Apple iPhone 14 Pro is barely a week away from its launch. Soon people would come to know what exactly Tim Cook and his team have put under the hood this time to make the world go crazy as usual.
Many leading Android manufacturers leave no stone unturned to impress existing customers and lure prospective customers with their flashy new designs and features every year. However, the Cupertino giant has its strategy in place and gradually upgrading hardware keeping a primary focus on enhancing existing features.
We have tried to decode the strategies of both Apple and leading Android manufacturers at regular intervals. One thing is certain that the each of aforementioned strategies comes with its advantages and drawbacks. It could be well understood from the fact that some of the most groundbreaking technologies that Android phones might have offered decades before the iPhone, do not have the required finer details that allow them to work as smoothly as they could, had the manufacturers decided to take their time. However, Apple’s “slow technological innovation” method implies that some users – especially the ones switching from Android – may find iPhone experience a bit boring.
However, Apple is expected to play that differently this time. The upcoming iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are anticipated to offer a suite of improvements and features that will make Android users, including the ones who have Galaxy S22 Ultras and Pixel 6 Pro, more jealous… and perhaps they may jump off the ship!
Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Vapor Cooling Tech, a game changer
According to the latest leaks and reports, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are anticipated to arrive with significant performance upgrades. This might be somewhat surprising to many, considering that Apple has decided to put the new A16 Bionic which adheres to the same 5nm variety used in both the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13. It indicates that the total performance boost for CPU and GPU isn’t going to be as significant in iPhone 14 series smartphones.
Does it make iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro max less appealing? Absolutely not!
What’s likely to be a major change in the upcoming iPhone is a new version of vapor chamber cooling technology. As you may have guessed, in the last few years, the heat dissipation technology in phones has been evolving and has become a major concern for smartphone manufacturers. The advent of new power-hungry features, such as 5G technology and immersive mobile games, needs more processing power and there is no way manufacturers could ignore it.
Android phone makers have been using the vapor chamber cooling method for quite a while now. Last year, Xiaomi launched Loop LiquidCool which is a variation on the traditional vapor chamber cooling that is said to boost the cooling power. The technology was expected to be available for Xiaomi products by mid-2022. It could be available with Xiaomi 12T Series, which the company is expected to launch shortly.
Leaving Samsung and Qualcomm much behind in the race
The type of vapor chamber cooling Apple will choose to use is anyone’s guess at the moment. Given Cupertino’s high-end standards it’s quite likely that Tim Cook & Co might’ve developed the heat pipe in-house which could set a new bar for the future iPhones and Android phones.
What we know for sure is that the absence of active cooling impacts the performance of the current iPhone models and slows them down. To put things into perspective, the earlier model of the iPhone SE performs better than the more modern iPhone 13. Additionally, the older A14 Bionic chip on iPad is noticeably superior to the latest A15 Bionic put under the hood of the iPhone because the iPad is much larger and has more room for efficient heat dissipation.
Practically speaking, an active cooling system can allow iPhone 14 Pro users to play longer games without suffering from overheating or dropped frames because of throttling. Another area of improvement that Apple is likely to be aiming at is the brightness of its screen in the event of heavy load. To keep temperatures lower, iPhone 13 currently dims its display brightness whenever it detects that too much heat is creeping into it. The problem aggravates when iPhone users are outdoors.
You may be aware that as per Geekbecnh the Apple A14 (2020) and A15 (2021) CPUs in the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 are already more efficient than the most recent and advanced processors made by Qualcomm as well as Samsung. Thus, without upgrading the A16 Bionic to a 3-4nm processing it could take the processing performance in iPhone 14 Pro series to a new high, because of the active cooling feature.
48 MP Camera with 8K and 4K Cinematic video: Best smartphone
No matter if you love Apple or not, we all could agree that the iPhone is capable of recording videos with unmatched quality, thanks to its superior image quality, HDR, and even more natural Sensor-shift OIS in comparison to Android. This year, things are only going to get better for those who plan to stay loyal or shift their loyalty to iPhone, meaning that the quality gap in videos which exists between iPhone and Android will be widening.
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are expected to get the much-awaited bigger camera upgrade. If rumors are to be believed, Apple iPhone 14 Pro series will have a 48MP camera as its primary sensor – the major upgrade in megapixels since the the launch of iPhone 6S with 12MP in 2015. The upgrade will allow features such as recording video in 8K and 4K cinematic modes.
