The iPhone 14 is Apple’s smartphone for meat and potatoes, offering a reliable everyday experience with basic elements such as an attractive screen, excellent build quality, one-day battery life, smooth performance and competent cameras starting at $799.
Although it also has some of the most expensive features of the iPhone 14 Pro such as collision detection and satellite emergency SOS, it ignores the most convincing new experiences offered by this range, including an always-on screen, Dynamic Island and the A16 Bionic processor.
There is no doubt that the iPhone 14 will serve most people well, but it feels a little further behind Apple’s high-end Pro line than previous models.
So while the iPhone 14 Pro Max ($1,099) wins our Editors’ Choice award, the iPhone 14 is still a great, safe choice if you’re looking to save money.
Body: Discreet excellence
The iPhone 14 takes almost all of its external DNA from last year’s iPhone 13, which itself was about the same as the iPhone 12 2020. Apple tends to be content with design choices and stick to them for a while (which is why its laptops have seemed more or less the same for almost a decade).
Although we understand that perhaps this helps Apple save on product development costs, it is difficult to convince people to buy a new thing that looks exactly like the old one. The biggest visual difference between the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 13 is the color scheme.
which has been updated to blue, midnight, purple, red (product) and Starlight. In particular, the shades of blue and red, although bearing the same names, have changed a little from year to year.
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Practical PCMag logo with the Apple iPhone 14 range
The iPhone 14 measures 5.78 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.07 ounces, which is 0.01 inches more and 0.07 ounces less than the iPhone 13.
This is an extremely comfortable size and weight that should fit most people well. The closest competing phones in terms of quality, cost and features are the Google Pixel 6 (6.24 x 2.94 x 0.35 inches, 7.3 ounces) and the Samsung Galaxy S22 (5.75 x 2.78 x 0.3 inches, 5.93 ounces).
The Pixel 6 is a little larger than the iPhone 14, while the S22 is a little smaller. If you want more iPhone 14s for not much more money, the $899 iPhone 14 Plus (6.33 x 3.07 x 0.31 inches, 7.16 ounces) might be more your style.
Apple iPhone 14 three-quarter view
We can not complain about the high-quality material. The iPhone 14 is a glass sandwich design with Apple’s ceramic shield protecting the front screen and aluminum forming the frame.
The Pricer Pro range switches to stainless steel for the frame but uses the same ceramic shield.
For comparison, the Pixel 6 and S22 use Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. The iPhone 14 has an IP68 dust and water protection rating, which means that it is dustproof and able to stay in six meters of water for up to 30 minutes.
If you drop it in mud or a birthday cake, you can safely rinse it under a tap. iFixit claims that the iPhone 14 is more repairable than most other iPhones made in the last five years.
Apple iPhone 14 Back profile
The flat-edge design means that the iPhone 14 can stand on a flat, level surface without assistance.
The right angle formed at the place where the frame and the glass meet gives the phone a sharp feeling that some people may not like. This can be smoothed out with a case.
The external physical controls are the same on all iPhone 14 devices. The dual-use power and screen lock button is positioned on the right edge, while the separate volume buttons and a buzzer switch are on the left. You can’t ask for better quality buttons on a phone.
The iPhone 14 family continues to rely on Apple’s proprietary Lightning port, which is located on the bottom edge. It is incompatible with the USB-C port and the cables that most other phone manufacturers use on their devices.
It is possible that Apple will (finally) abandon Lightning with the iPhone 15 2023, partly because of a USB-C mandate from the EU.
All iPhone 14 models in the United States do not have a physical SIM tray and instead rely on eSIM (more on this below). The iPhone 14s sold outside the United States include a physical SIM tray.
Apple iPhone 14 Back Panel
There is no fingerprint reader, but Apple’s Face ID is the best when it comes to facial recognition for security purposes. If you want a fingerprint reader, you will have to opt for the smaller and cheaper iPhone SE ($429).
The same old screen
Specification for specification, the screen of the iPhone 14 is identical to that of the iPhone 13. The Super Retina XDR OLED measures 6.1 inches on the diagonal and sports 2,532 by 1,170 pixels for a density of 460 ppi.
It offers a contrast ratio of two million to one and emits 800 nits of brightness (typical), with a maximum of 1,200 nits (peak).
Apple i Phone Screen 14
The refresh rate remains at static 60 Hz, which is a bit disappointing. More phones in the $500 to $800 range started to adopt quickly
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