So I've kind of been making fun of iPhones for, like, a really long time.
For like basically 10 years now, mostly because they deserved it. But this year,
this year is different. Rumor is Apple has finally fixed the worst part of the iPhone design.
Yeah, from the outside at first glance, the iPhone 14 looks just like the 13.
But the kind folks over at Apple have been working hard all year long changing up the insides. And if
the rumors are true this new regular iPhone 14 is the best built iPhone in a really,
really, really long time. Really. It's even built better than the more expensive iPhone
14 Pro. I might be getting ahead of myself though. Can't count our chickens before they hatch,
nor can we count the apples in a seed. Not sure where I'm going with that one. Let's get started.
[Intro]
I'm just going to say it. Apple has changed up the new internal structure of the iPhone 14.
For the past 9 years, iPhones have been opened up with the screen first, which led to some massive
repair problems when they introduced the glued shut impossible to repair glass backed iPhone 8,
with repair costs exceeding $500 when the glass cracked, which it often does. Glass is
glass – a nightmare for wallets everywhere. All of that though has changed with the iPhone 14.
Rumor is the screen still comes off on its own for easy replacement of course. But the back
glass now does the same. The back panel is easy to replace, and officially, straight from Apple,
only costs $169 instead of the normal $500 for the glued together versions like the iPhone 14 Pro.
It's cool to see Apple doing something about the situation and I hope it expands into the
Pro models. This is a big deal, even more so since the aftermarket non-official glass replacements
will usually only cost about $20 or $30. It'll be a game changer for people who like
non-broken phones and non-broke wallets. Like I said though, these are just rumors,
we won't know for sure until we can tear this down ourselves.
But first, the durability test. With a brand new internal design we need to check out the
structural integrity. Apple is, of course, using the ceramic shield again which leaves
extremely faint lines at level 6, and scratches at a level 7. I do think Apple's Ceramic Shield
is an improvement over normal tempered glass. It's nice that it's also protecting
the 12 megapixel selfie camera which is right next to the metal earpiece grill.
Ceramic Shield though is still solidly a member of the glass family and not invincible.
Preemptive protection is always cheaper than having none.
On my personal phone I rock protection from my channel's sponsor dbrand. They have a perfectly
fit tempered glass screen protector, along with a grip case. The rubberized sides have that sweet
micro-dotted texture and the raised lip to keep the camera bump protected. The only thing better
than cheaply repairing something is not having it break in the first place. I'll leave a link
down in the description. Dbrand.com/14 so you can get your phone protected just like mine.
Alright, where were we? Oh yes, the aerospace grade aluminum.
Aerospace grade is actual manufacturing terminology,
which is a bit more founded than Samsung's Armor Aluminum
since Armor is more marketing jargon than a real life substance. Apple uses recycled aluminum in
59% of their products, probably since it's cheaper, but also since it has 1/40th the
carbon footprint of mined aluminum...you know, since it's already out of the ground.
Plus, Apple buys some of their aluminum from a company in Canada
which melts aluminum using hydroelectricity instead of burning fossil fuels, all of which I
can get behind. My iPhone 14 is an international version which does include a SIM card tray.
Unfortunately the SIM tray is not included in the version headed for the United States. We still
have the lightning port at the bottom for the time being. The rumored removable back glass is
back here on the back. It'll be fun to tear this one down and see how it looks from the inside.
We can make our way over to the camera hump. The iPhone 14 has two cameras back here,
along with a circular flash. Not sure if this version has the 9 LEDs inside the flash like the
Pro does. We'll have to find out during that same teardown. We have the 12 megapixel normal camera,
and the 12 megapixel ultra wide. Apple is again bragging about the sapphire crystal lens cover
which is still strange. Sapphire should only start scratching at a level 8 or 9,
but as we can see from the scratches at 6, we know Apple ain't using the good
stuff. And whatever this is back here honestly just seems to scratch easier
than their Ceramic Shield on the front. In my opinion Apple should just ditch their impure
sapphire venture and double down on Ceramic Shield which physically appears to be better anyway. Let
me know down in the comments if you want to see me test the new Apple Watch Ultra which also
is supposedly protected with Apple's low-grade sapphire. We can always check just to be sure.
As for the screen we have a 6.1 inch super retina display. And as we can see from the burn test,
the pixels start going white after about 20 seconds. And normally I would stop the
burning at this point, but I haven't had time to mention the SOS calling,
which is actually kind of cool. If the iPhone 14 is out of service,
it can like talk to satellites and stuff and get help on the way during an emergency. Apparently
though, this is a service and it costs extra money. Apple is providing the subscription for
free for the first two years. But if you get lost or aren't subscribed after that, you can just die.
I love the burn test. The screen's brightness is permanently damaged after the extended flame sesh,
and you can see that the OLED pixels never do recover.
Now for the bend test. With the internal redesign on the iPhone 14, the structure needs to be
tested. I would hate to have a repeat of the old iPhone 6 days, and not all phones live to
the end. However, with this new iPhone 14 bending from the back, we don't have any flex whatsoever.
And again from the front, we still have a rock solid sandwich of glass. The iPhone 14 is as
structurally sound as last year, even with the new removable panels. Nice work, Apple.
Apple's one of the largest and richest corporations on the planet,
so the major steps they are taking towards reparability, sustainability,
and just keeping their devices around longer gets a thumbs up from me. We'll find out if
the rumors are true about that back panel with the teardown. So hit that subscribe
button so you don't miss it. Grab a dbrand grip case for whatever phone you're rocking now.
Cases do tend to work better before things are broken. And as always, come hang out with me
on Instagram and Twitter. And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.