Or you could have a black spot that does nothing. I don't really see the complaint with the "dynamic island" it's a quick access to your recent app instead of having to go into tile view and it displays information you wouldn't see..unless you swap apps. What's the issue here really? Just seems like a complaint to justify not purchasing the product and feeling better about your current device. When I say you, I mean the general complainers.
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iPhone 13 Pro vs. iPhone 14 Pro Buyer's Guide: Should You Upgrade?
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Or you could have a black spot that does nothing. I don't really see the complaint with the "dynamic island" it's a quick access to your recent app instead of having to go into tile view and it displays information you wouldn't see..unless you swap apps. What's the issue here really? Just seems like a complaint to justify not purchasing the product and feeling better about your current device. When I say you, I mean the general complainers.
Biggest feature for me is the satellite connectivity. I fly aerial survey work in northern canada remote areas. I have spot for search and rescue, pay $300/year plus $400 for the device. This iPhone would replace this and save me money in long run.
I’m in the same boat. Currently daily driving my iPhone XS Max with no intent to upgrade until USB-C.
If your a pro photographer who wants to have access to a solid phone camera at all times, I can see upgrading to the 14 Pro. I own a 13 Pro Max and am extremely happy with the cameras. I’m also not a pro photographer. With the differentiation happening between the Pro and regular iPhones, I think there is less reason to recommend the Pro over the regular model to most people. A majority of users do not need the ultra-fancy camera capabilities of the Pro, and the A15 is enough chip for years to come. Apple is making it more difficult to justify the Pro over the normal iPhone for many of their users.
14 Pro is an awesome phone, however I won't be upgrading from my 13Pro which is brilliant as well, because it's even heavier and the camera bump is even bigger, the only way Apple will temp me to upgrade is to sort out the weight and the horrible bump, which I suspect won't be until iPhone 16 Pro at the earliest
The iPhone 14 Pro is among Apple's latest iPhone models and follows last year's iPhone 13 Pro, but how different are the two successive high-end iPhone generations?
In 2021, Apple unveiled the iPhone 13 Pro as the successor to the popular iPhone 12 Pro, featuring ProMotion displays, an improved rear camera system, the A15 Bionic chip, longer battery life, and more. The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max have now been discontinued by Apple, and as year-old models, prices from third-party resellers are falling. As such, some customers may be weighing up whether to upgrade to an iPhone 13 Pro or an iPhone 14 Pro.
As the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro share a large number of features and the same fundamental design, should you consider buying or sticking with the iPhone 13 Pro to save money? Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two iPhone models is best for you, and serves as a way to clearly see the differences that the iPhone 14 brings to the table.
Comparing the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro
Although the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro share most of their basic features, the iPhone 14 Pro offers a large number of notable upgrades over its predecessor, such as the A16 Bionic chip, an all-new "Dynamic Island," an always-on display, and significantly improved cameras.
Differences
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
- A15 Bionic chip
- Super Retina XDR display with 1,200 nits peak brightness (HDR)
- "Notch" TrueDepth camera array
- 12-megapixel main camera with ƒ/1.5 aperture
- 12-megapixel ultra wide camera with ƒ/1.8 aperture
- 12-megapixel telephoto camera with ƒ/2.8 aperture
- Sensor-shift optical image stabilization
- True Tone flash
- Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field (1080p at 30 fps)
- 12-megapixel front-facing camera with ƒ/2.2 aperture
- Emergency SOS
- Up to 22 hours battery life during video playback
- eSIM optional
- 146.7mm height
- 7.65mm thickness
- Weight of 204 grams
- Available in Silver, Gold, Graphite, Sierra Blue, and Alpine Green
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max
- A16 Bionic chip
- Super Retina XDR display with 1,600 nits peak brightness (HDR) and 2,000 nits peak brightness (outdoor)
- Always-On display
- TrueDepth camera array with Dynamic Island
- 48-megapixel main camera with ƒ/1.78 aperture
- 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera with ƒ/2.2 aperture
- 12-megapixel telephoto camera with ƒ/2.8 aperture
- Second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization
- Adaptive True Tone flash
- Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field (4K HDR up to 30 fps)
- Action mode
- 12-megapixel front-facing camera with ƒ/1.9 aperture and autofocus
- Photonic Engine
- Emergency SOS via satellite
- Up to 23 hours battery life during video playback
- eSIM only (in the U.S.)
- 147.5mm height
- 7.85mm thickness
- Weight of 206 grams
- Available in Silver, Gold, Space Black, and Deep Purple
Final Thoughts
Overall, the iPhone 14 Pro is a fairly significant upgrade over the iPhone 13 Pro, introducing meaningful features like the Dynamic Island and the always-on display that provide new ways to interact with the device. The iPhone 14 Pro also brings major advancements to photography and videography in almost all areas, increasing the main camera's megapixel count for the first time since the iPhone 6S and introducing a new quad-pixel sensor, improving Cinematic mode and introducing Action mode, adding autofocus to the front-facing camera, enhancing low-light performance across the whole device with Photonic engine, and more. That is not to mention Emergency SOS via satellite, new color options, an additional hour battery life, and the A16 Bionic chip – Apple's first chip made with a 4nm fabrication process.
