The iPhone 13 Pro was one of the best phones on the market until now, but it’s just been superseded by the iPhone 14 Pro. Just how much of an upgrade could it possibly be?
We were live at the scene of Apple's Far Out iPhone 14 launch, and got hands on with all of the new devices. You can read our full iPhone 14 Pro hands-on review and our look at the larger iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Here’s everything we know about the iPhone 14 Pro, and how all the new specifications relate to Apple’s retiring top dog.
iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro price and availability
The iPhone 13 Pro arrived on September 24, 2021. The entry-level 128GB model costs $999 / £949 / AU$1,699, while the 256GB model costs $1,099 / £1,049 / AU$1,869, and the 512GB model costs $1,299 / £1,249 / AU$2,219. There’s also a 1TB model this time around, which costs $1,499 / £1,449 / AU$2,569.
Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro follow-up was announced on September 7, 2022, and the new phone will hit shops on September 16. Surprisingly, US pricing for the iPhone 14 Pro remains entirely unchanged from the iPhone 13 Pro, but other regions will see a small increase.
The entry-level 128GB model will cost $999 / £1,099 / AU$1,749, with the same increase in prices all the way up to the mighty 1TB model, which will cost $1,599 / £1,749 / AU$2,769 for the privilege. You can blame the stronger US dollar for the new price discrepancies.
iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro design
The iPhone 13 Pro largely sticks to the design laid out by the iPhone 12 Pro, with flat glass surfaces and a flat stainless steel rim. The main difference here was a chunky new camera module.
The new iPhone 14 Pro looks almost entirely the same, and you'd need to be a phone expert to spot the differences. The most significant difference is the lack of a forehead notch. The new iPhone 14 Pro models use a pill-shaped cutout, and Apple is not shying away from using the so-called Dynamic Island as an active and central part of its new interface design. Users who have a Dynamic Island phone will be able to show off the differences with style.
The iPhone 13 Pro, by way of a comparison, comes in Graphite, Gold, Silver, and Sierra Blue. For color options on the newer phone, we get a similar slate of colors for launch, but color options can always be added later in the phone's lifecycle.
Instead of graphite grey we get a darker midnight black. There is no blue option, and instead Apple has opted for a deep purple that looks quite stormy, especially compared to a lighter purple offered on the Apple iPhone 14.
iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro display
The iPhone 13 Pro comes with a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, which features a 1170 x 2532 resolution. It also saw the smartphone debut of Apple’s 120Hz Pro Motion refresh rate standard.
The iPhone 14 Pro sticks to nearly the same specs, only a few pixels larger at 1179 x 2556 resolution. It gets the same 120Hz Pro Motion capability, but Apple cranks up the brightness significantly. The iPhone 14 Pro can achieve 1600 nits brightness, which Apple says is the same as its Studio XDR desktop display. In bright sunlight, the iPhone 14 Pro can crank the screen all the way up to 2000 nits.
Apple has also improved the LTPO technology that enables a variable refresh rate. The iPhone 13 Pro screen can drop to 10Hz where applicable, while the iPhone 14 Pro can drop to 1Hz.
This means Apple offers an always-on display on the iPhone 14 Pro without draining too much battery life. It would also suggest that the iPhone 13 Pro might not be retrofitted with the same feature.
iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro cameras
The iPhone 13 Pro camera system incorporates three 12MP sensors. The main wide sensor boasts a larger size and sensor shift optical image stabilization system, making it the low light and video king.
Apple has taken a huge leap forward with the main camera sensor on the iPhone 14 Pro, bumping it up to 48MP with even larger sensor pixels. The camera will mostly produce images of the same 12MP resolution, thanks to a quad pixel arrangement, but Pro owners will be able to use a ProRAW shooting mode that will output a full 48MP image. Unfortunately 8k Video was not part of the mix for the new iPhone 14 Pro camera.
The second and third camera on the iPhone 14 Pro, for ultra-wide angle and for mild telephoto zoom, received only marginal updates and still use only a 12MP sensor.
The selfie camera got a welcome boost on the iPhone 14 Pro. The new camera gains autofocus capabilities and a wider f/1.9 aperture, which should produce a more pronounced depth-of-field effect and improved Face Time calls.
iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro specs and performance
The new Apple iPhone 14 Pro is the first phone to launch with the A16 Bionic chip, which should make it the fastest phone around. The iPhone 13 Pro has remained just about the fastest phone on the market with its speedy A15 Bionic chip, which Apple happily reminds us, as the base model iPhone 14 will use the same chip.
Another improvement could come with the iPhone 14 Pro’s memory. While it reportedly uses 6GB of RAM, as with the iPhone 13 Pro, several sources claim that Apple is shifting from LPDDR4X RAM to the faster LPDDR5 standard for the new Pro. Apple does not publicize its RAM specs, so we will need further confirmation to be sure.
One thing that unfortunately stayed exactly the same is the storage options for the new Pro. As with the iPhone 13 Pro, you start with a paltry 128GB, and you can upgrade to 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB capacity.
iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro battery life
The iPhone 13 Pro upped its battery capacity to 3,095mAh, resulting in “remarkably better battery life” than the previous Pro model, according to our review.
We’re hopeful that the iPhone 14 Pro can follow suit, and Apple claims it should have better battery life than the previous generation. Apple does not publish its battery specs, so we will need to wait for confirmation to be sure.
There have been no significant improvements to the charging situation. You still need to spring for a more advanced 25W charger to get even the best charging speeds Apple offers, and that won't be competitively fast. Apple also stuck with lightning for another year, no hope for USB-C on an iPhone any time soon.
Takeaway
While the iPhone 14 may seem on the surface an incremental update, the improvements are significant and will be welcome especially among power users. The massive boost in megapixels will appease pro photographers, especially with the ProRAW image format offering full access to all of that image data.
A bright and powerful screen is always a welcome addition, and iPhone fans now get to boast about having the brightest screen on any phone. We also like seeing that low-power screen refresh for an always-on display, a feature the iPhone has been missing.
Whether the new iPhone 14 Pro is worth an upgrade if you're already carrying Apple's biggest and best is another question, one we'll need to answer with a full review. Until then, we're please Apple has offered just enough of an upgrade to earn the "Pro" in iPhone 14 Pro.
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