Mostly I agree with the analyses you give for each photo, but disagree strongly with #2 that of the portrait. As a serious amateur photographer (exhibitions in 3 countries), I would like to add this.
Photo A is much better than B. While all the iPhone shots tend to be a little cool, the big thing here is DETAIL in the shadows. In A you can see the person's face. This is the most important thing in a portrait! Also there is detail in the jacket. In The B photo, most of the face is obscured in deep shadow and the jacket a black mush. In fact, it is likely that they are so obscured that you could not recover detail in software.