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The Pixel 7 is far more compelling than the iPhone 14
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OPINION: This week Apple unveiled a host of new tech including theiPhone 14family of phones,AirPods 2 Pro, theApple Watch 8,Apple Watch SE 2andApple Watch Ultra.
And while I foundplenty to get excited aboutwith the Apple Watch Ultra and Pro models of the iPhone 14, I struggled to get truly excited about the base iPhone 14 for one key reason: there’s a far more interesting flagship just around the corner. I speak of course of Google’s already soft unveiledPixel 7.
The Pixel 7 is the hotly anticipated follow up to one of my favourite phones to appear in the last 12 months, thePixel 6. The phone was soft unveiled at Google’sI/O 2022event, where it teased the look of the handset and its Pro sibling alongside thePixel Watchand Pixel Tablet.
While Google didn’t reveal anything about its specs at the event, I think it’s already more exciting than the iPhone 14 for a few reasons. First, because of how much I’ve loved using the Pixel 6 andPixel 6 Prosince we got them in for testing.
Both phones offer best in class camera performance, great screens and a few features you won’t find anywhere else thanks to the use of Google’s home-madeTensor silicon. The coolest feature I’ve used regularly include the phone’s ability to real-time translate, notate conversations andMagic Eraser.
The latter is a photography mode that lets you remove unwanted people or objects from photos in the camera app retroactively. I’ve used it on more than one occasion to salvage photos at key events like my anniversary. The feature is also exclusive to Pixel phones, as it relies on the Tensor chip’s machine learning powers.
With Google teasing that it’s going to utilise it’s next-genTensor 2 siliconto further improve the Pixel 7’s camera performance and add yet more exclusive new features, this automatically makes it more interesting than the iPhone 14 in my eyes.
The second reason I think the iPhone 14 isn’t as compelling as its fast approaching Google rival is a simple one. Specifically, that the iPhone 14 is a very boring update.
The chassis looks identical to theiPhone 13, it’s powered by the sameA15 Bionicchip (not the newA16 Bionicfound inside the Pro mode), and features an identically sized 6.1-inch screen which hasn’t been updated to feature a fastvariable refresh rate,Promotionscreen. In 2022 this is a weird omission as Android phones that cost radically less now have fast refresh screens as standard.
As far as I can tell, Apple has only upgraded the camera for the jump up from the the iPhone 13. Apple has added autofocus to the front camera, while making a number of hardware and software upgrades to the rear camera to help boost low-light performance.
Don’t get me wrong, if Apple’s claims ring true when we get the iPhone 14 in for testing, they’ll be welcome as low light was a key area the iPhone 13 struggled to compete with thebest camera phoneswhen we reviewed it last year. But it still doesn’t do enough to make the iPhone 14 exciting in the same way the Pixel 7 is, in my mind.
That’s why I can’t help but feel Apple’s iPhone 14 is a dull release that may well be overshadowed in the very near future.
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Alastair is in charge of Trusted Reviews Limited’s editorial strategy and output across all its sites. He has over a decade’s experience as a journalist working in both B2C and B2B press. During this …
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
