With the iPhone 13, Apple launched its most powerful iPhone fleet to date in 2021 – currently (April 2022) all four iPhone models lead the list of the best smartphones. At which points will Apple still follow in 2022? Can we expect a new design? And what will become of the Mini? COMPUTER BILD summarizes the current status of the rumors and information.
iPhone 14 and 14 Pro: The design
On the outside, Apple may be sticking to the design introduced with the iPhone 12, which is confirmed by rendering images from 91mobiles as well as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. This means that the front largely fills the display, which sits flat on the vertically sloping metal frame. The back is made of glass, under which Apple’s MagSafe technology is hidden. The normal iPhone 14 should hardly be distinguishable from the iPhone 13. However, the Pro model loses the notch, instead getting a larger oval opening for the TrueDepth camera system required for Face ID and a smaller round opening for the front camera. At the same time, the camera block on the back should grow. The image below shows the alleged design of the Pro model.
These CAD images are intended to show the design of the iPhone 14 Pro – which has two display holes for Face ID and the front camera instead of a notch (source: 91mobiles).
iPhone 14: new size on sale
There are changes in the sizes of the individual models. Nothing is official yet, but rumor has it that the iPhone 13 mini may be the last mini iPhone for the time being. Instead of a smaller companion, the iPhone 14 will probably get a larger variant, the iPhone 14 Max – finally an XXL iPhone again that should cost less than 1,000 euros. In the end, there were only two display sizes left in the entire iPhone 2022 series, which should come onto the market once as a standard and once as a Pro version. Accordingly, four models can be expected:
- iPhone 14 (6.1 inch)
- iPhone 14 Pro (6.1 inch)
- iPhone 14 Max (6.7 inch)
- iPhone 14 Pro Max (6.7 inch)
On the Chinese network Weibo circulates a photo with four dummy iPhone designs. From left: iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14.
iPhone 14 camera: More megapixels only on the Pro
Apple has always refused to compete for more and more megapixels in the camera sensor. Since the release of the iPhone 6S in 2015, the US company has installed a 12-megapixel sensor in the main camera. There are no indications that this will change with the normal iPhone 14 models: they should continue to have two corresponding lenses on the back, a main and an ultra-wide-angle camera. A third lens for telephoto shots will probably only be available in the Pro versions in the future. The top models should also have a main camera with more megapixels for the first time: The rumor mill expects a 48-megapixel lens, but in which – as has long been common in the Android sector – several pixels are combined in order to generate more light output in dim lighting and to have more sharpness reserves in good light. If four pixels were combined, the iPhone would ultimately only store photo files with 12 megapixels. But this technique called “pixel binning” is not magic. As a rule, the size of the individual pixels is reduced, so that the light output per pixel is rather weak. So that the effect does not degrade the image quality, the camera sensor has to grow. The famous AppleAnalyst Ming Chi Kuo expects the new sensor to be 25 to 35 percent larger in diagonal and 5 to 10 percent thicker than the iPhone 13 Pro. Accordingly, buyers have to be prepared for a larger camera block on the iPhone 14 Pro.
Apple processor: no A16 Bionic for the iPhone 14?
Analyst Kuo expressed bad news about the iPhone processor for those interested in the cheaper standard model on twitter. Accordingly, the new A16 Bionic processor 2022 is reserved for the Pro models. iPhone 14 and 14 Max, on the other hand, stayed with the A15 Bionic. In practice, this should be bearable: the A15 chip is currently (as of April 2022) the fastest processor in the smartphone world. Details on the A16 chip have been rare so far, but this is said to be the first to use LPDDR-5 memory instead of LPDDR4 on the Apple smartphone. Good: All four iPhone 14 models should come with 6 gigabytes (GB) of memory (RAM).
Will the iPhone 14 come without a plastic SIM?
Rumors have been circulating for years that Apple is planning a smartphone without a SIM card. It has been speculated that the iPhone 14 SIM revolution could actually come true. The group has already taken the first step: According to the Macrumors portal, US providers should no longer sell the iPhone 13 with a plastic SIM in the future, but instead activate the built-in eSIM technology. In Germany, too, all major providers now offer their tariffs via eSIM. However, whether Apple will really remove the SIM slot will only become apparent at the time of presentation.
iPhone with satellite telephony
Even before the iPhone 13 was presented, there were rumors about built-in satellite telephony in the smartphone, Bloomberg recently fueled corresponding assumptions again: The iPhone 14 may therefore come with satellite technology. This would not make it a fully-fledged satellite phone, but it would allow it to exchange text messages via satellite in areas with no cell phone reception, for example in the form of emergency or disaster SMS.
iPhone 14: price and release
New iPhones are traditionally presented on a Tuesday in early or mid-September, 2022 possibly on September 6th or 13th. The actual release, i.e. the start of sales, could be September 30th. There is no information on prices yet, but in view of the increased production and material costs, a price increase is conceivable, at least for the Pro models. And: If the mini model were to be deleted, the starting price for the new iPhone series would already rise even without further price increases.
Tag: iphone design, iphone 14, apple iphone, iphone release