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Five iPhone 14 Rumors You May Have Missed

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With August upon us, the countdown is officially on. We're just weeks away from when we're expecting Apple to announce the iPhone 14 lineup. Rumors of the next iPhone start early in the year, and as a result, some details about the upcoming device sometimes get lost in the crowd.

iPhone-14-Pro-Purple-Front-and-Back-MacRumors-Exclusive.jpg
Exclusive MacRumors iPhone 14 Pro renders by graphic designer Ian Zelbo​

To help MacRumors readers, we've created a list of five rumors from over the last several months about the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro that you may not have heard about.

Vapor Chamber Thermal System

iphone-14-dummy-5.jpg

As the iPhone gets more powerful with larger batteries and more CPU-intensive tasks baked into iOS, keeping the device at normal working temperature could be a challenge. According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the high-end 2022 iPhones, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, could adopt a vapor chamber thermal system to help address the challenge.

The system would help control device temperature under intensive tasks and can already be found in smartphones by companies such as Samsung, Razer, and LG. Kuo mentioned the tidbit in a wider report about redesigned MacBook Pros in early 2021, so it's not entirely clear if Apple has changed its plans. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are rumored to be powered by the A16 Bionic chip boasting performance and battery improvements.

Better Details in Photos

iPhone-14-Pro-Purple-Exploded.jpg
iPhone 14 Pro renders by graphic designer Ian Zelbo​

The main camera on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will feature a 57% larger sensor compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max, according to a rumor from earlier this year. Per the rumor, the device's sensor is said to be 1/1.3-inches in width, 57% larger in area than the 1/1.65-inch sensor of the Wide camera on the ‌iPhone 13 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 13 Pro‌ Max.

The larger sensor will lead to sharper detail in photos and improved low-light photography. This is just one of several big changes coming to the iPhone 14 Pro camera system that will "elevate mobile phone camera photography to a new level," according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Apple is also to increase the megapixels of the wide camera lens to 48MP, compared to the 12MP on the current high-end iPhones.

Upping Your Instagram Selfie Game

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While the rear cameras usually get all the love and attention with every new iPhone, the front camera for the iPhone 14 will get a major boost in image quality and capabilities. The selfie camera in the iPhone 14 series is said to be a "high-end" camera system that will have autofocus capacities and a wider ƒ/1.9 aperture compared to the ƒ/2.2 aperture in the current iPhone 13.

The wider aperture paired with autofocus would allow more light to pass through the lens, resulting in overall better quality and improved low-light photography. The autofocus would also help with portrait photos, resulting in crisper and sharper bokeh and detail with the subject.

Goodbye Physical SIM Card!

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In 2016, Apple famously removed the headphone jack from the iPhone. In 2017, Apple removed the physical home button from its flagship iPhone. In 2022, the physical SIM card tray could be next. According to a seemingly legitimate memo obtained by MacRumors, Apple is at least planning to phase out the physical SIM card with select US carriers later this year, presumably after the iPhone 14 launch in September.

The timeline suggests that at least some carriers and models of the iPhone 14 may feature no SIM card tray and could just entirely rely on eSIM technology that Apple has been pushing in the last several years. A previous rumor suggested that the move to eSIM as the new default would happen with the iPhone 15, so the exact timeline remains unknown.

2TB of Storage For All Your Photos

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Apple introduced a new 1TB storage option with the iPhone 13 Pro Max last year, offering customers a massive amount of on-device storage for all of their photos, videos, and apps. This year, the iPhone 14 Pro Max could be offered in an even larger 2TB configuration. If true, it would be the most storage ever offered in an iPhone in history.

The larger storage space comes as Apple builds more advanced photo and video capabilities into the iPhone. For reference, just 60 seconds of a 4K video at 60FPS takes up to around 440MB of storage. For photographers and cinematographers, the larger storage option gives them the freedom to record and create without the possible constraints of limited storage. The 1TB iPhone 13 Pro Max costs $1599.

Conclusion

These are just some of the rumors and leaks about the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro. For a complete look at everything we know about the upcoming iPhone, check out our iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro roundups. What are you most excited for with the new iPhones? Let us know down in the comments!

Article Link: Five iPhone 14 Rumors You May Have Missed
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/08/04/five-iphone-14-rumors-you-missed/
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I'm waiting for the day they stop using PWM (pulse-width modulation) in their OLED displays. It is shameful that they still use this technology to control backlight. Flicker-free monitors stopped being mainstream 20 years ago and yet it's somehow deemed acceptable in phone displays.
 
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Regarding the vapor thermal system, it makes me wonder if companies like Apple are designing with climate change in mind. Already, iPhones operate in very hot temperatures when being used as a GPS in a car under direct sunlight. Imagine doing that when driving in the tropics and not in an air conditioned vehicle.
 
