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Google PlayThis year’s “Far Out” Apple event returned to Cupertino as a live, in-person presentation. The excitement was palpable as Apple went over iPhones, Apple Watches, and a new AirPod Pro (2nd Gen). What at first seemed like another year of small incremental changes, turned into a few surprises and a larger overhaul of iOS. Apple released 4 new iPhones with several new or improved features: The iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro, and 14 Pro Max. The questions you may be asking yourself are, what’s new, should I upgrade, and is it worth it? This is a guide to all the newest features on the iPhone 14 and why you should buy or sleep on this next iteration.
That being said, if you are switching from base models to the pro models, you are going to see significant gains and feature changes across the iPhone lineup. Even switching from the 13 Pro to the 14 Pro will showcase significant user interface changes because of the new dynamic island. Here are some features that are new to iPhone 14:
Emergency SOS via Satellite
Growing up my dad had a satellite phone. This was at a time when cellphones were indestructible, made by Nokia, but always had bad service. This satellite phone was huge and the size of a mid-sized baguette. We never once needed it in an emergency situation. However, in a world where cellphone coverage wasn’t nearly as good as it is today, it gave him peace of mind when we made our yearly road trip to the middle of nowhere and went camping.
Satellite phones still exist, and there are still cell service dead zones all over the world. The great thing about this feature is that regardless of where you are on the planet, the tracking features on the iPhone 14 help you point your iPhone directly at a satellite in space, and alert your location and emergency to emergency contacts. This isn’t the type of feature that your average person may ever use even once, but for those that do end up using it, it could be a life-saving feature.
iOS 16
The new functionality on the iPhone 14 is tied directly into the iOS 16 update. All of the features previously mentioned are tied directly to the iPhone 14, but some exciting features on the iPhone 14 are going to be a software update for people with compatible hardware, here’s a few of those features.
Editing a message is a feature that can help you to correct your grammar, or clarify a statement, but there will be a record of edits in order to keep everybody honest. Undoing a send can also get rid of a message for up to 2 minutes after it’s initially sent. A big caveat is that both of those features will work with phones that have upgraded to iOS 16, but will appear similarly to how iPhones communicate with Android phones until they upgrade: “Edited to ‘What, a duck?’”
The Lock Screen is seeing a major face-lift. Much like an Apple Watch, the iPhone now will have a lock screen gallery with customizable widgets that can be customized to suit specific use cases. This feature is made even more impressive on the iPhone 14 Pro that has always-on features. Different lock screens can be integrated into the focus modes, which can switch your iPhone into getting only the notifications you want, when you want them.
The change I like the most may be one of the simplest one. You can now change your battery icon to be indicated as a percentage. I just think the design is cleaner, and it gives me a much clearer indication of how much battery is left without having to pull down an extra menu.
Final Thoughts
The star of the show is the iPhone 14 Pro. Its new features make it an extremely tempting package in a world of constant content consumption and creation. This is another year of small incremental changes, but I do think the always-on display, action mode, and dynamic island are exciting enough features to tempt people away from their iPhone 12s and older, and may even tempt a few people that own iPhone 13s. A lot of the innovation is borrowed from the features found in the Apple Watch series, and I’m very excited to see what the Apple Watch Ultra has to offer.
The iPhone 14 starts at $799. The Plus starts at $899. The Pro starts at $999 and the Pro Max starts at $1099. There is a large $400 dollar price difference between the bottom and top tier of phones. In a world where the Plus was launching at the same time as the Pro, that may have become the best-selling out of the bunch, but since it isn’t, I feel many consumers will be driven to the additional features of the Pro series. The iPhone 14 is up for preorder now and will start shipping Sept. 16, except for the Plus, which comes Oct. 7.
