Apple iPhone 14: Upgrade Gets Pricier, A16 Reserved For Pro Models

Apple on Wednesday (7 September) announced the new iPhone 14 series of smartphones.

The US tech giant launched four new models of the iPhone at its launch event - two iPhone Pro models and two non-Pro ones.

However, the company has drawn a big line between the pro and non-pro models this year.

The pro iPhone models - iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max - sports a host of features and specs, including the more powerful A16 Bionic chip, that are not there in the non-pro models - iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus.

The iPhone 14 non-pro models do not have too many notable upgrades over the iPhone 13, as they both come equipped with the A15-series chip, that's already in the iPhone 13 Pro and has an extra GPU core.

The regular iPhone 14 models come with an upgraded 12-megapixel main camera sensor, as well as a 12-megapixel TrueDepth selfie camera with autofocus.

However, the iPhone pro models will have a more powerful A16 chip, a brighter display, better battery life, and a 48-megapixel rear camera with a quad-pixel sensor.

Further, the pro iPhones have a few big upgrades, including a design that swaps out the notch for a pill-shaped cutout that houses the camera and under-display Face ID system.

Apple calls this the pill-shaped cutout a “Dynamic Island,” as notifications will pop out and move around this space.

According to The Verge, this is the first time that Apple’s not updating to a new processor for one of its flagship iPhones since the 2008 iPhone 3G, which featured virtually the same internals as the original iPhone.

On the display front, non-pro iPhone models have an updated internal design for better thermal performance, Super Retina XDR displays with OLED technology that supports 1200 nits of peak HDR brightness, a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and Dolby Vision.

Meanwhile, the Pro iPhone models will have a new Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion that features the Always-On display for the first time ever on iPhone, enabled by a new 1Hz refresh rate and multiple power-efficient technologies, Apple said in a release.

The peak brightness of iPhone Pro display will be up to 2000 nits, which is twice as bright as iPhone 13 Pro.

The iPhone 14 will be available for Rs 79,900 starting 16 September, and the iPhone 14 Plus for Rs 89,900 starting 7 October.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max will be available for Rs 1.3 lakh and Rs 1.4 lakh, respectively, starting from 16 September.