iPhone 14 preorders are live — here’s everything you need to know

Apple has officially opened preorders for its iPhone 14 series. The iPhone 14, 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are set to ship on Sept. 16, while the iPhone 14 Plus is launching a few weeks later on Oct. 7.

You can get your order in directly through apple.com; carriers like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile; and a handful of third-party retailers. Those shopping for an iPhone 14 or 14 Plus can pick one of five colors: Midnight, Starlight, Blue, Purple, or Product Red. Meanwhile, the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max come in four colors: Space Black, Silver, Gold and Deep Purple. The regular 14 and 14 Plus come with 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage, depending on how much you need. The 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max take things up a notch with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB configurations.

Regardless of which new iPhone you buy, you’ll be looking at the same starting prices from every retailer as well as the same colors and storage options (assuming they remain in stock, that is). Here’s a quick rundown of each one.

? iPhone 14 (starting at $799.99 at Apple and Best Buy
? iPhone 14 Plus (starting at $899.99 at Apple and Best Buy
? iPhone 14 Pro (starting at $999.99 at Apple and Best Buy
? iPhone 14 Pro Max (starting at $1,099.99 at Apple and Best Buy

As always, there are plenty of deals and promotions to be aware of to help you get the best value and save some money along the way. This year, all three major US carriers are having huge trade-in deals when you preorder an iPhone 14.

? AT&T: If you preorder through AT&T, the carrier will give you an iPhone 14, 14 Plus or 14 Pro for free, so long as you trade in an eligible iPhone and purchase it on a qualifying Unlimited installment plan. You can also get $1,000 off an iPhone 14 Pro Max.
? Verizon: At Verizon, you can get up to $800 off a new iPhone 14 with eligible trade-in on select Unlimited plans, such as the carrier’s new One Unlimited for iPhone plan, which gets you a free subscription to Apple One. New customers can get an iPhone 14 Pro for free as well as $200 to switch if they trade in an eligible phone and activate a line on select Unlimited plans.
? T-Mobile: On T-Mobile, you can get the iPhone 14 Pro for free with eligible trade-in via 24 monthly bill credits on the carrier’s Magenta Max plan. On any other plan, you get $500 off any member of the iPhone 14 family via 24 monthly bill credits. If you buy a second iPhone 14 and add a line, you can get up to $700 off.

If you take a more traditional route and preorder directly through Apple, you can save up to $1,000 with eligible trade-in. You can also choose to pay for your new iPhone 14 via monthly installments with an Apple Card or sign up for the iPhone Upgrade Program, which gets you a new iPhone every year as long as you make 12 monthly payments. Plus, it comes with AppleCare+, which is a really nice perk.

iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus

If you feel like you’ve seen the iPhone 14 before, you’re not mistaken. It shares a nearly identical design with the iPhone 13 from last year, complete with a glass and aluminum chassis and 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display. The iPhone 14 Plus follows the same design language but increases the screen size to 6.7 inches, the same size as the iPhone Pro Max line. This makes the device perfect for anyone who has a 6.1-inch iPhone but needs more room to work with.

The 14 Plus replaces the Mini series from last year, which lasted only a couple of years. That version of the iPhone shipped with a smaller 5.4-inch screen, but as it turns out, not many people were buying it. Big screens always tend to be more popular, hence Apple’s reintroduction of the iPhone Plus line this year.

The iPhone 14 and 14 Plus also share a lot of the same specs as the iPhone 13. There’s an A15 Bionic processor inside instead of the newer A16 Bionic, a 60Hz refresh rate on the displays, a Lightning port and a notch that houses Face ID. There are really only three areas where users will notice upgrades: the cameras, connectivity/safety and battery life.

On the back, there’s a brand-new 12-megapixel main camera that Apple says will let in more light and detail than the iPhone 13. It’s paired with the same 12-megapixel ultrawide camera as before, and a 12-megapixel selfie camera that now comes with autofocus. Nighttime photography is also being upgraded, thanks to Apple’s new Photonic Engine, which helps to boost the quality of darker images by up to 2.5x.

Apple is also upgrading Cinematic mode on the iPhone 14, which adds a cool depth-of-field effect to your video clips for a more dramatic aesthetic. You can now capture these videos in 4K at up to 30 frames per second, opposed to just 1080p like on the iPhone 13. There’s also a new Action mode that adds extra stabilization when recording shaky video.