But 8K is nothing new with premium Android phones!
8K video has been a part of premium Android phones for some time, albeit sub-standard. With Apple’s fervor and dedication to the highest quality video, It’s quite likely that we’ll see 8K video recordings made right eventually.
The ability to record high-res 8K video on your phone is a nice feature. However, it can be seen as more of a novelty rather than a feature that is useful for a majority of users (at the very least, at present). The feature that will attract the eyeballs of people and excite them is the possibility of recording better Cinematic Mode videos in 4K.
In its current version, Cinematic Mode is an enjoyable feature that will trick people into believing that you shoot your TikToks using a “real camera”. But, just like the earlier days of Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus, Cinematic Mode frequently has issues with edge detection. Besides, it is only available in 1080p currently.
If you’re not aware that a lot of YouTube creators are already making the best use of iPhones to shoot videos for their popular channels. So, the ability to shoot Cinematic Mode videos in 4K on a larger sensor, with better low-light sensitivity and maybe (and possibly) an improved software algorithm to allow to detect edges better would make Cinematic Mode from a fun feature to an extremely useful tool for amateurs and even professional-level video makers.
A Big jump in iPhone 14 battery performance
The sizes of battery in iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are expected to be identical, just like iPhone 13 Pro series. But, the latest LTPO 2 display technology that lets the refresh rate change continuously between 1-120hz unlike iPhone 13 Pro which has a 10hz -120hz refresh rate, should optimize the battery life of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Additionally, the always-on display mode which is almost confirmed to be available with the iPhone 14 Pro should additionally optimize the battery life which will be helpful for people who check their phones frequently. The improved cooling capabilities with the A16 Bionic chip will on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, will also allow the device to handle heavy tasks more efficiently.
The current iPhone 13 Pro Max already beats all the flagship phones when it comes to battery life. It’s a phone that can last two days on one charge unless you’re pushing it to the limit. So, expectations from the larger iPhone 14 Pro Max are flying high already.
What do you feel about an iPhone that can last for two days for the majority of people? At the moment, it seems more likely to become a reality with the launch of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but let’s hold the horses to see if Apple could surprise us with something more exciting.
Only iPhone 13 could beat iPhone 14
Apple doesn’t usually take an aggressive approach when it comes to the early adoption of its products and upgrades. However, it seems that Android is feeling the pressure already as a record number of users are shifting their loyalty to iPhone, and iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max could spike the jump rate even faster. According to various studies, Android users are now more likely to switch to an iPhone than ever before, and it’s not an accident. Tim Cook & Co are gradually but surely getting ahead of Samsung and Google who, at their respective ends, are gradually stagnating in terms of technological innovation, especially with slab phones.
In an attempt to compete with Apple’s increasing popularity Android flagships manufacturers have aggressively focused on introducing devices with top-end hardware. However, the flip side of the strategy made Android flagships more expensive than ever before over the last couple of years. It also narrowed the price gap between Apple’s entry, mid-range iPhones, and flagship Android phones resulting in consumers giving a second thought while buying a flagship. Therefore, even though the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are likely to get an increase of $100, this will still leave them just as costly or less expensive than phones such as those the Galaxy S22 Ultra or Xiaomi 12S Ultra (at launch). in many cases, people are finding top-end iPhones a better buy than $1800 Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the $1,600 Xiaomi Mix Fold 2.
I won’t be surprised if Tim Cook refrains from killing iPhone 13 and let prospective buyers treat it as the iPhone 14s. Apple has already done something similar with the Macbook Air where the company neither discontinued nor reduced the price of its earlier models. But this would result in a bigger obstacle to establishing a new sales record with iPhone 14 than competing with Android flagships. The iPhone 13 with an expected price tag of $700 would be a big threat to the unprecedented success of the iPhone 14. With a price tag of around $1000 – $1100 iPhone 14 Pro would look more expensive.
Will the camera upgrade along with many other internal performance enhancements make iPhone 14 an unprecedented and inevitable ‘real flagship killer’? We are a few weeks away to know that for sure, but this time Apple has, apparently, worked really hard to give many flagship smartphone manufacturers a run for their money!
