UNITED STATES: The wait for the iPhone is finally over. Tim Cook, CEO of the Cupertino-based tech giant, unveiled the latest line of its flagship smartphone. Apart from this, the tech giant also unveiled the Apple Watch 8 and Airpods Pro 2.
Apple has announced the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, while retaining much of the iPhone 13’s design — including the previous generation’s A15 Bionic chipset. There is no Mini option this year, so your options are large or larger.
US iPhone 14 models are also ditching the physical SIM tray and going all-in on eSIM. The standard iPhone 14 model starts at $799 and the 14 Plus starts at $899. Pre-orders begin on September 9; the standard 14 ships on September 16, and the 14 Plus arrives later on October 7.
Both models support Emergency SOS, the much-heralded emergency message via communication satellites when you are out of mobile signal range. The phone’s antennas can connect to satellite frequencies.
Apple says it can take less than 15 seconds to send a message with a clear view of the sky, and the interface guides users to point their phone in the right direction and guides them through steps to connect with emergency providers. You can also use the Find app to share your location without sending a message. It’s free for two years with iPhone 14 models.
The iPhone 14 has a 6.1-inch screen, while the 14 Plus offers a large 6.7-inch screen. The 14 Plus claims to offer the best battery life of any iPhone. Both models continue to offer last year’s A15 Bionic chipset — a significant shift for Apple, which typically introduces a new processor each year to power its entire iPhone portfolio.
On the camera front, there is an ultra-wide-angle and new 12-megapixel main camera with f/1.5 aperture and sensor stabilization. Apple claims low-light image quality has improved by 49 percent and says Night Mode is now twice as fast.
There’s also a new 12-megapixel TrueDepth camera with autofocus on the front. Apple says it also uses its Deep Fusion image processing earlier in the image processing process, improving low-light performance and color rendering, a technology it calls the “Photonic Engine.” Video recording also gets a new stabilisation mode called Action Mode, which uses the entire sensor for gimbal stability.
The launch of the iPhone 14 comes at a unique time: inflation is driving up the prices of absolutely everything including consumer technology and household budgets are strained.
Google has launched a public campaign to shame Apple into adopting its open messaging standard. And the company has to face the fact that people in the US just don’t want a small iPhone, despite trying to sell one for the past few years. It all boils down to unusual pressure when Apple holds its annual iPhone unveiling from its glitzy Silicon Valley campus.
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