iPhone 14: An Incremental Upgrade

Muge Jiang and Garrett Hasegawa

iPhone 14 was launched on September 16, 2022 with prices starting at $799, and new models are also set out to be released soon, including the iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Plus. 

The release of iPhone 14’s model details have caused discourse among the technical community as many urge consumers to hold back from upgrading to the newest version. From the microchip to the display, the minute details are immensely similar, if not the same. According to CNET, “Of course, the iPhone 14 is still highly rated, but we recommend saving your money and skipping the upgrade.”

As for similarities, both the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 have a 6.1’’ Super Retina XDR display, 2x optical zoom range, A15 Bionic chip, 6-core CPU, 16-core Neural Engine and 128 GB. The identical physical appearance of the two devices, however, is what most strongly pushes customers away with the same dual camera, height at 5.78 inches and width at 2.82 inches.

The iPhone 14 is slightly deeper than its predecessor, standing at 0.31 inch compared to 0.30 inch. Though, it is smaller in the weight department with 6.07 ounces compared to iPhone 13’s 6.14 ounces. For the camera, iPhone 14 has two new, exclusive features, the photonic engine and action mode. The photonic engine boosts photographs through hardware, machine learning, and software. By amplifying the focus on details, texture, and noise in an image, its benefits shine brightly in mid-to-low light settings. Action mode is built to optimize shakes, vibrations and other motions that are recorded through a full sensor and advanced roll correction. Similar to how the photonic engine works best in bright settings, action mode requires a good deal of light to get its full benefits.