The iPhone 14 | The new features of Apple's latest release

Matt Maynard • 14 Sep 2022 Features

Let’s see what sets the iPhone 14 aside from the rest. 

Are you one of them? One of the early adopters who quietly lingers in the shadows, pondering whether it’s worth stepping out of your comfort zone and making a dash to your nearest Apple shop to wait patiently in line for your very own iPhone 14? 

Well, it’s that time of year again and we hope you’re not disappointed.  

The all-new 6.7 inch display

While the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro have the classic 6.1-inch display, the 14 Plus and 14 Pro Max are built with the new 6.7-inch display.

The new 6.7-inch screen is built for the user who likes to stream movies and series on the go, or the one who enjoys mobile gaming. The new screen coupled with the 120Hz capabilities of the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, is likely to provide iPhone viewing like you’ve never experienced before.

The new dual camera upgrade

So the iPhone camera has had a massive overhaul. Let’s take you through the main changes that Apple has stated on their website: 

A new Main camera with a larger ƒ/1.5 aperture and 1.9 µm pixels (camera pixel size). Both photo and video improvements have been made to allow for better detail in all lighting, less background noise pickup during filming, faster exposure times and sensor-shift optical image stabilisation. 

• A new front TrueDepth camera with an ƒ/1.9 aperture and new autofocus feature will make for superb picture taking and movie making using the beloved front camera. 
• A new Action mode for smoother-looking video, which works by stabilising your camera if you’re filming on the move, perfect for people who like to upload content onto social media of themselves being active outdoors or indoors. 
• The Ultra Wide camera will offer a far superior perspective for wider shots - obviously - and will improve images taken in low-light with Photonic Engine. 
• An improved True Tone flash that is 10 percent brighter.
• Cinematic mode, now available in 4K at 30 fps and 4K at 24 fps!
• End-to-end Dolby Vision HDR, exclusive to iPhone.

“The best battery life ever on an iPhone”

Apple has come out and said that the battery life on the iPhone 14 is the best yet, which might not necessarily mean much as the battery life on existing iPhones tends to be subpar at best in the smartphone world. 

Here’s what to expect battery-life-wise with the iPhone 14 vs the iPhone 13 - whether it’s good or not, you be the judge: 

• 1 hour longer battery life on iPhone 14 Pro than iPhone 13 Pro for video playback
• 1 hour longer battery life on iPhone 14 Pro Max than iPhone 13 Pro Max for video playback
• 1 hour longer battery life on iPhone 14 than iPhone 13 for video playback
• 7 hours longer battery life on iPhone 14 Plus than iPhone 13 for video playback

Of course in order to ascertain exactly just how good the new iPhone 14’s battery will be, you’d have had to have been a user of the iPhone 13, but it’s quite a good way to roughly gauge the new iPhone’s battery longevity. 

Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via Satellite 

Crash Detection is exactly what it sounds like. The new iPhone is kitted out with the technology needed to detect G-force measurements of up to 256Gs, which allows the iPhone 14 to detect a severe car crash and contact the emergency services when you might not be in the condition to do so. Existing features, such as the GPS for additional input for speed changes and the microphone also assist in bringing the iPhone 14’s biggest safety feature to life in Apple’s latest release.

The iPhone 14 comes with satellite capabilities, built with antennas that can connect directly to satellites, enabling users to message and contact emergency services without mobile network signal or WiFi coverage. Users will also be able to manually share their location over satellite with the ‘Find My’ feature when there is no mobile network or Wi-Fi connection, providing a sense of security when hiking or camping off the grid. 

An environmentally conscious phone

The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible, apparently, which includes antenna lines that use upcycled plastic water bottles that have undergone a chemical transformation to make the material stronger and higher-performing. 

This is what else Apple has to say on the matter: 

“iPhone 14 models also use 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, including those used in MagSafe, and 100 percent recycled tungsten in the Taptic Engine. Both models also include 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of multiple printed circuit boards, and 100 percent recycled gold in the plating of multiple printed circuit boards and in the wire of all cameras. Fibre-based packaging does not use outer plastic wrap, bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.”

So Apple is clearly trying to cut down on its material usage, which is why perhaps Apple insists on leaving out chargers within every brand-new iPhone 14 box - bonkers. 

The A15 CPU & 5-core GPU 

This is where the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus really excel above the other iPhones. The A15 with 5-core GPU will reinvent the video experience for iPhone users, allowing for high-performance gaming and supreme playback viewing. The A15 is also partly responsible for the extremely impressive camera now housed within the iPhone 14 and its variations.

Paired with the 6-core CPU, users will be able to operate the iPhone 14 with little latency issues for a smooth experience, switching through apps swiftly while being able to handle the demand of modern streaming services perfectly. 

And as for the iPhone Pro and Pro Max? Well these two run on the A16 Bionic Chip, Apple’s latest chipset. Expect supreme performance.