The iPhone 14 line will almost certainly land in September, so we’ve got a little while to wait yet. But this being an iPhone, it’s already been heavily leaked and rumored, meaning that we have a good idea of what to expect from every model in the line.
As such, we’ve put the iPhone 14 up against the current model. So for the former we’ll be looking at the leaks, while for the latter we’ve got confirmed specs and even the hands-on experience of our iPhone 13 review to refer to.
Will the iPhone 14 be much of an upgrade then over what’s currently one of the best iPhones? And is it worth waiting for? We can’t answer that definitively, but below we’ve taken a good guess based on the available information.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13: price and availability
The iPhone 13 starts at $799 / £779 / AU$1,349. That gets you 128GB of storage, with prices rising to $899 / £879 / AU$1,519 for 256GB of storage and $1,099 / £1,079 / AU$1,869 for 512GB.
While we don’t know for sure how much the iPhone 14 will cost, leaks have suggested it will have a similar price. In fact, one went so far as to say it will start at $799 – which is the same US starting price as the iPhone 13. So for now, expect similar figures to those above.
That doesn’t mean these two phones will cost the same amount though, since the iPhone 13 will inevitably get a price cut when the iPhone 14 launches.
Specifically, the iPhone 13 might find itself priced at the level the iPhone 12 currently is, meaning a starting price of $699 / £679 / AU$1,199, but that’s just speculation for now.
As for availability, you can of course buy the iPhone 13 now, but you’ll probably have to wait until September to be able to get the iPhone 14.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13: design
There could be big changes to the design for the iPhone 14 line – but only for the Pro models if rumors are to be believed. While the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max might switch out the notch for a pair of camera cut-outs, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max will reportedly have a very familiar design.
So the iPhone 14 could look a lot like the iPhone 13 – a phone with a flat display, a large notch at the top of the screen, a metal frame, and a glass back, with a camera bump in the top left corner.
We’d expect there will be some tweaks for the new phone and perhaps some new colors, but we’re not sure exactly what yet, and the overall appearance of the two handsets will probably be very similar – including roughly the same dimensions, which on the iPhone 13 are 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.7mm.
Water resistance is likely to be offered on the new phone too, given that the iPhone 13 (and indeed most iPhones) have an IP68 rating.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13: display
There probably won’t be much in the way of screen upgrades either, with sources suggesting that the iPhone 14 will have either a 6.06-inch or a 6.1-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 1170 x 2532.
The iPhone 13 meanwhile has a 6.1-inch OLED screen with that resolution, so other than possibly a minuscule size reduction, the iPhone 14 might have an identical display.
That said, there’s a small chance that the iPhone 14 will have a higher refresh rate, with some sources pointing to a 120Hz one – though most suggest it will simply match the iPhone 13 at 60Hz.
There could be other changes too, such as increased brightness, but this isn’t something we’ve heard about so far.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13: cameras
Cameras could be similar too this year – at least on the standard iPhone 14. While there’s talk of a new 48MP sensor on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, so far we haven’t heard of any camera changes for the standard model, meaning you’ll probably just get a pair of 12MP ones again.
Specifically, the iPhone 13 has a 12MP f/1.6 wide camera and a 12MP f/2.4 ultrawide one (with a 120-degree field of view), and there’s a good chance you’ll get these again on the iPhone 14.
That said, we haven’t heard much about the cameras on the standard iPhone 14 so far, so there’s a chance that there will be changes and we just don’t know about them yet.
If nothing else the front camera might be in for a change from the 12MP f/2.2 one on the iPhone 13, as a report suggests the iPhone 14’s will feature autofocus and will be considered a ‘high-end’ component by Apple, where the iPhone 13’s is considered ‘low-end’ – so that could mean a number of improvements are planned for the selfie snapper.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13: specs and performance
Usually you can rely on there at least being a power boost with a new iPhone, but even that isn’t looking guaranteed this year, as the iPhone 14 might have the same A15 Bionic chipset as the iPhone 13, with only the Pro models getting a new A16 Bionic.
That doesn’t guarantee power will be identical, as Apple may tweak the chipset or increase the clock speed for the new phone. Plus, the iPhone 14 might get 6GB of RAM – up from 4GB in the iPhone 13, but so far it doesn’t sound like performance from the upcoming phone will be vastly better.
The iPhone 14 is sure to also support 5G of course, but the iPhone 13 does too.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13: battery
At least one source has suggested that the iPhone 14 will have a larger battery than the iPhone 13, though how much larger we’re not sure. For reference, the iPhone 13 has a 3,240mAh one. So if there’s a significant size increase then this could be one of the most notable improvements found in the next iPhone.
There’s no news yet on charging speeds, but they may well stay the same – meaning 20W wired or 15W with MagSafe.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13: takeaway
From what we’ve heard so far, the iPhone 14 could be a remarkably similar phone to the iPhone 13, with a near identical design, display, chipset and rear cameras. The only real upgrades we’ve heard about so far are the possibility of a better selfie camera, more RAM, and a bigger battery.
The good news is that in being so similar it might also cost a similar amount, but if you want exciting upgrades then the iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max will probably be the phone to buy.
Then again, there’s still plenty of gaps in our iPhone 14 knowledge, and some of what we have heard might be wrong, so everything could change by the time the phone launches – probably in September.