Apple debuts its new iPhone 14 lineup comprising four devices grouped into two: The base models: iPhone 14 and the 14 Plus; as well as the high-end variants: iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max.
The high-end iPhone 14 Pro series comes with a few design tweaks and the most noticeable one being the “Dynamic Island” which is basically a pill-shaped cut-out on the display that houses the device’s front-facing selfie camera and its FaceID sensors.
But Apple took things a little higher by making the area show alert in a new way. Also, the iPhone 14 Pro series have bright displays and always-on functionality powered by the new A16 Bionic chipset and a better camera system with new color options.
Apple redesigned the TrueDepth camera array to create the so-called “Dynamic Island” which can expand into different shapes in real time to show important alerts, notifications, and activities across Maps, Music, timers, Live Activities, battery levels, Face ID, and much more.
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It also maintains an active state to give users easier access to controls with a simple tap-and-hold gesture.
The device also gets an improved Super Retina XDR display which is brighter at 2,000 nits at its peak compared to the previous iPhone 13 Pro. The dynamic display can drop down to just 1 Hz of refresh rate to save battery.
Also, the device’s A16 Bionic chipset is the first from Apple to be built on a 4nm process and features about 16 billion transistors.
It comes with two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. Apple also says the new 6-core CPU easily handles demanding workloads.
The chip features an accelerated 5-core GPU with 50 percent more memory bandwidth and a new 16-core Neural Engine.
The chipset also offers improved computational photography features and supports the pro camera system.
According to Apple, the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and image signal processor work together to support the new camera hardware and perform up to four trillion operations per photo.
The A16 supports the Photonic Engine to apply Deep Fusion earlier in the imaging process and improve low-light performance across all of the device’s cameras, as well as Action Mode to stabilize video more smoothly. Action mode is also now available in 4K at 24 fps and 30 fps.
At the back, the device gets an improved 48MP wide-angle sensor with a 65% larger quad-pixel sensor and a second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization.
The quad-pixel sensor combines every four pixels into one large quad pixel equivalent to 2.44 µm, resulting in enhanced low-light capture and 12MP photo sizes. The sensor is optimized for ProRAW.
Still, on the 48MP wide camera, it delivers a new 2x telephoto view. It can also record 4K video with no digital zoom.
There’s an Ultra Wide camera on the device with a new adaptive rear flash with nine LEDs and is up to twice as bright with up to three times better uniformity.
At the front of the device is an improved selfie camera with an f/1.9 aperture and autofocus capability.
The device also has a new dual-core accelerometer with Crash Detection, and Emergency SOS using satellite connectivity.
Emergency SOS via satellite allows users to connect directly to a satellite when they cannot get a cellular signal, enabling messaging with emergency services. Users can manually share their location over satellite with Find My when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi connection.
Apple claims the iPhone 14 Pro can deliver all-day battery usage which is a bold claim.
Color options now include Space Black and Deep Purple, alongside Silver and Gold. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max remove the SIM tray for U.S. models, with eSIM being the only option.
The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max continue to be priced at $999 and $1,099, respectively. Pre-orders begin on Friday, September 9, with availability beginning Friday, September 16.
