Apple iPhone 14
Apple iPhone 14 Pro review
Apple iPhone 14 lineup delivers on a bunch of different vectors this year with very few peccadillos or complaints. Apple is really leaning into its silicon lead to deliver big gains year over year in cameras, and it’s leaning on its design teams to give users new ways to interact with their very familiar devices.
The always-on display does what competitors have done, but better and more logically. The cameras improve upon the already dominant iPhone 13 Pro’s arrays, especially in low light and telephoto performance.
This year’s iPhones also defy inflation to offer better performance, better battery life and improved connectivity at the same price as last year. Through some lenses this actually makes them cheaper for much of the world — though the dollar’s relative strength has led to a higher cost in Europe and elsewhere.
Even the “Dynamic Island” (a pill-shaped area that houses the iPhone’s front camera and other sensors) actually proves to be clever and useful. I’d go so far as to say that Apple has pulled off a remarkable feat here in taking a reviled design concession — “the notch” — and turning it into a true tool that improves user experience.
As a note, this year I decided to do something a bit different with my review of the iPhone. Typically I will try to fit in a solid experiential tour with the new devices because I prefer to have a real-world take on it by the time the public starts to get them.
But there is an enormous amount of time pressure there and I never feel like I’ve really lived in them long enough. So this year I’m going to drop some initial impressions today based on testing some of the marquee new features and then I’m going to take a couple of weeks to layer on some experience-time with them. If my initial impressions stand, I’ll likely just update this post.
Color
I had access to the Deep Purple and Space Black models of iPhone Pro and the Apple iPhone 14. The Space Black, I’m happy to report, is much blacker than the Graphite of last year. It’s not Jet Black, my all-time favorite iPhone finish, but you do get the deeply black hi-shine steel band at least. The back of the phone is still not super dark because of the frosted glass finish, but it’s far darker than last year’s.
comparing iPhone 13 pro and iPhone 14 pro graphite versus black colors
Not my cracked iPhone. Image Credits: Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch
The Deep Purple is my personal favorite color this year and it’s what I ordered. It’s fairly dark overall, but shows well when the light hits it. This is going to be a fan favorite, I think, and will do really well with a transparent case.
iPhone 14 pro space black and iPhone 13 pro blue colored phones
Image Credits: Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch
The Blue in the iPhone 14 is fairly milquetoast in my opinion. The winning colors that I saw in the hands-on area at the event last week were Purple, which brought back a shade close to the iPhone 12’s lavender and the (PRODUCT)RED, which is a really bold Pat McGrath-esque uber red that verges on magenta. Really nice in person.
eSIM
This year, Apple shipped test iPhones to reviewers with a line of service attached. This meant that when I booted up the devices for the first time I was presented with the option of activating that line or adding my own. I added both to get the full dual-line experience and it went smoothly. Apple has had eSIM in iPhones since 2018, so they’ve had some practice at this, but it was overall aggressively pleasant.
Adding my line even though I was “converting” from a physical SIM was painless. Once I added it I was taken through a nicely designed flow to choose which number I would use as primary, which data plan I would use and whether I wanted to blend the plans to use whatever data was faster at the moment. The new signal indicator, which shows both services on it, takes some getting used to, but is otherwise nicely done.
You can add up to eight lines to the iPhones 14 and you can name each one separately to keep track of them. If you’re purchasing a region-locked iPhone you’re going to get the same experience that you do with a physical SIM in that you need to purchase a travel plan if you’re going overseas. If you’re buying an unlocked phone you can add lines from any carrier anywhere to it at will, which is neat.
Google added the ability to use Fi in eSIM a while ago, so I’ll probably be using both my Fi line and my carrier line in my personal phone when it arrives.
Internals
Apple says that all of the iPhone 14 models have a new internal structure that allows for better thermals and heat dissipation. It’s next to impossible to determine if there is any real benefit here in my testing, though I’m sure that a teardown will display whatever architectural changes Apple has made. Whatever has changed, it is significant, because the iPhone 14’s back glass can now be replaced without having to disassemble the phone, something that was not possible before.
The display can now also be replaced without having to remove the True Depth Camera module from it as well. The cost of repair for these kinds of problems goes way down as a result.
iPhone 14 pro space black and deep purple colors
Image Credits: Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch
There is now an ambient light sensor on the back of all new iPhone models — something that is used to adjust display brightness but also to determine camera exposure. This can help when moving suddenly into or out of big backlit scenarios. This is also hard to verifiably test — especially as the camera and screen adjustments are already well supported by existing sensors.
I would love to see Apple finally convert at least the Apple iPhone 14 pro models over to USB-C. It just makes sense at this point, given that Lightning was originally given a roughly 10-year “for the next decade” lifespan when it was announced. But I get the feeling Apple’s not happy being forced into anything to do with a connector choice by the EU or anyone else. So your guess is as good as mine as to when that will happen.
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