Saving money is great, and when you buy a new iPhone, you might want to save on cases, too. Can an old iPhone 13 case fit the new iPhone 14?
New iPhones are out, as the iPhone 14 standard rocks up on shelves, and if you’ve managed to snag one, there’s a good chance that protection is the next thing you’re thinking about. That likely means a case, and probably a new case, at that.
But if you’re thinking of saving money, and either reusing an old case for an older model or looking for one of last year’s cases, it’s worth finding out whether it will fit. After all, a phone case that doesn’t fit may just end up being a waste of money, instead of the cost-saving measure you were hoping it would be.
In theory, old iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 cases should match the the design of the iPhone 14, because everything has largely been left the same, at least upon first glance. It all should be the same, but we can note from Apple’s specs that the thickness has changed slightly (7.65mm vs 7.80mm), and that may lead you down a path where nothing matches up.
As we learned when trying to match an iPhone 12 case to an iPhone 13, it didn’t work because Apple had moved the buttons around. That may end up being the problem here, so let’s find out.
Will an iPhone 13 case fit an iPhone 14?
The answer for this one is maybe. Not quite, not unless your iPhone 13 case has a bigger than usual cut out for the camera and thickness.
The button placement isn’t the issue in the new model — it all lines up! — but the camera cut-out is different, and so an iPhone 13 case doesn’t fit an iPhone 14 cleanly.
You can clearly see on our Apple RED iPhone 13 case that the iPhone 14 is pushing up in the top right corner, and the camera is why.
It’s hard to see, but there’s a little more thickness on the camera lenses in the iPhone 14 that wasn’t there in last year’s model, and that’s affecting the fit.
In original Apple iPhone 13 cases, the iPhone 13 wouldn’t fit. However, when tested with a third-party case from Tech21, the iPhone 13 case would. Your mileage may vary, it seems, so just be careful.
Can an iPhone 13 Pro case for an iPhone 14?
So what about iPhone 13 Pro cases? They have a larger cut out for the camera because of the bigger module found in the iPhone 13 Pro. Will an iPhone 13 Pro case fit an iPhone 14?
Sadly, no, at least not from our tests.
While you might get lucky with an iPhone 13 Pro case, neither the third-party EFM case we tested and the original Apple iPhone 13 Pro case worked properly with the iPhone 14.
It seems the answer is pretty clear in the iPhone 14 generation: buy a new case, otherwise it just might not fit.
Can an iPhone 14 case fit an iPhone 13?
Then there’s the other way around: can you make an iPhone 14 case fit an older iPhone 13?
And for that, the answer is yes, an iPhone 14 case will fit an iPhone 13.
We only have one to test with at present, but the original Apple iPhone 14 case fits an iPhone 13 with no dramas, meaning all new cases from this year should also fit last year’s model, which is still being sold.
