Apple iPhone 14: Is it time to ditch your iPhone 13?

With few takers for the iPhone mini, this 6.1-inch iPhone 14 is now the gateway to Apple’s 2022 line-up. But unlike in the past, this entry-level iPhone in the new series isn’t just a trimmed-down version of the Pro siblings. Instead, the iPhone 14 appears to be another elder brother to last year’s iPhone 13.

Design

For the iPhone 14, Apple has continued with the same design as the iPhone 13: glass at the front and the rear with aluminium bezels running across the sides. The placement of ports is also identical. The power button is on the right; the volume button and iconic silent slider to mute calls, along with the SIM tray, are on the left, and speaker grills and lightning ports are at the bottom. The camera bump appears to be the same, but it is not. The lenses are slightly bigger; as a result, the iPhone 14 does not fit in the iPhone 13 official Apple case.

Your investment in the iPhone 14 will be somewhat secured with an IP68 rating, with the iPhone capable of withstanding water up to six metres deep for about thirty minutes. Plus, the rear panel is attached with two screws, which makes it much more convenient (and hopefully cheaper) to repair the back panel in case of cracks.

Display

The 6.1-inch screen is the sweet spot for many Apple fans; thankfully, Apple hasn’t tinkered with the size. The notch continues to sit at the top. And if you are wondering about the floating Dynamic Island notch, that feature is reserved for the iPhone 14 Pro models. So is the always-on display.

The iPhone 14 continues to boast a bright Super Retina XDR OLED panel with a 2532x1170-pixel resolution and 460 PPI. The sunlight legibility is excellent. And irrespective of the iPhone 14 featuring a 60Hz refresh rate, everything felt super smooth with no instances of lag. Overall, the display is bright with vibrant colour reproduction - good enough for streaming and gaming.

From Pro to non-Pro

Switching from the 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max to review 6.1-inch iPhone 14 wasn’t as difficult as I thought. The screen felt small but wasn’t cramped for typing notes, emails or messages. However, the reduced screen estate was noticeable while browsing the web and streaming media. Overall, this experience of switching to the smaller iPhone was also eased because of the seamless switch Apple offers between its two devices -  as all my apps, along with most of the data, such as photo gallery and settings, were transported from the old iPhone to the new one.

Camera

On the megapixel count, the cameras on the iPhone 14 appear to be the same as on the previous generation model. But the primary 12 MP lens has been lifted from the iPhone 13 Pro. The wide-angle lens has ƒ/1.5 aperture and sensor‑shift optical image stabilisation. But the ultra-wide camera with its 120-degree field of view and f/2.4 aperture is the same as on the iPhone 13. The two lenses work with Apple’s new Photonic Engine, which uses computational photography to boost images, particularly those captured in low light.

The camera user interface is still the same - switching between the wide and ultra-wide camera with a tap, swipe to switch between the modes and upward swipe for additional settings, including - flash, night mode, live photo, filters and more.

Images captured using the wide-angle lens retained fine details and natural colours. Especially the tone of red that is over-saturated on Samsung Galaxy smartphones. I also captured some lovely landscapes using the 120-degree ultra-wide camera, especially in low light. However, unlike the Pro variant, the ultra-wide camera does not double up as a macro shooter on this one.

All smartphones perform well in well-lit surroundings, but the night mode is a pain point for many. But not with the iPhone 14. The night mode kicks in automatically when the camera detects low light and captures detailed low-light shots. With very controlled noise, the images looked clean.  There has been an improvement if the front camera too, and even low-light selfies also look great with much-improved skin rendering.

And while the 4K videos captured from the primary camera look stunning, it is the action mode that caught my attention the most as it shoots very stable videos while running or driving on a bumpy road. But this doesn’t kick in by default. An icon showing a man running appears on the top left that can be used to turn on the mode. And, with action mode, the video recording switches to 2.8k at 24, 30 or 60fps from the 4K 24, 30, or60fps. Cinematic mode helps capture professional-like footage as it automatically shifts focus to the subject in front while shooting videos and blurring the background at 4K - 24 fps, a feature content creators will love.

Performance

Apple has lifted the A15 Bionic, with a 5‑core GPU, from the iPhone 13 Pro and paired it with iOS 16. And has also updated its internal design for better thermal efficiency as well. Capable of handling heavy graphics, I played power-hungry games like Shadow Fight 3, Call of Duty Mobile and Asphalt 9 Legends, and there wasn’t any glitch or screen stutter. Switching to iPhone 14 as my primary phone meant extensive usage that involved switching between multiple apps, having numerous tabs open on the Safari browser, endless calls, and camera testing. The phone is paired with wireless earbuds all the time during the day and is also used as a personal hotspot for a couple of hours.

With so much going on at all time, there wasn’t any heating issue or lag. Moreover, a full charge lasted me from 7 am till about 8 pm with adaptive display brightness and haptic for keyboard turned off.

5G

The iPhone 14 is 5G enabled, but, at the moment, it does not latch on to any 5G network in the country. The company should release a software update for the iPhone to work on the 5G network soon.

Car Crash Detect

iPhone 14 can detect a severe car crash, then call emergency services and notify your emergency contacts.

SOS

The much-talked-about satellite connectivity on an iPhone 14 will allow a user to send an emergency SOS message via the Messages app when there's no cellular connectivity or Wi-Fi connectivity, but this feature is not available on iPhone in India. The service will only be available in the USA and Canada.

Verdict

The big question here is whether to go for iPhone 13 or the iPhone 14. But the answer is simple. As the price difference is Rs 10,000, I will still prefer the iPhone 14, given the improved low-light imaging and the ease of getting it repaired in case of any damage to the rear glass panel. But if you aren’t too much into photography or videography and prefer to keep your phone safe in a case, then the iPhone 13 is a no-brainer.