Apple has set September 7 as the launch date for its rumored iPhone 14. No details other than when and where: The Far Out event will take place at the Steve Jobs Theater on its Apple Park campus at 10 a.m. PDT and will be streamed online at Apple Events(opens in a new tab).
The announcement puts an end to at least some of the speculation in the Apple world, but leaves the door open for what we should see and hear on September 7. By the way, it’s worth noting that the latest iPhones have had a rather unusual first Wednesday. September start date. Usually, Apple releases products on a Tuesday, and for the iPhone, it’s usually the second week of the month. But September kicks off later in the week, followed by Labor Day weekend in the US, which essentially precludes Monday as a travel day for the various analysts and members of the media (like us!) who will be in attendance.
When Apple CEO Tim Cook takes the stage this Wednesday, he’ll be wearing — well — nothing. Cook will start by talking about the state of the company and how Apple is responding to the challenges of the pandemic and the resulting supply shortages. He’ll praise new stores opening around the world and bet he’ll get Apple’s “wonderful team” to keep everyone involved by spending at least three days at Apple Park while other Apple offices return a week (opens in new tab).
Cook could also announce new Apple TV shows to showcase the strength of its service — and remind investors that Apple’s fortune isn’t just tied to its still highly profitable iPhone line.At some point, Cook will start rolling out the iPhone 14, which will actually include as many as four iPhone 14s:
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Pro
iphone 14 max
iPhone 14 Pro
Meanwhile, the new iPhone 14 Max will offer the size of the Pro Max, but with the features and price of the iPhone 14. There will also be a fork on the Max and Pro lines, with the former retaining the screen look and feel of the previous generation iPhone 13, while the Pro line should see the end of the full-size bangs.
While there may not be much change between the iPhone 13 and the expected iPhone 14 models (think basic design, screen tech), the camera is likely to get a big upgrade. Most rumours point to a 48MP camera on the Pro series. That’s a huge leap from the 12-megapixel camera in the 13 series, which will again help differentiate the iPhone 14 from the 14 Max and the iPhone 14 Pro from the 14 Pro Max. It’s worth noting that most people will probably end up in some kind of “binning” mode, which combines four pixels at a time into a better 12-megapixel image.
We’re still hoping for a product with around 5x optical (or higher) zoom for at least one iPhone 14 model. Yes, all iPhone 14 models should feature the new Apple silicon A16 Bionic chip, though no one expects a major upgrade from the A15 Bionic other than a potential battery-saving 3nm process. Apple may not feel the need for it, as the A15 Bionic still beats Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile CPU in most tests.
We’d be lying if we said we weren’t excited about the rumored purple iPhone 14. The expected iPhone 14 launch will also begin the countdown to the full release of iOS 16, which is currently in public beta. However, the updated mobile platform and its new third-party lock screens, notifications and widgets won’t arrive until the new iPhones, which should be before the end of September, although iPhone 14 pre-orders could take place as early as Friday after launch .
