Apple’s iPhone 14 gets a Plus size, improved cameras

There's not much new here compared to 2021, to be honest.

Read the whole story

 

[Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer]

The loss of the Sim tray is a "courageous" and risky move for sure.

Very not a fan of this move. For instance, T-Mobile Prepaid doesn't charge anything to activate an eSIM, but they really can't, because right now you can just take your physical SIM out of one phone and put it in another. What happens when they're no longer in competition with themselves, as it were?

And currently Verizon Prepaid doesn't offer eSIM at all. in theory, that won't matter for me for several years, but eventually my future first SIM-free phone will become my backup phone.

I'm personally not ready yet to buy a phone without a sim tray, so I'm definitely in the count me out bucket.

Yeah, I totally hear that. I'm not planning to get a 14, so I have a year at least to come to terms with it. And even if I upgrade next year, I'll still be using my 13 Pro as my backup, so the full impact probably won't be for three or four years. I guess we'll see. I don't like the way Apple is buddy-buddy with carriers when it comes to promoting post-paid plans, especially given how much less expensive prepaid plans are. :/

So does this mean the phone will come with 2 eSIMs?

They said "multiple", but that could be as little as two, of course. The way it was announced had me thinking "One physical SIM, one active eSIM at a time, multiple eSIMs available", but then they announced the removal of the physical SIM, so I'm wondering if it's just two active eSIMS instead of one eSIM and one physical SIM.

 

[VectorRevival]

Is there a downside to not having a physical SIM? Just wondering as this seems like a no-brainer move that all the major players should have already made.

Physical SIMs are really convenient if you're traveling -- you can just buy a local SIM card from a street vendor, pop it in, and you're online.

Theoretically this should push all the overseas mobile carriers to support eSIM now, so soon you'll be able to go to that street vendor and they just give you a QR code to scan. Hopefully it will cut their costs, since the US carriers charge their dealers $10 per SIM, which is a cost that adds up.

Yeah, sound economic theory. But in practice I'm skeptical. In developing countries, iPhones are only used by the rich (including tourists), so making their life slightly more convenient is probably not a top priority.

 

[hertzsae]

Wish they would improve the iPhone integration with windows, its the main reason I'm still running android.

Love my iPad, but having calls, SMS etc integration with windows would be super useful.

It's what's holding me back as well. I love texting from a browser on my computer and I'm not switching to MacOS. I hate how Apple doesn't give you the full experience unless you buy all their devices.

 

[Uragan]

The loss of the Sim tray is a "courageous" and risky move for sure.

Very not a fan of this move. For instance, T-Mobile Prepaid doesn't charge anything to activate an eSIM, but they really can't, because right now you can just take your physical SIM out of one phone and put it in another. What happens when they're no longer in competition with themselves, as it were?

And currently Verizon Prepaid doesn't offer eSIM at all. in theory, that won't matter for me for several years, but eventually my future first SIM-free phone will become my backup phone.

I'm personally not ready yet to buy a phone without a sim tray, so I'm definitely in the count me out bucket.

Yeah, I totally hear that. I'm not planning to get a 14, so I have a year at least to come to terms with it. And even if I upgrade next year, I'll still be using my 13 Pro as my backup, so the full impact probably won't be for three or four years. I guess we'll see. I don't like the way Apple is buddy-buddy with carriers when it comes to promoting post-paid plans, especially given how much less expensive prepaid plans are. :/

So does this mean the phone will come with 2 eSIMs?

They said "multiple", but that could be as little as two, of course. The way it was announced had me thinking "One physical SIM, one active eSIM at a time, multiple eSIMs available", but then they announced the removal of the physical SIM, so I'm wondering if it's just two active eSIMS instead of one eSIM and one physical SIM.

Yeah, knowing what they mean would help me out a lot since I carry a phone that has an eSIM for my Canadian number and a nanoSIM for my US number.

 

[Deleted member 545801]

that phone didn't sell all that well, so the majority of consumers have spoken: big phones are the way to go.

Consumers are having bigger screens because they don't have a choice.

They had a choice for the last two years though? And most people chose the larger phone.

 

[Edified]

Maybe a mini model only makes sense every few generations.

I could be happy with that, my original SE got a bit long in the tooth but it made the 13 mini an easy decision. 16 mini?

 

[ConnertheCat]

The loss of the mini has been rumored for quite a while now, sadly. Guess I'm not upgrading for another four years until they once again decide to make a human sized phone.

I think they decided that filling "small(ish) phone" and "cheap(ish) phone" with different products meant neither sold as well as they'd like (though both the updated SE and 12/13 mini sold better than all but a handful of non-Apple phones). So I wouldn't be shocked to see the next SE as basically a 13 mini case, screen, and camera hardware with a 15 SOC inside.

