Apple’s iPhone 14 puts safety first as financial downturn bites

theguardian.com:

The latest versions of Apple’s most important product of the year, the all-conquering iPhone, was unveiled with typical pomp on Wednesday to a willing global audience of millions. Its marquee feature: safety, in the flashy new emergency satellite communications but also in iterative design and minor upgrades.

One look at the iPhone 14 evokes a feeling of déjà-vu. It has the same design introduced two years ago with the iPhone 12, with minor upgrades. In a first for Apple, it even has the same A15 chip as last year’s 13 Pro.

Only the Pro line gets a faster chip – but it, too, looks on paper to be playing catchup. Its key selling points, an always-on display to constantly show the time and notifications and a new 48-megapixel camera, have been mainstays of the Android world for years.

The most radical thing was the ditching of the “mini” model in favour of a larger “Plus” version. With sales of smaller phones down 35% last year according to data from IDC, it is no wonder. And for those in the UK, there is the sting of a price hike due to the weak pound.

Apple certainly isn’t the only one playing safe. Samsung’s main S-line of phones changed little this year. With more buyers looking to keep their phones for as long as possible, extended software support and device durability become more important than changes for the sake of novelty.

But Apple’s pitch has changed in a year dominated by testing financial times. The iPhone 14 is no longer fun and exciting: it is essential, both in daily lives and in an emergency. It now detects when you’ve had a car crash and phones the emergency services. And if you get stranded in the middle of nowhere without signal it can contact rescue services via satellites in the US and Canada, finally