The iPhone 14 hits stores on Friday, September 16, and is meant to be Apple’s affordable showcase of smartphone savvy. If you show, as always, excellent performance, a noticeable improvement in the photo and functions that are still just as nice, you also see the toughest bill.
Available in black, red, blue, purple and bright white, the iPhone 14 starts at 1019 euros with 128 GB of storage. And its future companion, the iPhone 14 Plus, with a larger 6.7-inch screen, will see even more when it arrives in early October (1,169 euros).
Strengths
Immutable and timeless design.
This is undoubtedly one of the strengths of the iPhone. For the third year in a row, Apple is sticking with its straight-edged aluminum design, matching the iPhone 14 color scheme. For 2022, the Apple brand will add a light mauve and a more pastel blue, both of which are quite stylish. .
On the front, there is the notch that houses the TrueDepth camera that is used for facial recognition to unlock your device (now even in landscape mode), validate purchases or passwords, but also to take a selfie. A point that is one of the strengths of this 2022 vintage. Otherwise, visually nothing changes and we still have a Super Retina screen XDR screen 6.1-inch HDR (Oled) quite bright (up to 800 nits) and able to adapt to ambient lighting to be more comfortable.
On the back, there are no changes either. iPhone 14 is still covered with Ceramic Shield, this ultra-resistant glass that protects the device from shocks and covers the MagSafe zone for magnetic wireless charging behind the phone’s chassis. The two diagonally placed sensors are still there, with attention to detail to try to be as unobtrusive as possible and visually (colorimetrically) blend in with the back.
No general changes in rhythm. The iPhone 14 looks similar to the iPhone 13, which also retains the charge through the Lightning port that continues to resist.
Improved photo quality
The iPhone 13 was already good for photos. The change in the main sensor, larger to capture more light, on the back of the iPhone 14 and the addition of the Photonic Engine, a digital processing technology designed by Apple to make the device more effective in low light conditions, indoors and outdoors, they are serious goods.
And the shots are, in fact, more detailed than before, with less noise, when the light goes down or the sun isn’t necessarily there. The night mode also gains in quality, now available both on the front and on the back and reinforced by the quality of the new sensor on the back as well as the presence of the True Tone flash that gains in brightness and lighting uniformity.
Action mode allows for much more stabilized video, especially if you’re chasing someone. If you liked Cinematic mode, which lets you shift the blur from background to foreground for cinematic effects, now you can use it to shoot in 4K/30 frames per second. The iPhone is still capable of shooting in Dolby Vision HDR. Note that the video zoom is less violent than in previous years when you use it with your fingers. It is easier to slide from one level to another.
Selfie enthusiasts will be delighted. Without achieving the extreme beautification effects of some smartphones, the iPhone 14 becomes more luxurious with the arrival of autofocus on the front TrueDepth camera and a faster aperture. It is in group selfies where we notice the difference, but also when the light falls, as in the most classic photos. In this, the iPhone 14 stands out from its predecessor in terms of photo.
power to do everything
Apple didn’t equip its latest iPhone 14 with the A16 Bionic chip like the iPhone 14 Pro. Instead, the entry-level has to make do with the A15 Bionic chip in the version built into the iPhone 13 Pro. It’s a bit more than that, though. performance and power than the iPhone 13, which is a vast majority of high-end smartphones on the market. The iPhone 14, like its predecessors, can handle absolutely anything and never falters, even in demanding games, even for augmented reality uses.
Accident detection
Among the few novelties of this new version, there is accident detection that you never want to need, but that can be very helpful. Thanks to all its sensors, its improved GPS, the iPhone 14 will be able to understand that the passenger of a vehicle has been the victim of a car accident. This way you can notify your contacts in an emergency and the emergency services.
A great model at last
Exit the mini variation. Apple was bigger this year. The standard iPhone 14 model will be joined in early October by an iPhone 14 Plus with a 6.7-inch screen. There is no other change to report except obviously a larger battery and therefore a corresponding autonomy to support the particular display.
the weak points
the exorbitant price
This is one of the Achilles heels of the iPhone 14. Compared to the iPhone 13, it goes from 909 euros to 1019 euros of starting price for 128 GB of storage (1149 euros for 256 GB, 1409 euros for 512 GB of space). For almost the same price, the iPhone 13 is sold with 256 GB of storage (1,029 euros). It is true that it is a year older, but it will last just as long.
This price increase is not only due to Apple and does not concern only the iPhone 14. In the US, the price stayed the same (starting at $799 excluding tax). But for Europe you have to deal with the depreciation of the euro against the dollar for a year (1 dollar is worth 1 euro today when it was worth 0.85 euro a year ago), various VAT, customs duties, distribution costs and other taxes such as remuneration for private copying applied in France. In the end, it is a ticket that flies by 12%, in correlation with the rise of the dollar. And it is the iPhone 14 that is penalized.
the notch is still there
When we see Apple’s successful sleight of hand to make the notch disappear on the iPhone 14 Pro, we lament that the Cupertino giant hasn’t pushed innovation across the entire 5G smartphone range. It’s true that the notch has become essential since the iPhone X and can stay that way for another year in part of the range. But the Dynamic Island interface is a real asset, perfectly suited to the new interface of iOS 16 which turned the notifications down (but you can turn them back up if you want).
conclusion
The iPhone 14 is an excellent smartphone in every way. If you had to give it a rating, it would certainly be very good… as long as you ignore its price. For several years, Apple’s numbered iPhone was the brand’s best asset, the best value for money for many consumers. With the fall of the euro against the dollar, the price shoots him in the foot.
Exceeding the psychological bar of 1,000 euros, the iPhone 14 finds itself boxing in a category that is not its own, relegated until then to the pro range. Worse still, it necessarily suffers from the comparison with its predecessor from which it finally does not stand out so much despite its undeniable progress in photography. But the 110 euros difference can hardly be justified with a photographic improvement.
At 909 euros, and despite a price that for once does not drop a year after launch, the iPhone 13 is still an important alternative. With almost equivalent power, identical design and autonomy, it certainly does a little less well in photos and selfies, but unless accident detection is important to you, it deserves attention.
Source: BFM TV
