Apple unveiled its much-anticipated iPhone 14 line of smartphones at its annual fall event on Wednesday, Sept. 9, where company CEO Tim Cook had nothing but praise for the new iPhone, new AirPods and new Apple Watch.
For what it’s worth, these are industry-leading products that work together to deliver a magical experience for users,” said Cook.
The star of the show was undoubtedly the iPhone 14 Series phones, but the gap in specs between the standard and Pro (Professional) models was wider than in any previous generation of iPhone.
If users want “hologram” and “island” capabilities, they’ll need to spend a few hundred dollars more. Many users called the iPhone 14 standard version “not very attractive.
In an interview, one analyst praised the overall performance of the iPhone 14 line of smartphones but said she was surprised that Apple’s new release didn’t have many improvements in the camera zoom feature.
Now Apple is well on its way to becoming the world’s largest company by market capitalization again, with an overall size of $2.65 trillion. The latest figures show that Apple’s iPhone now holds more than half of the market share in the United States, leaving its competitors far behind.
At the event, Cook introduced new features for the new iPhone and Apple Watch, many of which are related to security, health and fitness.
The new iPhone and new Apple Watch can detect if a user has been in a car accident and automatically call emergency services if there is no response. An agreement with satellite company Globalstar enables iPhone users to send distress messages if there is no cellular signal. New sensors can also help female users better monitor their health, including their ovulation cycles.
But comparing the iPhone 14 Standard Edition to the Pro Edition, the difference isn’t typical.
The mediocre iPhone 14 Standard Edition
If you’re enthusiastic about the new Apple phones and all the cool new features, you might want to steer clear of the standard model. Apple’s message to consumers seems to be, “Buy the Pro version or don’t buy it at all.
Leading tech media outlets said as early as a day before the release that “the stage may be set for the Pro version this year.” “This upgrade may be more expensive, but the payoff is real advances in performance, design and camera. In comparison, the iPhone 14 Standard Edition has nothing drastically improved.”
Tom’s Guide, a leading hardware review site, said something similar: “Apple didn’t put much effort into the design of the iPhone 14 standard edition, which actually looks similar to the iPhone 13.
There will always be some differences between the standard and Pro versions of new smartphones, such as memory size and battery capacity, but not as much as with the iPhone 14 model.
Do users want a 48-megapixel camera instead of 12? Then get iPhone 14 Pro. Want an A16 chip instead of an A15 chip? Get iPhone 14 Pro. Don’t want to press the phone’s wake button to get direct access to key information? Only the iPhone 14 Pro version has a rest screen display.
If you buy the standard version, you’ll still get the bangs on your screen.
The standard version of the iPhone 14 starts at $799 in the U.S. and has a longer battery life and better camera than iPhone 13. But if you want the “Island” feature, a higher resolution camera and a faster processing chip, you’ll need to spend more than $1099.
Missing features
Carolina Milanesi, a technology analyst at Silicon Valley creative strategy consultancy, said Apple is clearly “doing something right” given the growing market share of the company’s products. “From an iPhone perspective, they have the strongest product portfolio ever.” She said improvements in features such as displays, low-light photography and improved battery life are good news for consumers.
“From a user perspective, my personal thought is that Apple is going to focus more on the camera zoom feature,” said Milanesi. “There are some improvements to the zoom feature, but Apple competitors have really powerful zoom and superzoom features.”
