When people go shopping for the new iPhone 14 this year, they may be in for a very big shock. And I’m not talking about the price.
For starters, Apple is rumored to completely kill the mini model of the iPhone 14 range. Instead, the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max is said to be replaced by the 5.4-inch. So there will be two iPhone 14 models with 6.1-inch screens and two with 6.7-inch panels.
But this isn’t actually the biggest news based on iPhone 14 rumors and leaks I’ve seen so far. As you’d expect, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are once again geared to display ProMotion 120Hz displays, which could be limited to the Pro series. The same is likely to apply to a telephoto lens for true optical zoom.
But there are a lot of differences we’ve heard between the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Pro. And they can put the Pro into their own league – through thick and thin.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 14 Pro: No notch in Pro
The iPhone 14 Pro tends to eliminate the notch, but don’t expect a similar look to the best Android phones. Instead, Apple is reported to be replacing the notch with two holes toward the top of the display: a pill-shaped hole for Face ID and a smaller hole for the front camera.
We’ve seen a number of renders and mockups showing what the iPhone 14 Pro could look like, and some obviously don’t like the double-hole approach. Meanwhile, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max are expected to remain the same as the iPhone 13 series.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 14 Pro: USB-C for Pro only?
This is an iPhone rumor that we hope is completely wrong. iPhone 14 Pro may offer USB-C connectivity. This will enable iPhone 14 Pro to deliver faster transfer speeds when working with external peripherals – which is important for creative professionals – as well as enable potentially faster charging.
Currently, the iPhone 13 supports 20W charging, but Apple is said to be working on a faster 30W gallium nitride charger. It is unknown if this will be reserved for the iPhone 14 Pro if it comes out this year.
Apple has been in a hot situation with the European Union for a while to not support USB-C in its phones, but the company could keep Lightning for the regular iPhone 14 and make USB-C an exclusive feature for the Pro.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 14 Pro: A16 Bionic Go Pro
This is a rumor we didn’t believe at first, but it could happen. According to Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo, the iPhone 14 Pro series can exclusively get Apple’s new A16 Bionic chip, which will use a new 4nm process.
The regular iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max will be powered by the current A15 Bionic chip, but will likely feature more RAM, from 4GB to 6GB. The iPhone 14 Pro would use the same amount of RAM but a more advanced LPDDR 5 memory that would “be one and a half times faster, and up to 30 percent more power efficient.”
To be fair, the iPhone 13 benchmarks show that Apple does indeed have the fastest chip in the phone and probably will be for some time. But the iPhone 14 Pro series could get a boost in performance.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 14 Pro: 48MP Camera?
Those rumors seem to be forgotten, but we’ve seen earlier reports that Apple could swap out the 12MP main camera on the iPhone 14 Pro for a 48MP shooter. iPhone 13 Pro image quality is already excellent, but giving users more megapixels to play with should allow more flexibility in cropping photos.
A leaker on Weibo has dropped a 48MP camera rumor for the iPhone 14 Pro, saying that it will use the same IMX703 sensors in the iPhone 13 Pro models. So, a 12-megapixel camera with a sensor size of 1/1.67 inches and 1.9 µm pixels. We’ll have to see how the rumors develop, but for now I’d say the sharper Pro camera is just a possibility.
Apple is rumored to be working on a periscope zoom for the iPhone, but that’s a favorite for 2023.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 14 Pro: All the other differences
Assuming Apple keeps the iPhone’s regular versus Pro differences in tact, the iPhone 14 Pro series will continue to offer an exclusive 120Hz ProMotion rendering, resulting in smoother scrolling and animations. We also expect the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max to feature 3x optical zoom, while the regular iPhone 14 series will only offer digital zoom.
Last but not least, the storage space on the iPhone 14 Pro series can be as high as 2TB, even if that sounds like overkill for the phone.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 14 Pro: Conclusion
When you think about it, Apple really needs to convince shoppers that the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro deserve a premium, especially if there’s a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max. I can see a lot of potential upgrades saying “why do I need a Pro when the iPhone 14 Max is good enough?”
Well, Apple can only respond with the iPhone 14 Pros offering a powerful new processor and a notch-less full-screen design, USB-C charging and (maybe) a sharper camera and more storage. That’s on top of the ProMotion screen and zoom zoom. In other words, the iPhone 14 Pro can really feel like a Pro.