Entertainment iPhone 14 and 14 Pro leaks live: dissecting specs and release date pre-launch

OK, so this isn’t strictly about the iPhone 14, but the new Lock Screen in iOS 16 looks set to be a big part of what will make the iPhone 14 Pro look so good in always-on display mode.

The fact that portrait shots will slip behind and above the clock and other widgets looks pretty cool – I kind of agree with Marques Brownlee in this respect:

But modern phones will get this update as well from Apple, so perhaps it’s not the iPhone 14 win… but there will be a big focus on this at the event, I’m sure.

Here’s an interesting question from our phones writer Tom Bedford: what does that Far Out invite really mean?

I won’t ruin his piece, but basically he suggests that Apple is finally going to get involved with astrophotography… as in, able to take better pictures of the moon.

That will require some good computational photography, AKA Apple using the iPhone engine to improve the pictures, but the brand is in love with saying how good its Neural Engine is at things like this… and that’s just the kind of thing I can see happening.

It’s a good analysis, especially when you look at the invite. Then again, it feels like Apple just picks a picture and set of words out of two separate bags and then sends out invites for the world’s media to conjecture over…

Wait there Gareth – is that not a picture of the Galaxy S10 5G from 2019? Well, yes… yes it is.

Why is it relevant? Because that’s the expected shape of the notch on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max when they appear in a couple of days’ time.

Most of the leaks in the build up to this launch have suggested that Apple will have a pill-shaped hole for the sensors, with the punch-hole camera flanking alongside.

That really upset me, as you can see that its asymmetrical nature would have really grated.

But the latest leaks suggest that it’ll be a single lozenge shape in the center of the screen, which will be a lot more aesthetically pleasing. I’m not saying that it will look good, because the chatter suggests that the icons left and right of it will still push up against the sides as if it were a notch.

Will it look good? I’ll hopefully be holding one in a jam-packed testing area in 52 hours… I’ll let you know.

While we’re talking about battery life, let’s look at this little nugget from Mark Gurman, a well-respected journalist whose Power On newsletter always has interesting updates on what’s coming from Apple.

This time, he talks about how the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max will have larger batteries, because of the new Always-On displays that Apple is almost certain to bring to these phones.

Yes, these are features that Samsung and many other Android rivals have had for years and years – but this is rumored to be achieved through Apple adding a new feature to the OLED displays it uses, bringing the refresh rate down to 1Hz (as in, one update per second) as it does with the Apple Watch 7.

This is a good move to allow battery life to not be massively downgraded (Samsung believed its always-on display took 1% per hour more battery, but I think that will be even more efficient in Apple’s version) and yet still add in a really valuable new feature.

The thing that’s really getting to me about that ‘leaked’ listing is that it shows the battery sizes. If this truly was a leak from Apple itself – perhaps one that was sent out as embargoed marketing material – then it wouldn’t have that info on.

Apple will obviously collaborate with key third-party vendors on things like cases and such, ahead of launch. But it would never release the iPhone 14 battery size as it wouldn’t make a difference – so I feel like this document is an aggregation of the leaks published online at the moment.

That said, the battery sizes are dovetailing with what we’re expecting: the iPhone 14 Pro to have a larger power unit that the 13 Pro, adding in an extra 200mAh, but the iPhone 14 Pro Max to stick with something similar to the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

And while, again, we shouldn’t read this leak as gospel, I really do hope that the iPhone 14 Plus does match the battery size of the iPhone 14 Pro Max – that’s a phone that will be cheaper but will still have the gargantuan longevity that appeared with the new iPhone 13 range last year.

OK – I’ve got a hot-off-the-press ‘leak’ to talk you through from TimesNowNews (opens in new tab) in India… and I’ll warn you, there are many things here that are making me question how legit this is.

However, the listing – which doesn’t have a source other than applepriceleak (and it’s not clear which forum that user name is from) – does touch on a lot of things that we’re expecting, so it’s an excellent kicking off point.

The first thing you’ll notice there is that the iPhone 14 Plus is being mentioned over the iPhone 14 Max… that’s the strong rumor at the moment, that Apple will split the naming to avoid confusing things between this larger phone and the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

But that’s not what I’m confused about…

Right, let’s get to it. What’s the number one thing you’re interested in with the new iPhone 14?

Are you angry about the battery life? The sharp sides too steep? Are you hoping for bigger screens or less notch? We’ve spent the last 15 goshdarn months looking at rumors regarding this muthaflippin’ phone, and we’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s going to be coming. 

But, as I said in the intro – this is all about you. Tweet me any questions and I’ll answer them, based on TechRadar’s analysis, right here and now.