iPhone 14 and 14 Pro* (*insert any future model iPhone here), is it worth spending and upgrading every year?
The iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Pro, phones lauded by some in a positive light while others negatively, particularly when looking at the year on year improvements compared to their predecessors. But is this concept of direct year on year comparisons right? Should each iPhone be compared with it’s predecessor so strictly?
At the moment, I’m using an iPhone 13 Pro and for me, this is the best phone I’ve ever used. Watching the (September 2022) Apple Keynote, I had a long think, and I was very tempted and close to actually pressing that purchase button and getting the new iPhone 14 Pro.
While the iPhone 14 was never an option, because for me, after owning and using an iPhone 13 Pro (which was, and is, my only ‘Pro’ I’ve ever owned), I don’t think I’ll ever be happy and content with the regular model ever again and that’s not me saying the regular model is or ever will be a bad choice because no matter how many versions and future variations down the line, it’s still going to be one of the best phones that Apple make.
It’s becoming more apparent across the board of phone manufacturers that once they’ve got their design framework in place then very little will ever change year on year and the iPhone 14 range is the same (a good comparison is the iPad, all modern iPad’s have adopted that squared look and unsurprisingly, the base iPad, has now shifted to that same framework).
The iPhone 14’s aren’t really there for people who have one of the previous year’s iterations, because in comparison there isn’t much difference between them, the only thing that generally does improve is the technology with the inclusion of a few showpiece new features.
Let’s have a brief look at my point in question, realistically, should I upgrade this iPhone 13 Pro to a iPhone 14 Pro, the simplest answer is no, but let’s explore why by looking first at the background.
In today’s modern society, the majority of people who have had a phone for 12 months shouldn’t be looking at an upgrade if they are happy and content with what they’ve got, and yes their are exceptions to this rule, like with people where money is no object, or people with the mindset of it’s trendy to have the latest and greatest, or with, creators who enjoy creating and showing us the viewer, including myself, videos of those new products so you can make informed decisions about whether it’s a good choice for you.
Under the layer of the fancy gimmicks of new hardware and features, your use and experience of the current iOS is going to be the same from one iPhone to the next and for me, that ease of use and transition is what keeps me within the ecosystem.
The current Apple iPhone OS, iOS 16, is compatible with every iPhone down to the iPhone 8, which was released 5 years ago, and a lot feature wise has happened in that 5 years. The iOS experience of the day to day user using an iPhone 8 is more or less going to be the same as someone using an iPhone 14, yes, the 14 is quicker, has a better camera and other things but what Apple prides itself with is familiarity across all of it’s devices.
On the surface, apart from the obvious differences (between the 13 Pro and 14 Pro), they share loads of similarities, but it’s those notable upgrades (the gimmicks), that will make or break your decision whether it’s a good idea to swap to the iPhone 14 Pro (or whichever phone they are announcing), and remember, any minor notable upgrade from 13 to 14, is an even greater scale of upgrade depending on how old the device your coming from is.
The switch from A15 to A16 Bionic chip, which is the normal annual upgrade we always see, where the latest phone, with their latest chip technology is going to be quicker, more efficient and more powerful supporting those other upgrades that require the beefed up chip.
The screens on both utilise a Super Retina XDR display and promotion technology but the 14 has a greater peak and outdoor brightness than the 13 and has thinner borders which results in the 14 having a taller aspect ratio, which again is minor, but it’s those little tweaks that pad out the keynote.
The 14 now has always-on display, or put more accurately, Apple’s version of always-on display, depending on who you watch or the articles you read you’ll see a selection of pro’s and con’s regarding the always on display and its impact on the improved battery capacity of the 14, but it’s a first generation always on display and things can only get better and more refined because that’s the Apple way.
Instead of the notch, which still features on the regular 14 and 14 plus, on the 14 Pro’s there is now the pill shaped cutout, or the dynamic island, which gives you a new way of interacting with your phone and just like the always on display this is very much Apple’s version of “We need to do something with the pill shaped cutout that makes it different from the rest of the cutouts out there” and they’ve done exactly that.
For me, one of the most important features of a modern phone is it’s ability to take photos and the quality of those photos, and becuase I thoroughly enjoy taking pictures with my iPhone, sometimes it is so easy to opt for the phone instead of the camera because I have full faith in that what I shoot from the iPhone is going to be how I want it to look and, yes, there are still occasions where I’m only going to opt for my camera, but for the day to day stuff and sometimes for the more professional looking stuff, the output that you get from these is awesome.
This year, there’s an all new 48MP main camera which replaces the 12MP one, with a sensor that is 65% larger than the one on the iPhone 13 Pro, which means, in theory, the shots and zoom shots are going to contain more detail, which to some people, that extra sharpening may in fact make to image not as appealing.
The Low light images are showing a noticeable year on year improvement and this year is no exception. The other notable minor camera improvements are the 2x zoom now available in portrait mode and the front selfie camera has a brighter lens and now supports autofocus.
You might remember when Apple introduced photography with the iPhone 11 and its new Deep Fusion feature, which uses computational photography using the advanced machine learning of the A13 chip, well in additional to this, and armed with their new photography buzz term, the iPhone 14 Pro’s have Photonic Engine, which also uses computational photography utilising hardware, machine learning and software to make the overall look of low light shots even better.
New features like these are going to make to photos look better, but is the average person carrying one of these in their pocket who has upgraded from an iPhone 13 Pro going to notice? Probably not.
Video wise there are a few improvements, for me, most notable with that action mode, getting smooth stabilised footage meaning that you won’t need to buy an expensive gimbal, although the standard in-lens stabilisation has been approaching that barrier of acceptance for a while.
The other two main headline features of the iPhone 14 range is the inclusion of satellite SOS and crash detection, one a feature the majority of people will never use and the other a feature nobody hopes to use and it’s reassuring in the background that if something were to happen to me in a car accident, then in an emergency, if I was unable to, it would call the emergency services.
Great features, good improvements but in reality is it enough to justify upgrading, probably not, but I’m not the target audience for this, the people more tempted by this would be the ones who are coming up to the end of their 24 month carrier contracts if they’ve got an iPhone 12, the ones who have anything any older than the 12, people who now have iPhones that are no longer supported by the latest iOS upgrades and of course the people who don’t already have an iPhone and are using an ‘non-iPhone’ phone.
Apple (and other manufacturers), know exactly what they are doing, yes they probably have the next few years of technology (gimmicks) all ready right now, but in an effort to prevent the year on year releases being perceived as stale, which to some people, may they have already reached this point, they going to drip feed those technologies through year by year and now we are seeing the clear differences and mindset change and approach by Apple creating the noticeably different iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Pro range. If you’re just a regular user wanting the up to date technology at an affordable flagship price then choose the iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Plus, but if you want to take that even further with better photography, more innovative features that build upon the regular 14 than choose the iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max.
For now, I’ll just stick with my best phone ever for at least one more year.
If you want to see the video version of this article, check out the YouTube link below.