I would pay pro level prices for a pro mini; but if they want to sell me the cheap phone instead? Meh, better for me I guess?

I would do stupid things for an iPhone 4S with modern internals. Like, $1500 stupid.

 

[ajmas]

that phone didn't sell all that well, so the majority of consumers have spoken: big phones are the way to go.

Consumers are having bigger screens because they don't have a choice.

They had a choice for the last two years though? And most people chose the larger phone.

The Pro Max felt big, but when put against a 7 Plus, it wasn't much bigger. In fact checking specs, it was only about 1-2mm bigger.

iPhone 7 Plus: 158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm
iPhone 13 Pro Max: 160.8mm x 78.1mm x 7.65mm

That said, when I did upgrade my phone from a 7 Plus to the 12, I went with the Pro, partly due to price and partly due the Pro feeling like the better size compromise.

 

[Jobra Commander]

I'm sad that it's still a Lightning port and not going USB-C like my iPad and MBP.

Same. USB-C is what I'm holding out for. Maybe next year.

 

[hundredmountains]

I'm buying a phone to use "now", not for the "future".
Will need to look into other phones rather than iPhone 14 now.

Lack of a sim tray in US model could be a problem when traveling to destinations where e-sim support is not available. But it could be the new future.

 

[Batmanuel]

Is there a downside to not having a physical SIM? Just wondering as this seems like a no-brainer move that all the major players should have already made.

Physical SIMs are really convenient if you're traveling -- you can just buy a local SIM card from a street vendor, pop it in, and you're online.

Theoretically this should push all the overseas mobile carriers to support eSIM now, so soon you'll be able to go to that street vendor and they just give you a QR code to scan. Hopefully it will cut their costs, since the US carriers charge their dealers $10 per SIM, which is a cost that adds up.

Yeah, sound economic theory. But in practice I'm skeptical. In developing countries, iPhones are only used by the rich (including tourists), so making their life slightly more convenient is probably not a top priority.

In that case, they'd be stupid to not quickly figure out how to complete for that wealthy tourist money coming in by getting eSIMs figured out. Just because something works a certain way now doesn't mean it can't change really quickly if there is a need.

 

[fknuckles]

Is there a downside to not having a physical SIM? Just wondering as this seems like a no-brainer move that all the major players should have already made.

Physical SIMs are really convenient if you're traveling -- you can just buy a local SIM card from a street vendor, pop it in, and you're online.

Theoretically this should push all the overseas mobile carriers to support eSIM now, so soon you'll be able to go to that street vendor and they just give you a QR code to scan. Hopefully it will cut their costs, since the US carriers charge their dealers $10 per SIM, which is a cost that adds up.

I don't see overseas carriers implementing eSIMs so that they can lose out on roaming fees from US travellers.

 

[CraigJ ✅]

I keep hoping they'll re-introduce Touch ID on the power button. I despise Face ID.

I don’t understand the hate on Face ID? Do you not like convenience?

I don't like that it only works 80% of the time and the other 20% of the time I have to enter my 12 character unlock code...

 

[fknuckles]

Is there a downside to not having a physical SIM? Just wondering as this seems like a no-brainer move that all the major players should have already made.

Physical SIMs are really convenient if you're traveling -- you can just buy a local SIM card from a street vendor, pop it in, and you're online.

Theoretically this should push all the overseas mobile carriers to support eSIM now, so soon you'll be able to go to that street vendor and they just give you a QR code to scan. Hopefully it will cut their costs, since the US carriers charge their dealers $10 per SIM, which is a cost that adds up.

Yeah, sound economic theory. But in practice I'm skeptical. In developing countries, iPhones are only used by the rich (including tourists), so making their life slightly more convenient is probably not a top priority.

In that case, they'd be stupid to not quickly figure out how to complete for that wealthy tourist money coming in by getting eSIMs figured out. Just because something works a certain way now doesn't mean it can't change really quickly if there is a need.

See above. If you want to get wealthy tourist money, you stop them from buying a local, cheap PAYG sim and instead charge them $5 per MB on roaming.

 

[MrMorden]

I don’t understand the hate on Face ID? Do you not like convenience?

The convenience of having to remove your mask every time you want to unlock the phone?

 

[malachi42]

So no mini. Knew it was coming but it is still disappointing. I welcomed the mini when it came out and even switched to Apple for it. Well, I'm not getting on the bigger, bigger, bigger bandwagon.

 

[RandomMarius]

I'm sad that it's still a Lightning port and not going USB-C like my iPad and MBP.

If the Lightning Port is so great, why does it not ship with a Lightning to Lightning cable.

I guess I have to wait another year before switching from Android. My Pixel 3XL is still going strong otherwise.