In the connectivity/safety department, the new iPhone 14 and 14 Plus make a significant change to how they talk to your carrier. Instead of using physical SIM cards to connect to your phone plan, Apple is switching entirely to eSIM technology. It’s essentially a digital version of a regular SIM card, except it’s much more secure since you can’t manually remove the card from the phone. It’s a bit of a controversial change, but it’ll at least improve the security of your iPhone.

For safety, the iPhone 14 line is compatible with satellite communications in the case of an emergency. Apple is calling this feature Emergency SOS via satellite, and it’s meant to give you a way to contact emergency services if you’re stranded somewhere without a cell connection. The phones also have improved car crash detection so that if you experience an accident and are unresponsive, emergency services can still be contacted.

Rounding things off, battery life is expected to last “all day” on the iPhone 14, while the 14 Plus is said to offer the best battery life “ever” on an iPhone. The devices still offer MagSafe wireless charging at 15W, standard wireless charging at 7.5W and wired charging at 20W.

iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max

On the other hand, the new iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are more substantial upgrades compared to the 13 Pro series. They look very similar to last year’s phones, with identical 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch screen sizes. However, these Super Retina XDR displays have gotten upgraded with increased brightness at up to 2,000 nits outdoors — making them the brightest phone screens ever — and an always-on display mode. Both still offer Dolby Vision and HDR playback as well as ProMotion, which adds a 120Hz refresh rate for smoother scrolling.

Obviously, the biggest change to these iPhones is the notch, which is now gone and replaced by a pill-shaped cutout. Apple says it’s 30% smaller than the notch was last year, and it had to make a lot of adjustments to shove the TrueDepth sensors into it.

Apple is calling the cutout the Dynamic Island, and it does more than just give the iPhone 14 Pro a distinctive look. The cutout springs to life and adds extra functionality when you’re using certain apps. For example, if you fire up a recording in the Voice Memo app and go back to the home screen, it’ll show you an indicator that it’s still recording and give you an option to stop it. The Dynamic Island can show the progress of more than one app at a time, and a long press presents quick music toggles. It’s also an essential part of the 14 Pro’s user interface, becoming the new home for things like incoming calls, Face ID and volume indication.

There’s a lot of hype around the Dynamic Island following Apple’s announcement, so it looks like it’ll be popular among iPhone 14 Pro buyers.

Inside, Apple packs in its new A16 Bionic chip, which is said to be 40% better than the competition. It’s unclear how much better it is than the A15, though it’s likely noticing a difference between the chips is impossible since they’re both monster performers.

Like the regular iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Pro is getting an upgrade in the camera department. For the first time ever on an iPhone, Apple is including a 48-megapixel main lens that will offer a substantial boost in quality over the older 12-megapixel sensor. The camera uses pixel-binning technology to create 12-megapixel images but with the detail and clarity a higher-end sensor like this affords you.

Because there’s so much resolution in the 48-megapixel sensor, Apple is adding a new 2x telephoto option that strictly uses digital zoom. It captures zoom images with the middle 12 megapixels of the lens so that you get more versatility while not losing clarity. And if you want to capture 48-megapixel photos, you can do so using Apple’s ProRAW format.

In addition, Apple is adding a new 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, an improved 12-megapixel 3x telephoto lens and the same 12-megapixel autofocus-equipped selfie shooter as the regular iPhone 14. The Photonic Engine is also here for better nighttime photos as well as Cinematic mode at 4K/30 frames per second and Action mode.

The iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max also support Apple’s new Emergency SOS via satellite and Crash Detection safety features.

As far as battery life goes, Apple says both the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max should last all day on a full charge. It’s not exactly clear whether endurance will be better or worse than the iPhone 13 Pro series, so we’ll have to get our hands on them to see. You still get 15W MagSafe wireless charging, standard wireless charging at 7.5W and 20W wired charging.

How the iPhone 14 lineup compares

The takeaway

Apple is having a bit of a staggered launch with the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro. All four models are available to preorder today, but only the 6.1-inch iPhone 14, 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max will launch on Sept. 16. Those who want to get their hands on the 6.7-inch 14 Plus will need to wait until Oct. 7.

Overall, these upgrades seem really incremental compared to last year’s iPhones. On paper, it doesn’t seem like there’s enough to justify an upgrade from an iPhone 13 or 13 Pro, but anyone with an even older iPhone might like what the 14 series has to offer. We’ll be putting all of Apple’s new iPhones through their paces in full reviews once we get our hands on them, so stay tuned for more.