iPhone 14

While the Pro flies high, this one feels like it’s stuck in a holding pattern

With the iPhone 14 Pro getting the lion’s share of cool new features, the iPhone 14 feels lackluster.

Available in five colors – Midnight, Purple, Starlight, (Product)Red and Blue – it sports the same 6.1–inch Super Retina XDR (2532x1170 pixel) display as the iPhone 13, although fans of larger phones can opt for the 6.7–inch iPhone 14 Plus instead. Inside, the iPhone 14 now has the A15 Bionic from last year’s iPhone 13 Pro, albeit with Wi–Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3.

Storage capacities are the same as last year, with the $799 iPhone 14 coming with 128GB of storage; the $899 model with 256GB and the $1,099 model with 512GB. There’s no 1TB option again here.

Luckily, the iPhone 14 makes up for it with a better camera system, featuring a new 12MP Main camera with a bigger sensor and larger pixels, as well as a new TrueDepth front camera. Apple’s Photonic Engine also delivers improved mid–to low–light performance – up to 2.5x on the Main camera and 2x elsewhere. Like the iPhone 14 Pro, the iPhone 14 also includes an Action mode to help smooth movement and reduce camera shake when shooting video.

Like other 2022 iPhones, the iPhone 14 also includes Crash Detection, which automatically alerts the emergency services in the event of a severe car crash, plus Emergency SOS via Satellite – which, again, enables you to summon help when out of reach of a mobile phone signal.

One of the biggest changes to the iPhone 14, though, is one you’ll most likely never use or see – according to iFixit, it has a new internal design that makes the iPhone easier to repair than before. Like other iPhones, it remains water– and dust–resistant to IP68.

In our benchmarks, the iPhone 14’s A15 Bionic chip (with 6–core CPU, 5–core GPU and 16–core Neural Engine) delivered a suitably speedy performance, scoring 1,699 in Geekbench 5 (a little less than achieved by last year’s iPhone 13 Pro, which scored 1,722), 54.6fps in 3DMark Wild Life, and 1,217MB/sec (write) and 950MB/sec (read) in PerformanceTest Mobile’s storage benchmark.

Battery life has also improved over last year, with the iPhone 14 lasting for up to 20 hours between recharges when playing video – a one–hour increase. So, should you upgrade? If you own an iPhone 13 or even an iPhone 12, the answer’s no. While all the usual iPhone superlatives (including performance and build quality) apply, there’s not enough new here to justify doing so – especially when compared to iPhone 14 Pro. But if you own an older iPhone, the answer’s a qualified yes.

Features: 6.1–inch Super Retina XDR display (2532x1170 pixels), A15 Bionic chip, 128 256/512GB of storage, Wi–Fi 6 (aka 802.11ax Wi–Fi), Bluetooth 5.3, 5G cellular connectivity, Lightning port, MagSafe charging, 12MP Main camera with Ultra Wide lens.

Prices: $799 (128GB); $899 (256GB); $1,099 (512GB);