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Still waiting for micro LED, I had to replace my OLED screen on my iPhone 11 Pro Max because of screen burn-in after two years. And the constant flickering on the low brightness settings is annoying.
Either adopt USB-C or come out with Lightning 2 with higher transfer speeds.
It would be nice if they offered alternative battery technology like a hydrogen fuel cell.
When are they going to start matching the iCloud size to the size of the device you purchased? 5 GB is a running gag at Apple.
Speaking of overheating, please get rid of the dimming of the screen when I gets hot, it would be better to just slow down the phone. Or provide an option to make the screen brighter for a few seconds when scanning barcodes because my screen is so dim it doesn’t work.
If they’re going to get rid of the sim card slot keep the slot and allow micro SD card insertion.
Finally an option to extend the antenna through the lightning/USB-C cable.
 
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Does anyone actually use two SIMs? I've moved and don't want to change the number I've had for 15 years, but I also need a local number, so I'm trying to figure out an option there.
 
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This all sounds great but I hope Apple keeps the SIM tray a bit longer. There are still some carriers that don't support eSIMS overseas when using travel plans.

I guess the rumor about a satellite connection is dead for this model. That always sounded a bit unrealistic but it persisted for awhile.
 
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reubs said:
Does anyone actually use two SIMs? I've moved and don't want to change the number I've had for 15 years, but I also need a local number, so I'm trying to figure out an option there.
Click to expand...

Lots of people, people with business and personal lines that don't want to carry two phones, people that travel often to another location that want a local number, people with two families, etc...
 
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kerplunknet said:
I'm waiting for the day they stop using PWM (pulse-width modulation) in their OLED displays. It is shameful that they still use this technology to control backlight. Flicker-free monitors stopped being mainstream 20 years ago and yet it's somehow deemed acceptable in phone displays.
Click to expand...
Almost all OLED phones use PWM, including Samsung, who makes 50% of the OLED phone displays on the market.
 
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fwmireault said:
Can't imagine how a 2TB iPhone 14 Pro Max could cost... Not that I need one myself, but the Apple tax on storage is awful

These are all nice improvements, but I'm not buying an other iPhone until they have transitioned to USB-C, likely next year
Click to expand...
I don’t know if anything is really set in stone as far as Apple’s plans for charging/data cables going forward but rumors floating around said that they might go entirely wireless with both charging and data transfer, both options that already exist on the last couple of years for their phones. Maybe just to thumb their nose at the EU.
 
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Can't wait for all of the activation issues if they do remove the sim slot (which I am ok with) because carriers and E-Sim are still a hot mess (looking at you verizon).
 
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barkomatic said:
This all sounds great but I hope Apple keeps the SIM tray a bit longer. There are still some carriers that don't support eSIMS overseas when using travel plans.

I guess the rumor about a satellite connection is dead for this model. That always sounded a bit unrealistic but it persisted for awhile.
Click to expand...
In the UK there are a lot of carriers that don't support eSIM in particular I think literally all (maybe there are 1 or 2 exceptions that I am unaware of) of the MVNO operators and none of the PAYG offerings from the main networks. For me it is those MVNO plans that suit my needs by far the best in terms of value for money. I'm on Lebara £4 a month for unlimited calls and texts and a monthly data allowance that is about 3 times what I tend to use each month and MVNOs like GiffGaff & Smarty advertise heavily here in the UK and I get the impression are quite popular.

I'm not averse to the concept of eSIMs, just the idea of space saving inside the chassis that can be used for other stuff is enticing, but if Apple went eSIM-only this year it would lock me out of an upgrade to the 14 Pro Max that right now I fully intend to make on launch day. At lest in the UK eSIMS need to become much more widespread especially amongst the MVNOs otherwise I suspect that such a move could really impact sales of the latest iPhone models here. Maybe 2023 is more realistic because I don't see the eSIM availability situation changing enough in the next couple of months, at least in the UK, for it not to lock out far too many people like me from getting the latest iPhones.
 
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JosephAW said:
Still waiting for micro LED, I had to replace my OLED screen on my iPhone 11 Pro Max because of screen burn-in after two years. And the constant flickering on the low brightness settings is annoying.
Click to expand...

how did screen burn in happen? Curious mind wants to know.
 
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fwmireault said:
Can't imagine how a 2TB iPhone 14 Pro Max could cost... Not that I need one myself, but the Apple tax on storage is awful

These are all nice improvements, but I'm not buying an other iPhone until they have transitioned to USB-C, likely next year
Click to expand...
With an increase in storage, this is how Apple pretty much generates its profit while it keeps the costs down. If Apple does decide to offer a 2TB iPhone, I will personally get it.
 
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