Apple's latest iPhone 14 launched in China without anticipated price hike

As smartphone sales recently witnessed their worst half-year performance in the Chinese market in years, US tech company Apple Inc launched its latest iPhone 14 lineups and smartwatches without raising prices over previous models, thus upping the ante amid high-end handset competition with rivals like China's Huawei Technologies.

In its annual September event at its headquarters in California as well as online, the company unveiled its iPhone 14 series featuring upgraded chips, batteries and camera functionality boasting a new design called "dynamic island".

The fresh design has the front camera in a pill-shaped hole on the screen to replace the notch, and allows users to receive notifications and alerts.