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Man, I remember when Apple would just release an iPhone every three or four years. Boy, was that an event! We'd all huddle around our radios by the fireside, and listen to Steve Jobs' voice crackling over the wireless, and--

*whispers from off stage*

No?

*whispers from off stage*

Oh. But certainly I remember those halcyon days when Apple would release an iPhone every three MONTHS, because there was so much to put into the new phones that they just couldn't churn out the upgrades fast enough! We would get into the surrey and ride into town to get on li--

*whispers from off stage*

What? Well what was I thinking of, then? Are you SURE?

*whispers from off stage*

OK...then...I remember when... *glances off stage* ...when they would release an iPhone ONCE a year... *glances off stage, silence* ...and the first day it was available we would order it online... *glances off stage, silence* ...and it would arrive the very next da--

*curtain hurriedly falls*
you ok?
 
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I have a 13 Pro and love it, but between the $400 discount my carrier is offering and the amount i could sell my phone for privately, it would be no money out of pocket to buy the 14 Pro. I don't need it by any means, but it's sort of a "why not" situation to get a new slightly upgraded phone with a new warranty and new battery for "free".
That’s the thing if you do it right then even a yearly upgrade is not that big of a hit. In my case I sold my iPhone 13 pro max a day before the Keynote, to a private party for $900. I bought it for $1200 a year ago. I put the new phone on my Apple Card to get 3% cashback and the $900 I got for it will go towards the balance which is on 0% Interest. The departure of the notch with the dynamic island, slick animations, and multitasking features was worth it for me 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
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For somewhere under $40/mo, forever, one can always be on the absolute newest iPhone hardware available and never have to worry about paying for repairs, battery degradation, etc.

The cost isn't a big deal in my opinion, though I think someone could make a pretty good e-waste footprint argument that would inspire some reflection about my sticking to this regimen for the next 15 years like I have for the last 15. Although, I guess Apple is consistently improving its recycling programs as well...
 
Loved the idea of the emergency sat messaging and find my location stuff. I backpack routinely and carry a separate device with me. Just expectation and reality ended up not being at the same level.

It sounds like you've tested emergency sat messaging and find my location stuff already and it doesn't meet your expectation?

Interested to know what the expectation was, and how the separate device meets it better, or how the 14 doesn't meet the expectation.
 
That’s the thing if you do it right then even a yearly upgrade is not that big of a hit. In my case I sold my iPhone 13 pro max a day before the Keynote and I sold it private party for $900. I bought it for $1200 a year ago. I put the new phone on my Apple Card to get 3% cashback and the $900 I got for it will go towards the balance which is on 0% Interest. For me the dynamic island with the slick animations and multitasking features was worth it for me 🤷🏻‍♂️
Nice, that's awesome!
Yeah, these are the things that people don't understand when they question those of us who upgrade every year. Sure, if it was literally $1000 or more out of pocket every year, it would be insane unless we were filthy rich. But for many of us, it's either almost free or just a couple hundred dollars each year to upgrade between incentives like this and resale (or trade-in) value on our old phones.
 
It sounds like you've tested emergency sat messaging and find my location stuff already and it doesn't meet your expectation?

Interested to know what the expectation was, and how the separate device meets it better, or how the 14 doesn't meet the expectation.

I have not tested, I know what to expect based on what Apple has told us though.

The sat communicator I do have already allows 2 way communication without it just being for an emergency message to responders or a location check in.
 
Received. Couldn't care less about this phone. I have the 13 Pro max and the trade in was good for it ($1000 carrier trade in) but ... the 14 pro is going back. (to note, i did not trade in yet .. it was going to be mail in, so I still have my 13 pro max)

The camera bump is stupidly large.
The 13 pro, 12 pro, and honestly the 11 pro before it is still plenty fast.

I have bought year over year for years ... I just couldn't care less about the 14 Pro at this point.

Edit: I should point out this isn't bashing the phone, or Apple. At this point year over year upgrades is what it is, small advancements. This is just a sharing of thoughts on my end, nothing more (and as someone said below .. perhaps a little self discovery).
So prefer max?
 
I'm not sure why, after all the videos and everything else out there on the phone, how you couldn't make the decision to keep your 13 Pro before buying the 14 Pro. Did you think it was going to have some magical feature that hadn't already been discussed in the hundreds of videos about the phone?
A lot of people, including on these forums, were bashing various critical reviews and saying they wanted to make their own decision once the phone was out. I'm sure that's what OP was thinking, too
 
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I’ve certainly upgraded yearly on a number of occasions, but last year was the first time I did not buy the phone outright and instead signed up for the Upgrade Plan.