 

[android_alpaca]

I don’t understand the hate on Face ID? Do you not like convenience?

The convenience of having to remove your mask every time you want to unlock the phone?

I have a Pixel 6 Pro myself, but I think I recall Face Unlock now works with Masks as of Spring 2022... and works with iPhone 12, 13 (and now 14) series phones.

 

[PhilGil]

The loss of the Sim tray is a "courageous" and risky move for sure.

Very not a fan of this move. For instance, T-Mobile Prepaid doesn't charge anything to activate an eSIM, but they really can't, because right now you can just take your physical SIM out of one phone and put it in another. What happens when they're no longer in competition with themselves, as it were?

And currently Verizon Prepaid doesn't offer eSIM at all. in theory, that won't matter for me for several years, but eventually my future first SIM-free phone will become my backup phone.

Also wondering how that is going to impact MVNOs. Can they all activate via eSIM?

 

[repatch]

Is there a downside to not having a physical SIM? Just wondering as this seems like a no-brainer move that all the major players should have already made.

Lack of physical sim tray means you are stuck with providers that support esim, not all do, especially outside of north america.

Also you might lose the dual-sim capability we currently have (one esim and one physical sim at the same time), this isn't clear yet.

 

[GerbilMagnus]

I don’t blame Apple but I learned a valuable lesson with eSIM.

My mobile is my only number. So of course when I backed up the phone and did a reset thinking I could just restore everything I was presented with two factor identification wanting to send me a text message to the eSIM iPhone that I now have just factory reset.

I had to wait several agonizing days locked out of my phone for Apple to unlock my account.

Again my fault totally my fault. But don’t ever do that.

How does one solve this though when doing a reset?

Having a secondary number on the account if they allow it. Or if you have other Apple devices using the 2fa code option sent to your other devices.
Or if you have no backup options, turn off sms 2fa before resetting your phone.

2fa is great but you do need to plan to have a backup for it in cases of replacing devices or lost. I work in IT and see it all the time with users that don't think about it and just replace their phone and are locked out now.

 

[repatch]

US model is eSIMs only so how does it work if one needs to travel overseas that only supports physical SIMs?

You're SOL?

 

[CommanderK]

Hey Apple, where's the mini? I won't buy a new (modern) iPhone without a size fitting into my hand.
For the record: I used my 6S UNTIL the 12 mini was out.

 

[repatch]

Is there a downside to not having a physical SIM? Just wondering as this seems like a no-brainer move that all the major players should have already made.

Yeah, it gives carriers way more power than they should be allowed to have.

How? You need a SIM from them to use their service, whether it's physical or not. Changing between esims on a phone doesn't require carrier intervention. If you want to move to another phone yes, they COULD do something there, but WHY would they?

 

[Digital Dud]

When I travel to foreign countries I usually rent a cellular modem that provides a wifi AP. Then the whole group can share it.

 

[Tharg]

I don’t understand the hate on Face ID? Do you not like convenience?

The convenience of having to remove your mask every time you want to unlock the phone?

I have a Pixel 6 Pro myself, but I think I recall Face Unlock now works with Masks as of Spring 2022... and works with iPhone 12, 13 (and now 14) series phones.

I think it’s more that if it detects you are wearing a mask it is quicker to bring up the PIN request

 

[repatch]

US model is eSIMs only so how does it work if one needs to travel overseas that only supports physical SIMs?

You buy another one when you get there.

So no mini so what's the physical size of the 14? I'm not seeing it listed anywhere.

My SE2 (or new SE or whatever) is right at the 'too big for pockets' point for me. I guess we're going back to the belt holsters. Look at my phone! I'm a tech guy!

Or can we get cargo pants back in style?

The loss of the mini has been rumored for quite a while now, sadly. Guess I'm not upgrading for another four years until they once again decide to make a human sized phone.

I'll keep my SE2 for a few more years so I guess I'll see how it all shakes out then.

Still I just don't understand what dudes are doing with these tablets called phones. Is there some man-purse that's in style now? Fanny packs are back maybe? Do all the kids just carry back-packs around now? Rave pants still a thing?

Guess you have tiny pockets? My 11 Pro Max fits in my pocket no problem

 

[solomonrex]

No Mini and no new SE announced, so I guess this is a de facto price raise? Understandable this year, certainly, but disappointing regardless.

 

[ssiu]

The loss of the Sim tray is a "courageous" and risky move for sure.

Very not a fan of this move. For instance, T-Mobile Prepaid doesn't charge anything to activate an eSIM, but they really can't, because right now you can just take your physical SIM out of one phone and put it in another. What happens when they're no longer in competition with themselves, as it were?

And currently Verizon Prepaid doesn't offer eSIM at all. in theory, that won't matter for me for several years, but eventually my future first SIM-free phone will become my backup phone.

