Apple held its “Far Out” media event earlier today, where it unveiled numerous new products, including the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, featuring two sizes — 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches. Both models include the A15 Bionic chip with a 5-core GPU, a new camera system featuring new Main and front TrueDepth cameras, an Ultra Wide camera for unique perspectives, and the Photonic Engine — an enhanced image pipeline.
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus both introduce new safety capabilities, including Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via satellite, a first for smartphones.
iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus will be available in five colors, including midnight, blue, starlight, purple, and (PRODUCT)RED1 finishes. Pre-orders begin Friday, September 9, and availability for iPhone 14 begins Friday, September 16, with availability for iPhone 14 Plus beginning on Friday, October 7.
Both models offer an updated internal design for better thermal performance, a Super Retina XDR display with OLED technology supporting 1200 nits of peak HDR brightness, a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and Dolby Vision.
Both new iPhones feature the durable Ceramic Shield front cover, which Apple says is tougher than any other smartphone glass, and are protected from common spills and accidents with water and dust resistance.
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus boast a new 12MP Main camera featuring a larger sensor and larger pixels, a new front TrueDepth camera, the Ultra Wide camera to capture more of a scene, and Photonic Engine for much improved low-light performance.
Photonic Engine integrates hardware and software to improve mid- to low-light performance for photos across all cameras: up to 2x on the Ultra Wide camera, 2x on the TrueDepth camera, and 2.5x on the new Main camera.
Dual-camera system upgrades and features include:
- A new Main camera with a larger ƒ/1.5 aperture and 1.9 µm pixels, enabling photo and video improvements in all lighting scenarios for better detail and motion freezing, less noise, faster exposure times, and sensor-shift optical image stabilization.
- A new front TrueDepth camera with an ƒ/1.9 aperture that enables better low-light performance for photos and video. Using autofocus for the first time, it can focus even faster in low light and capture group shots from farther away.
- A new Action mode for incredibly smooth-looking video that adjusts to significant shakes, motion, and vibrations, even when video is being captured in the middle of the action.
- The Ultra Wide camera, offering a unique perspective for wider shots and improvements to low-light photos with Photonic Engine.
- An improved True Tone flash that is 10 percent brighter and has better uniformity for more consistent lighting.
- Cinematic mode, now available in 4K at 30 fps and 4K at 24 fps.
- End-to-end Dolby Vision HDR, available only on iPhone.
All iPhone 14 handsets offer new safety capabilities that can provide emergency assistance. A new dual-core accelerometer is capable of detecting G-force measurements of up to 256Gs and a new high dynamic range gyroscope allows Crash Detection to detect a severe car crash and automatically dial emergency services when a user is unconscious or unable to reach their iPhone.
The iPhone 14 barometer can now detect cabin pressure changes, the GPS offers additional input for speed changes, and the microphone can recognize loud noises such as those made by severe car crashes. Advanced Apple-designed motion algorithms trained with over a million hours of real-world driving and crash record data provide improved accuracy.
Crash Detection on the iPhone also works in conjunction with the Apple Watch, leveraging both devices to get a user help. When a severe crash is detected, the emergency services call interface will appear on Apple Watch, as it is most likely to be in closer proximity to the user, while the call is placed through iPhone if it is in range for the best possible connection.
All of the iPhone 14 lineup also debuts Emergency SOS via satellite, which connects directly to a satellite, enabling messaging with emergency services when outside of cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. When using Emergency SOS via satellite, the iPhone front-loads a few vital questions to assess the user’s situation and shows them where to point their phone to connect to a satellite.
The initial questionnaire and follow-up messages are then relayed to centers staffed by Apple-trained specialists who can call for help on the user’s behalf. iPhone 14 users can also manually share their location over satellite with Find My when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi connection. Emergency SOS via satellite will be available to users in the US and Canada in November, and the service will be free for two years.
Pricing and Availability
- iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus will be available in midnight, blue, starlight, purple, and (PRODUCT)RED in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage capacities.
- Customers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, the UAE, the UK, the US, and more than 30 other countries and regions will be able to pre-order iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus beginning at 5 a.m. PDT on Friday, September 9, with iPhone 14 availability beginning Friday, September 16, and iPhone 14 Plus beginning Friday, October 7.
- iPhone 14 will be available in Malaysia, Turkey, and 20 other countries and regions beginning Friday, September 23.
- Emergency SOS via satellite will be available starting in the US and Canada in November, and the service will be included for free for two years with the activation of iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus.