With my purple 14 pro still out for delivery, I couldn’t be less excited. Least anticipation in 14 years.

I’ve wanted a purple phone ever since they made colored phones, but with all the hate IRL for the color I am pissed without even seeing it. The space black looks better than any gray or black color we have seen in a long time. So I am already regretting not getting it.

10 or more iPhones and I only ever had 2 colored phones. Loved my MG 11 Pro.

Only reason I’m getting/keeping the 14 Pro is I spend lots of time in the mountains and other places without cell coverage and the satellite communication aspect could be useful. Besides that I don’t give 2 💩’s
 
I think folks get caught in the announcement hype and pre order and then when it's actually here some people are just meh on it as that hype wore off.

Anyhow I've been doing this since the start and when I find a reason not to purchase the next iteration I won't. For this one I specifically wanted the satellite feature. We love to take roadtrips and there are stretches in West Texas, New Mexico etc where I have no cell service for an hour or two and my car doesn't either. Roadtripping especially with my dogs gives me anxiety when we drive through those parts. Knowing my phone is capable of getting us emergency help if we needed it would be great. I'm also a fan of AOD and wanted that feature too.
 
I thought the 13 Pro was a pretty good leap over the 12 Pro with the camera improvements, brighter screen, and 120Hz. I was expecting to see pretty big camera updates for this year given that Apple was going from 12MP to 48MP. But the reviews have been very mixed on the camera improvements, and a lot were saying that the 13 Pro looks better or the same in many cases. Even though there's a $1000 credit option with my carrier, it takes several years to get the full credits. Plus the value for a Pro at Apple dropped from $640 to $600 this year. I had a pre-order in, but I cancelled it after seeing the reviews pan it in terms of a 13 Pro to 14 Pro upgrade. It sounds like it's good for 12 Pro/12 and earlier phone users though.
 
I think a lot of us still have lingering effects when every iPhone release was very cool. I mean, people would line up just to get it on launch day! It had a good run but tech-wise it was never sustainable, you don’t need to upgrade every year. You can if you want, it just won’t be special like it used to be.
The smartphone market is just very, very mature now with advancements having reached a peak making it increasingly hard to make leaps and really impress consumers.

Anyone buying a 14 and being disappointed is, in my view, not about Apple not delivering a great product but more about most of us coming from iPhones that are very close in (perceived) performance even though they are maybe years old.

The only way to get hyped a bit again is by intentionally starving ourselves and upgrading every 5 years or less frequent.

I know that's not something most of us will do. But upgrading every 1-3 years these days feels pointless for a reason (hint: it is and we all know it!)
 
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14P is a pretty good device. If you had, say, a XS on its last legs or an 8+, sure. But Apple seems to have chucked its former obsession with thin and light and replaced it with a drive to make phones as bulky and heavy as they need to in order to cram in some headline feature or camera improvement. "Camera bump" no longer feels accurate. It's like a camera cactus now.
 
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I was also shocked by the super large camera bumps. Especially compared to my 11 PM. Glad I received my case days ago. No way I'm going without a case on this thing.

I also wish there was a less convoluted to set up lock screens. And wish you could add more widgets. But I'm enjoying AOD on this thing. I though it would be hard to tell if the display is woke or not, but it's very obvious when it's on AOD.

Overall, I have no real complaints. I just expect AOD to evolve over time.
 
The $1000 carrier trade in (spread over 36 months) isn’t a good deal for iPhone 13 Pro Max.

It’s just better to take the $720 trade in from apple (really $770 cause apple refunds y the taxes)

Much more flexibility to trade in for iPhone 15 in 2023.

The $1000 credit is a better deal if u have iPhone 12 pro if u wanted to do the trade in.
 
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Frankly, no one should be doing yearly upgrades anyways. It is wasteful, irresponsible, and selfish not only with regards to using up the earth’s resources but also filling up landfills with electronic junk. My iPhone X works beautifully.
 
It's probably reached the end of some kind of cycle. Apple knows this, and is I'm sure, frantically looking for something new to get back our enthusiasm. Like a celebrity after a string of sad films (Cage).
 
Reviews thus far make it seem like that's not the case,
It’s definitely not. I tried demo iPhone in store yesterday, and I don’t see the “improved details” people keep touting about, even at in-store environment, which has plenty of light either way. Zoom in, and the detail even for objects one meter away from me is just as bad as iPhone 12 Pro Max.
 
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