Pro | Rs 1,29,990 |
| iPhone 14 Pro Max | Rs 1,39,990 |
Will Apple continue to sell iPhone 13?
Yes. The iPhone 13 Mini is available for Rs 64,990, while the iPhone 13 starts at Rs 69,990.
Why isn't the latest chip coming to iPhone 14?
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 are being powered by a slightly boosted A15 chipset, while the 14 Pro and Pro Max are powered A16. 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 also remains a key differentiator between the base iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Pro.
First Published: Sept 8, 2022 12:15 AM IST