I'm personally not ready yet to buy a phone without a sim tray, so I'm definitely in the count me out bucket.

Yeah, I totally hear that. I'm not planning to get a 14, so I have a year at least to come to terms with it. And even if I upgrade next year, I'll still be using my 13 Pro as my backup, so the full impact probably won't be for three or four years. I guess we'll see. I don't like the way Apple is buddy-buddy with carriers when it comes to promoting post-paid plans, especially given how much less expensive prepaid plans are. :/

So does this mean the phone will come with 2 eSIMs?

They said "multiple", but that could be as little as two, of course. The way it was announced had me thinking "One physical SIM, one active eSIM at a time, multiple eSIMs available", but then they announced the removal of the physical SIM, so I'm wondering if it's just two active eSIMS instead of one eSIM and one physical SIM.

Yeah, knowing what they mean would help me out a lot since I carry a phone that has an eSIM for my Canadian number and a nanoSIM for my US number.

(I have a Pixel 3a XL that supports eSIM.) My understanding is that all eSIM phones allow you to store multiple eSIM profiles, but most of them (like my Pixel) only allow using physicalSIM+eSIM at the same time, not two eSIMs at the same time. iPhone 13 series (and presumably non-US iPhone 14 series) is pretty unique in allowing both usage scenarios; hopefully other eSIM phones will also adopt it.

 

[repatch]

I don’t blame Apple but I learned a valuable lesson with eSIM.

My mobile is my only number. So of course when I backed up the phone and did a reset thinking I could just restore everything I was presented with two factor identification wanting to send me a text message to the eSIM iPhone that I now have just factory reset.

I had to wait several agonizing days locked out of my phone for Apple to unlock my account.

Again my fault totally my fault. But don’t ever do that.

How does one solve this though when doing a reset?

My only guess is moving the 2FA to another number.

Shouldn't matter, using SMS for 2FA is something that should be banned, it's bordering on useless from a security perspective.

 

[repatch]

I keep hoping they'll re-introduce Touch ID on the power button. I despise Face ID.

I don’t understand the hate on Face ID? Do you not like convenience?

FaceID was useless during the masking days, very frustrating.

It's also not very useful if you aren't looking at your phone (i.e. phone is on a table).

That said, I have a phone with Touch ID and a phone with Face ID, and daily use the Face ID feature is FAR more convenient. I resisted FaceID alot, but now that I've gotten used to it it's truly the better solution.

 

[PhilGil]

Wish they would improve the iPhone integration with windows, its the main reason I'm still running android.

Love my iPad, but having calls, SMS etc integration with windows would be super useful.

It's what's holding me back as well. I love texting from a browser on my computer and I'm not switching to MacOS. I hate how Apple doesn't give you the full experience unless you buy all their devices.

I've worked around that by having my primary line on Google Voice. It's not an ideal solution (for example, you have to text from the GV app - can't use iMessage). But it's a solution that works for me. At least until Google kills Voice.

 

[repatch]

Wish they would improve the iPhone integration with windows, its the main reason I'm still running android.

Love my iPad, but having calls, SMS etc integration with windows would be super useful.

I actually dislike that on the Macbook I use at home and my ipad. I want txt/messages on the phone. I don't need em binging on everything.

I think I can turn that off I'm sure but just haven't. Need to look into it.

It's usually off by default, it was for me, you must have turned it on at some point.

 

[repatch]

I'd be curious to find out more about the satellite related functionality, such as which satellites (Starlink?), what the extra power draw of the feature is, what extra data can be provided in an emergency and whether it needs a subscription?

My guess is it just uses one of the existing 'SOS' type of satellite services:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite ... ion_device

 

[Thomas Harte]

US model is eSIMs only so how does it work if one needs to travel overseas that only supports physical SIMs?

There are services like Holafly (the first search result I found, neither a recommendation nor the opposite) that offer prepaid international eSIMs. Which is less convenient than being able to pick up a SIM after you land if you're like me and don't tend even to have packed until the night before you fly, but probably more convenient if you're any sort of proper adult.

 

[chabig]

So does this mean the phone will come with 2 eSIMs?

"You can install eight or more eSIMs on an iPhone and use two phone numbers at the same time."

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212780

 

[ready_load$81]

zzzzzz YAWN zzzzzzzzzz

 

[Electricdawn]

My 12 Mini is alive and kicking, and I hope it will continue to do so for quite a few more years. No need to update it, since it is still zippy and does everything I want it to do.

And yes, no Mini, no sale.

 

[gmerrick]

The satellite SOS feature lessens the need for an InReach, though some may still choose that based on ruggedness/battery life/plan cost/other features.

Brian

Service is free for two years on a new phone.