Review of the iPhone 14

Several minor but significant enhancements

Two-minute recap

It’s difficult to get enthusiastic about an iPhone that has last year’s design, screen, and CPU, but considered on its own – outside of the significant shadow cast by the new iPhone 14 Pro – Apple’s new iPhone 14 looks like a pretty darn fine smartphone.

Even while the iPhone 14 looks similar to the iPhone 13, there are various advancements under the hood that promise to provide a better overall experience.

The phone’s two rear cameras – a 12MP wide and a 12MP ultra-wide – have upgraded sensors, and the 12MP TrueDepth camera can now autofocus and capture more light. All of the lenses are powered by Apple’s new Photonic Engine (“photonic” refers to the control of photons, or light particles; for additional information, see our iPhone 14 camera explainer). In practice, it’s a reorganization of Apple’s imaging pipeline, which now applies the Deep Fusion neural engine image processing on uncompressed images (rather than compressed ones, as before).

You won’t find a 48MP sensor with quad-pixel binning or any form of zoom here. You’ll need to upgrade to the iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max for them.

There’s still the fantastic Super Retina XDR OLED screen, but if you don’t like the notch, you could choose the 14 Pro or Pro Max, which include Apple’s fascinating new Dynamic Island, as well as an adaptive refresh rate and always-on display.

Apple also decided to retain the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus running on last year’s Apple silicon. It’s not the same A15 Bionic chip that powered last year’s iPhone 13 and 13 mini. This A15 Bionic has a five-core GPU rather than a four-core GPU. It’s effectively the same chip that was in last year’s iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, and it should offer better performance than the chip in the iPhone 13

For everything that hasn’t changed, there are some fascinating new (albeit difficult-to-test) capabilities, such as crash detection, which detects if you’re in a car accident and automatically alerts emergency services and critical contacts. Similarly, the iPhone 14 may now contact emergency services via satellite communications. This is an industry first, and it’s encouraging to see that even Apple’s entry-level iPhone 14 has this new capability. 

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY OF THE APPLE IPHONE 14

• 128GB: $799 / / AU$1,339
• 256GB: $899 /  / AU$1,579
• 512GB: $1,099 /  / AU$1,899

On September 7, 2022, Apple introduced the whole iPhone 14 range – the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. 

The iPhone 14 was available for pre-order on September 9 and is now in stores as of September 16. It starts at $799 / £849 / AU$1,399 for the 128GB model, but you can get it with up to 512GB of storage (if you’re already interested, check out our best iPhone 14 discounts).

• Value score: 3.5/5

APPLE IPHONE 14 REVIEW: TECHNOLOGY

The Apple iPhone 14 is available in three storage configurations: 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, with 6GB of RAM on all models.

DESIGN OF THE APPLE IPHONE 14

• The design is nearly comparable to that of the iPhone 13.
• The SIM card slot has been removed (US-only).
• The same notch Display with Super Retina XDR

Apart from new hues (we tested the elegant pale blue model), the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 resembles the iPhone 13. The aluminum frame, button arrangement, dual speaker grilles, Lightning port, and even the screen are all the same. However, there are minor structural changes.

It’s just a little thicker than the iPhone 13 at 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm. It’s also two grams lighter than the last phone, which we attribute to the new thermal architecture within. Despite the chassis similarities, the iPhone 14 does not fit in an official iPhone 13 MagSafe cover – the body fits well, but the iPhone 14’s two-lens camera array is significantly larger (as are the lenses themselves).

Design score: 4/5

DISPLAY APPLE IPHONE 14

• The well-known 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR
• The notch remains.
• There is no adaptive refresh or always-on capability.
• Nonetheless, a high-quality OLED display

The iPhone 14’s Super Retina XDR display is nearly identical to the iPhone 13’s, with a resolution of 2532 x 1170 and 460ppi. The notch that was removed on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max remains in this now fairly dated design. It includes an improved TrueDepth camera (still 12MP, but with a superior light-gathering sensor and focusing), an IR sensor, flood illuminator, and, above all, the top speaker (the other speaker is on the phone’s bottom). This is most likely the notch’s final appearance, as it appears unlikely that it would survive in next year’s predicted iPhone 15.

Despite the fact that this is a bright (up to 1,200 nits) and colorful (Wide Color) display with (thanks to OLED) inky blacks (boasting a 2,000,000-to-1 contrast ratio), it feels out of sync with Apple’s latest display technology. There is no adaptive refresh rate, nor is there the 120Hz ProMotion that we originally saw on the Pro models of 2021. Only 60 hertz. That may be difficult to digest given that the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max have adjustable refresh rates ranging from 10Hz to 120Hz. Furthermore, those phones include a new always-on display mode that can slow down to 1Hz for increased power efficiency. This is, once again, what you pay extra for.

• Display score: 3.5/5

CAMERAS FOR THE APPLE IPHONE 14

• On the rear, the usual 12MP main + ultrawide
• New sensors are being installed throughout the board.
• The Photonic Engine boosts image quality even more
• Action mode has been added.

The iPhone 14 features only two rear cameras:

• A 12MP primary camera (26mm, f/1.5)
• A 12MP ultrawide (120-degree field-of-view, 13mm, f/2.4) camera.

In comparison to their predecessors, these cameras have improved sensors and overall low-light performance. The front camera, which is also 12MP, also features autofocus, which could make group selfies a little easier.

A new imaging pipeline benefits all of the cameras. To work with uncompressed images, the Photonic Engine prioritizes Deep Fusion neural image processing earlier than previously.

Active Mode is a new feature that can be accessed by selecting the running person icon in the top right-hand corner of the camera app’s viewfinder. This is a fairly effective method for reducing a significant amount of wobble from action videos. No, the iPhone 14 doesn’t have a new gimbal; instead, Apple uses over-scan and enhanced roll detection, which is a fancy way of saying it crops the video quickly and on-the-fly to maintain the center (typically a subject) more smoothly in-frame. Although this processing discards significant video information (resulting in a cropped frame), the results are GoPro-like. I’m not sure how beneficial this is, but if you like action movies, it could be a godsend.

• Camera score: 3/5

PERFORMANCE OF APPLE IPHONE 14

• The A15 Bionic chip from the iPhone 13 Pro is used.
• The processor now has extra breathing room thanks to a new heat dissipation mechanism.
• Excellent value for money.

Oh, the mobile CPU from last year! To begin, we must state unequivocally that there is nothing wrong with the A15 Bionic. It’s a powerful chip that has routinely outperformed Qualcomm’s best, and it has plenty of headroom, so mobile games like Asphalt: Legends and PUBG run well. You can edit 4K films, browse the web, and do everything the quicker and more efficient A16 Bionic found in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max can do, with the real-world difference likely becoming obvious only after years of use.

While benchmarks were roughly in line with the A15 Bionic we tested in the iPhone 13 Pro, this iPhone promises better battery life (20 hours of video streaming versus 19 hours for the iPhone 13), despite having a marginally larger battery, implying that Apple’s efforts with the cooling system are responsible for this improved efficiency.

• Performance score: 4/5

BATTERY FOR APPLE IPHONE 14

• Enough juice for a hectic day
• MagSafe + wireless charging
• Purchase your own adapter.

As previously stated, the iPhone 14 has a video playback time of 20 hours, a streaming video time of 16 hours, and an audio playback time of 80 hours. A single charge provided more than a full day’s battery life. The iPhone 14 includes a Lightning-to-USB-C charging cord but no charger.

You may buy a 5W adaptor or pay a little extra for Apple’s 20W charger, which will charge your phone to 50% in 30 minutes. The phone also supports MagSafe and Qi wireless charging.