The latest leak from Chinese social media seems to confirm that Apple’s new phones for this fall will be branded as the iPhone 14 generation, as well as hinting at an unexpected direction for the notch design.
A Weibo user (via ShrimpApplePro) posted photos allegedly showing one of the new handsets, along with an out-of-the-box sticker labeled “iPhone 14 Pro.” The accompanying text (via Google Translate) reads: “Foxconn boss broke the news again. The pills are nailed, the whole system is 6G and the pro box is also white. I think this pill is acceptable on a 6.7 screen. 6.1 is too inconsistent. Everything is still waiting for the press conference.”
The last two numbers clearly refer to the screen size in inches (the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro will have 6.1-inch screens, while the iPhone 14 Max and 14 Pro Max will measure 6.7 inches), while 6G will presumably have an allocation of 6 GB of RAM means instead of the successor to 5G, which does not really exist yet.
That’s a worthy increase for the non-Pro models, which currently use 4GB, but no change for the Pro handsets. Based on a report in February, the iPhone 14 Pro was thought to jump to 8GB, so we’ll have to wait and see when the new phones break down as Apple doesn’t list RAM on the iPhone spec sheet.
The ‘pill’, meanwhile, is a reference to the new diaphragm for the front sensors: it’s widely predicted that the notch on the Pro models will be replaced by a hole-and-pill design that looks very different from the current notch. The strange thing here, however, is that the photo doesn’t seem to show a hole and pill. Rather, it shows a single continuous black bar.
Is this a last minute change of plans, an incomplete dummy unit or just misleading lighting? It is also possible that there is a screen protector over the camera cutouts or that Apple is simply obscuring the area between the camera and the sensors. A report from Macrumors suggests that this may be the case. If that’s true, the iPhone 14 Pro without the notch looks a lot like the iPhone 13 Pro with the notch.
As for the branding, you might be wondering if that’s really a revelation. After launching the iPhone 11 in 2019, the iPhone 12 in 2020, and the iPhone 13 in 2021, it’s not surprising that Apple would call its late 2022 handsets the iPhone 14, 14 Pro and so on. But the company hasn’t always behaved with such strict numerical logic: In the past, it regularly launched S-class upgrades, such as the iPhone 4s, 6s, and Xs, in between full version launches. There was always a slim chance that this year would be the announcement of the iPhone 13Ss, even though Apple hasn’t released an “S” phone since 2018.
Indeed, and bearing in mind that the photos only show the sticker for the iPhone 14 Pro model, it’s still possible that Apple will label the non-Pro handsets as part of the 13th generation. The company is expected to incentivize customers to buy the more expensive phones by greatly differentiating with additional features, a more modern design and processors of different generations. Calling the new devices the iPhone 13S and iPhone 14 Pro, while unexpected, would make some sense from that perspective.
Anyway, we’ll find out next week when all the announcements at Apple’s September 7 event will be covered here at Macworld. Until then, stay tuned for the latest rumors with our regularly updated iPhone 14 guide.