Apple to broaden the differences between Pro and “non-Pro” iPhone models this year
Apple will reportedly equip the iPhone 14 Pro models with the 4nm A16 Bionic chipset while the non-Pro phones could reuse the 5nm A15 Bionic SoC found under the hood of all iPhone 13 handsets. This could help Apple widen the differences between the 2022 Pro and non-Pro models. Most consumers have no idea which chip is powering their phone and most don’t care. Reusing the chip could help Apple make the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max more competitive price-wise.
Glass panels allegedly for the iPhone 14 models were posted on Chinese social media app Weibo
We’ve seen reports stating that even if Apple reuses the A15 Bionic chips on the non-Pro iPhone 14 phones, it still might give them a different name (like calling them the A16 Bionic and giving the new 4nm SoC the A16 Pro). Apple hopes that for its customers, this sleight of hand takes the sting out of paying a high price for a phone reusing the last-generation chipset.
Also possibly coming: the long-awaited AirPods Pro 2, and three Apple Watch models
The report calls for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max to start at $799 and $899 respectively. Storage options could include 128GB, 256GB and 512GB of storage. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max could be priced starting at $1,099 and $1,199 respectively. Storage options could be 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and possibly 2TB (although Apple usually makes such adjustments every two years which means that a 256GB basic option and a 2TB maximum storage option might not happen until 2023).
Also on the menu is the AirPods Pro 2. The long-awaited sequel to Apple’s premium TWS earbuds. The wearable could come sans stems, feature the next generation Active Noise Cancellation, and support Lossless Audio. The AirPods Pro 2 might also support USB-C charging for the charging case.
But with the iPhone 12 Pro Max, Apple took a breather dropping battery capacity 7.1% to 3687mAh. Battery life did improve slightly thanks to the A14 Bionic chip used in that series. It was the first SoC build on the 5nm process node to be used on an iPhone and the 38.8% increase in transistors from the A13 Bionic’s 8.5 billion to the 11.8 billion packed inside the A14 Bionic was able to give battery life a boost.
After last year’s 18% increase in battery capacity on the iPhone 13 Pro Max (from 3687mAh to 4352mAh), we might have to wait until next year to see another huge pop in iPhone battery life.
