An alleged early iPhone 14 render from Jon Prosser, designed by Ian Zelbo.
Jon Prosser
Are you in the market for a new iPhone? If so, chances are you’re deciding between Apple’s iPhone 13, iPhone 12 or iPhone 11 — and maybe the iPhone SE. (Here’s how to pick the best iPhone to fit your needs.) But if you’re not quite ready to upgrade your current smartphone, or you just like staying up to date on the latest Apple news, we’ve started collecting all the gossip about the iPhone 14 a year in advance of its expected release date sometime in September 2022.
The iPhone 14 was trending on Twitter even before Apple announced the iPhone 13, and the rumor mill for Apple’s 2022 smartphone is just heating up. We don’t know much yet about the iPhone 14’s release date, price, or other specs and features. The biggest rumors so far include a new notchless design (yeah, we’ve heard that one before) with a hole-punch front camera, under-display Touch ID, a more durable titanium alloy body, the elimination of the chunky rear camera bump, a shakeup of the four-phone lineup with new screen sizes and the death of the iPhone Mini.
Unveiled at a virtual event in September (alongside the Apple Watch 7, iPad Mini 6 and iPad 9th-gen), Apple’s latest flagship phone lineup, which includes the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini and iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, is on sale now. While we wait for more intel on the iPhone 14, here’s our comparison of the iPhone 13 and iPhone 12, and the iPhone 12 and iPhone 11. Plus, here’s how the iPhone 13 stacks up to Apple’s last five years’ worth of iPhones. We’ll update this story as new information becomes available.
Early renders of the iPhone 14 from Jon Prosser suggest a notchless design and flush camera setup.
Jon Prosser
Read more: iPhone 13 vs. 13 Mini vs. Pro vs. Pro Max
iPhone 14 lineup rumors: Will there still be 4 phones?
We don’t know much about the iPhone 14 yet, but we’ve heard that Apple’s next lineup will nix the Mini and focus on larger phones instead. A July report from Nikkei Asian Review predicted the death of the iPhone 14 Mini, and an April research note from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo obtained by MacRumors also suggested that the Mini was not long for this world. However, Kuo reported, the iPhone 14 lineup will still comprise four models, a “high-end” and a “lower-end,” with two size options for each.
While name speculation isn’t as germane to the discussion of Apple’s 2022 lineup as it was for unlucky 13, rumors suggest a small shift in naming conventions, with an iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Max and iPhone 14 Pro Max, with “Pro” designating higher-end specs and “Max” referring to the larger screen size.
iPhone 14 size rumors: Bigger screens for all
Apple’s last two iPhone lineups have featured the same 6.1-inch size for the base model, going up to 6.7 inches for the Pro Max. According to the same July Nikkei Asian Review report, Apple will stick with these screen sizes for the iPhone 14, nixing the 5.4-inch Mini. Reports showed sluggish sales of the iPhone 12 Mini, so it’s no surprise that Apple is retiring the small phone in 2022.
Read more: iPhone 13 vs. iPhone 12
Rumored iPhone 14 screen sizes
| iPhone 14 | 6.1 inch |
|---|---|
| iPhone 14 Pro | 6.1 inch |
| iPhone 14 Max | 6.7 inch |
| iPhone 14 Pro Max | 6.7 inch |
The iPhone 13 just went on sale, but we’re already thinking about the iPhone 14.
Patrick Holland/CNET
Release date: iPhone 14 will likely arrive fall 2022
It’s too soon for any reputable release date rumors for the iPhone 14, but we expect Apple to hold its annual fall iPhone event in September 2022, as it does almost every year, with the phones being released shortly thereafter, usually the following Friday. Sometimes Apple will stagger release dates for specific models, especially when introducing a new design or size. So it’s possible that the iPhone 14 lineup will have more than one release date.
Read more: When is the next Apple event?
Here’s what we know:
- Apple likes to hold its events on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Apple’s iPhone 13 event was held on Tuesday, Sept. 14.
- iPhone release dates are typically a week and a half after Apple’s announcements.
- In general, new iPhones are released on a Friday, around the third week of September. For the iPhone 13, preorders began Sept. 17 and the phones went on sale Sept. 24.
A few years ago, CNET took a deep dive into the Apple event timeline and emerged with a compelling Labor Day hypothesis, which you can read about here. Based on the 2022 calendar, the Labor Day rule would put the September Apple event (and unveiling of the iPhone 14) on Sept. 7, with a…
iPhone 14 rumors: We’re collecting all the gossip about Apple’s 2022 flagship phone