The iPhone 14 Pro Max price increase explained by ultrawide camera specs leak

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max ultrawide camera specs

Instead of the current 12MP ultrawide camera sensor with small-ish 1 micron pixels, Apple will be equipping the 14 Pro models with a sensor that has 40% larger pixels, hence will be able to collect way more photons in the same low-light scenario than its predecessor the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max.

The bean counters from Cupertino like to wait for the prices of expensive tech to fall down in price and prove itself on other phones before they swoop in, tweak it to their liking and unleash the marketing team on it until it becomes the talk of the town. Apple has half of the US public locked as customers anyway, so incremental upgrades have worked ever since the OG iPhone’s appearance in AT&T’s roster way back in 2007.

High component costs necessitated the iPhone 14 Pro price bump

Ming-Chi Kuo even listed the component suppliers that won Apple’s ultrawide camera upgrade orders – Sony for the sensor, Minebea and Largan for the voice coil monitor, and LG for the actual camera module packaging – but warned they will charge much more this year.

Besides the way more expensive 48MP main camera sensor, Apple will have to shell out 70% more for the new ultrawide camera sensor from Sony, 45% for the voice coil monitors from Largan and Minebea, and 40% more for LG’s camera packaging, boosting the overall camera set pricing significantly.

The iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, however, will sport other upgrades that their lesser-spec’d siblings won’t have, like a new A16 processor and a better screen-to-body ratio thanks to drastic frontal design changes on account of a punch-hole screen concept embrace by Apple.

Thus, its bean counters may again hit the nail on the head and sell more Pro models than regular iPhone 14s for a change, at least in the initial preorder period, inflation and purchasing power be damned.