Although last year’s iPhone 13 series achieved the first reduction in the area of notch since the iPhone X in 2017, it seems that Apple is not completely satisfied. The iPhone 14 still needs to make adjustments to Face ID, with the goal of achieving a punch-hole display. In a recent report, Apple’s analyst, Mark Gurman claims that Apple will use the punch-hole design in at least one iPhone 14. Recall that popular Apple analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo also has this idea.
However, it is uncertain whether the punch-hole screen will be on the mainstream model or the Pro model. The former means that Apple has to abandon face recognition and use under-screen fingerprints. If it is a Pro model, it must correspond to the under-screen Face ID technology. Judging from the current supply chain situation, the probability of non-Pro models seems to be greater. Regarding other changes to the regular model, Kuo Ming-Chi predicts that it will also include a 48-megapixel main camera, a titanium middle frame or case, and a non-physical SIM card slot.
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iPhone 14 series speculations
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 14 series may not use 64GB internal storage. The entire iPhone 13 series starts at 128GB. Apple has no reason to downplay its new iPhones to 64GB.
In addition, LG and BOE have not yet produced 120Hz LTPO displays. However, Samsung alone cannot support such a high shipment volume of iPhone 14. Thus, it appears that the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max will not use the 120Hz LTPO display.
After canceling the mini version, the new 6.1-inch iPhone 14 will be the cheapest in the series. This will be followed by the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max. However, the cost of the screens purchased by Apple has always been high. Considering that the size of the display is now increasing, the cost is also increasing. Thus, Apple needs to water down some other aspects of the display to keep the cost low.
The 120Hz LTPO panel in the iPhone 13 Pro series is currently only available from Samsung. Apple does not have high bargaining power and Samsung’s production capacity is not enough to support three mobile phones with annual shipments of hundreds of millions of units. Thus, Apple is not only considering the price, it is also looking at the manufacturing capacity of the panel. Nevertheless, the iPhone 14 with 60Hz will be retrograde considering that it will be official in 2022. The use of 60Hz displays is becoming obsolete even for some mid-range smartphones in the Android market.
