Apple is expanding Emergency SOS via satellite to two new countries: Australia and New Zealand. If you use an iPhone 14, you can enjoy this life-saving feature for free for the next two years.
The feature allows your iPhone to contact emergency services through text messages when you are out of mobile network range.
Six months from now, the iPhone 12 will be 3 years old. If you got the phone on launch day in October 2020, it must already be showing its age, with poor battery life and sub-par camera performance.
Does that mean it’s time to ditch your iPhone 12 and upgrade to the iPhone 14, which starts at $799? Or should you save your money and wait for the upcoming iPhone 15? Find out with our comparison.
Apple’s experiment with the iPhone 14 Plus is paying off… somewhat. The first 6.7-inch non-Pro model is selling much better than the 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini it replaced, according to a market analysis firm.
That said, the Plus reportedly has the weakest demand of any of the handsets Apple released in fall 2022.
Even if a yellow iPhone 14 or 14 Plus isn’t your thing, you should really check out Apple’s video advert for the new product. It’s like totally trippy, man.
Turn on, tune in, drop out.
The recently announced iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus in yellow casings are now in Apple’s brick-and-mortar retail stores.
The new color option was announced in early March and then went up for preorder a few days ago, but Tuesday is the real launch day.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Did the world really need a yellow iPhone 14? Especially one that looks about as bold as a buttered banana? At least we’ve got new iMacs coming to ease our disappointment.
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
The online Apple store began taking preorders on Friday for the recently announced iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus in yellow casings.
The canary-colored handsets won’t be in stores until March 14,though.
Anyone who just can’t wait for the newly announced yellow iPhone 14 can at least put Apple’s wallpaper for the upcoming handset on their current device.
The same is also true for those who simply like yellow and green.
Half a dozen additional European countries will soon gain access to the iPhone 14 Emergency SOS via satellite feature. It was already available in six countries around the world.
It allows users away from cellular networks to reach out for help from almost anywhere … as long as the local emergency services are prepared for the satellite service.
Apple rolled out yellow versions of its iPhone 14 and 14 Plus handsets Tuesday as part of a typical midcycle refresh. The new color joins midnight, starlight, Product(Red), blue and purple in the lineup. Apple made four new silicone case colors available, too.
You can preorder the new yellow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus as of Friday. The new phones arrive in stores on March 14, Apple said. The cases are available now.
Apple could launch the yellow iPhone 14 sooner than you think. This won’t be the first time Apple has announced a mid-cycle color refresh for its iPhone lineup.
Alongside the new color, Apple should launch its spring collection of iPhone 14 cases and watch bands.
Update: As predicted, a new yellow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus joined Apple’s lineup on Tuesday.
Apple is reportedly close to adding a new color option to a couple of models in the iPhone 14 series. The latest iOS handset in a yellow casing might be out this spring. No other changes are expected.
It’s not unprecedented: New green options were added to the iPhone 13 Pro models in 2022, months after the products had reached the market.
Consumers have to put down $1099 for an iPhone 14 Pro Max, but the hardware components for Apple’s top-of-the line smartphone cost less than half the selling price.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking the rest is pure profit.
Emergency SOS via satellite on an iPhone 14 took the “search” out of “search and rescue” for two fortunate Canadian women. They got stuck in snow on a logging road in British Columbia, Canada.
Rescuers said they thought it was the feature’s first use in BC. And the way it pinpointed the women’s location may have saved the women’s lives without the need for a time-consuming search.
The time when iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max buyers could expect a long wait to get Apple’s latest are over. The top-of-the-line iOS handsets can now be ordered from the Apple store for next-day delivery.
That’s a far cry from last fall when the wait stretched out over a month.
Apple has released a couple of new ads highlighting the iPhone 14’s Action Mode and the Undo Send feature in iOS 16’s Messages app. The features are available on both regular iPhone 14 and 14 Pro series.
This is the second ad Apple has released since the iPhone 14 release to promote Action Mode. The advanced stabilization mode provides gimbal-like stabilization.
The A16 processor in the iPhone 14 Pro models isn’t as powerful as Apple first hoped. Engineers reportedly mucked up the original design of the GPU so much that the company was forced to use essentially the same design as its predecessor.
Apple’s difficulties hiring and retaining top talent for its processor team apparently caused the problem.
It’s no longer possible to order a new top-tier iPhone from Apple and have it delivered this year. The iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max are both backordered until early January 2023.
The delay is the result of strong demand for these handsets coupled with production problems in China.
Apple is expanding iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS via satellite feature to more countries. The feature is now available to iPhone 14 owners in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Ireland starting today.
Emergency SOS was only available in the United States and Canada so far. Apple previously confirmed the feature would expand to more countries in December.
After recent problems in China, Apple is ramping up iPhone assembly in India. The number of iOS handsets assembled in that country will reportedly triple in the coming years.
Previous reports have also indicated that Apple is putting a much greater emphasis on making iPhones in India.
Apple’s new Emergency SOS via satellite service built into the iPhone 14 helped Alaska State Troopers rescue a man near the Arctic Circle.
As the satellite SOS service just launched in mid-November, this may be the first time it has been used in real crisis.
The new iOS 16.1.2 update is intended to make the iPhone 14 stop calling for an ambulance when the user takes a tumble. It includes “Crash Detection optimizations” according to Apple.
The update released Wednesday also makes some other tweaks so it’s worth installing on all compatible iPhones.
The Chinese government lifted the COVID-19 lockdown in Zhengzhou, China, the location of the Foxconn facility where most iPhone Pro models are assembled. This raises the possibility that normal operations at the facility will resume soon.
Lockdowns in the area have dramatically lowered assembly of Apple handsets… possibly by as much as 80%.
Protests at a Foxconn plant in China where the two iPhone 14 Pro models are assembled will allegedly cut deeply into the supply of these handsets. Millions of units that would have been produced in 2022 without the protests supposedly now will not be.
Workers clashed with police during recent COVID-19 lockdowns at the plant, known as “iPhone City” due to its strategic importance to Apple.
A sketchy rumor claims Apple planned to introduce a $49 Apple Pencil with iPhone compatibility. The company wanted to launch the budget Apple Pencil alongside new iPhones in September.
For unclear reasons, though, Apple changed its mind at the last minute and canceled the product’s launch.
