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With just three more days until the iPhone 14 becomes official, the well-connected Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has revealed a few more details of what he’s expecting from Apple’s next flagship smartphones, most notably a big battery boost.
In the final issue of his Power On newsletter before ‘Far Out’ Apple September event kicks off in Cupertino on Wednesday, Gurman rounded up the iPhone 14 rumors we’re all pretty familiar with at this point, but highlighted a couple of points that have got less attention in the last few weeks.
The first is that, for the second year in a row, the Pro models of the iPhone will get battery capacity increases, according to Gurman. “Beyond the notch, I’m told to expect the iPhone 14 Pro models to appear slightly larger overall and include slimmer bezels,” he wrote. “They will have bigger batteries too.”
That’s interesting because we’d previously heard that all models of the iPhone 14 would be getting a boost — except the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which would be getting a minor (~1%) decrease. Gurman seems to be suggesting that both high-end models will get a boost in capacity (as distinct from run time, which could be explained via efficiency improvements) and that this is something unique to the Pro line.
The second point is less specific, but equally interesting and concerns the SIM card slot.
“Apple will give eSIM a bigger push this time around, with carriers preparing to steer users toward the digital, embedded SIM cards rather than physical ones,” Gurman writes. “In fact, Apple has considered removing the physical SIM card slot altogether beginning either this year or next for some models.”
It’s not the first time we’ve heard this, and removing the SIM-card slot has reportedly long been an ambition of Apple and its goal to make a completely portless iPhone. But the fact that Gurman says we’re still at the ‘consideration’ phase makes it seem that this is something for the iPhone 15. Or possibly as a redesigned version of the iPhone 14 for select markets.
Otherwise, Gurman repeats the now well-rehearsed things we can expect from the iPhone 14 Pro: a 48-megapixel sensor upgrade, improved ultra-wide photography, autofocus on the front-facing camera, improved facial recognition and the power of the A16 chip.
The regular iPhone 14 went relatively uncommented with only “some camera hardware changes” mooted, suggesting that this will be a more incremental upgrade for those not going Pro. If that’s the case, there’s a good argument for buying an iPhone 13 Pro instead, but we shall know for sure on Wednesday when Apple finally lifts the head on the phone, as well as the Apple Watch 8 and potentially the AirPods Pro 2.
Read next: I just tried Focus Mode on iOS 16 — and it’s a game changer. And we take a look at what's beyond the Apple September 7 event.