Due to the scale and breadth of these improvements, some iPhone 13 Pro users could justify upgrading to the iPhone 14 Pro if they highly value camera capabilities or simply like the Dynamic Island. Customers coming from an older model certainly have good reason to preference the latest "Pro" model over the iPhone 13 Pro.
Article Link: iPhone 13 Pro vs. iPhone 14 Pro Buyer's Guide: Should You Upgrade?
"...the iPhone 14 Pro is a fairly significant upgrade over the iPhone 13 Pro."
Those are incremental upgrades not significant upgrades.
No need to upgrade if one already has the 13 model.
A possible upgrade is from the Pro to Pro Max model.
Also, eSim only 14 models are an issue for some. Let the eSim issue work itself out as many carriers may support eSim, it's not supported well as it appears that their system needs to work out the kinks.
Those are incremental upgrades not significant upgrades.
No need to upgrade if one already has the 13 model.
A possible upgrade is from the Pro to Pro Max model.
Also, eSim only 14 models are an issue for some. Let the eSim issue work itself out as many carriers may support eSim, it's not supported well as it appears that their system needs to work out the kinks.
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Preordered this morning at 8:01, checked back at lunch, still same shipping date. Sounds like demand isn’t that high, and thinking on it, cancelled order.
Last time I got my 12 Pro Max with a BOGO. Then I got the 13 Pro Max and lost a year of credits. Stupid.
Not upgrading because of USB-C. Do I need the satellite? Not really. Pill island? No. Always-on display will be nice, but not reason enough for even the sales tax.
Yearly upgrades just aren’t worth it with as fast as phones have become.
Last time I got my 12 Pro Max with a BOGO. Then I got the 13 Pro Max and lost a year of credits. Stupid.
Not upgrading because of USB-C. Do I need the satellite? Not really. Pill island? No. Always-on display will be nice, but not reason enough for even the sales tax.
Yearly upgrades just aren’t worth it with as fast as phones have become.
Apparently not! Look at the aperture numbers on the ultra wide and standard lens - lower is better - and the 13 Pro performs better. The zoom lens are the same.
Useless article. Has Macrumors ever given a conclusion that buyers should not upgrade? Lol seen this year after year and its always the same. Differences listed then the recommendation that it’s worth the upgrade.
That’s not what the “pill” looks like. LolAgree with you or Apple should just leave it like this. No need to separate it. Keep it simple and aesthetic.
You seem to think it had to either be one or the other. i never said the satellite feature was bad. It's a great new safety feature. But it's certainly not exciting, and certainly not something that would motivate me to drop a grand.
No, what it was is that number cruncher and opposite of innovator Tim Cook does what he always does, maximize margins by releasing sub-optimal products. A brand new iphone with the previous wifi standard. No longer including chargers with their $1,000 phones. A new screen feature (always on) that existed for years on android devices. A brand new mac mini with an old hdmi standard that can't run 4k@120. Using single ram chips in their lowest tier m2 macbook, causing it to perform worse than the M1 macbook. The list could go on and on.
Well I know it doesn’t have to be one or the other, the fact remains that there simply isn’t much more you can do with a rectangular slab (within the realm of the average imagination). Smartphones as currently designed have plateaued. If they don’t pepper features with each iteration then there will be no reason to keep buying them, they know this.
As a professional photographer I can assure you if you don’t know what RAW format is you do not want to even bother with taking photos in RAW.
The iPhone (like many smart phones and even many consumer digital cameras) do a little magic processing on images to smooth out the subtle but noticeable side effects of taking photos in digital format vs that of traditional film / 35mm etc.
RAW is essentially the unaltered pure digital output of the photo (No compression, smoothing, degaussing etc.) and honestly to most consumers the RAW output not only will often look somewhat less appealing but it will also be tremendously larger in file size requiring many more resources to view and manage the photo.
Professional photographers that work with RAW files do so and then apply their own custom batch of tweaks and filters to fine tune the character of the image. RAW provides for this sort of flexibility without losing much in quality. But it is frankly meant to be used with professional programs like Adobe Photoshop and maybe Lightroom etc.
Yeah an apparent compromise that had to be made to accommodate the larger sensor.
Besides the f-stop / aperture the fact remains that the optics used will ALWAYS be the biggest limiting factor on RAW photo quality vs what ever you can do with AI etc to process the image.
You could put a 128 megapixel sensor in there and get marginally to no genuine benefit if you don’t significantly upgrade the optics (lenses, aperture size etc.)
And frankly the iPhone 13 Pro / Max cameras are truly excellent for their size.
The only genuine benefits I see with the new sensors are going to be in video capture. And honestly… how many people are actually shooting 4K 120fps?
Files sizes and what not make it impractical for the vast majority of users to capture in that format and then do simple things like uploading the photos to social media etc.
Regardless. I still think it’s generally a good thing to up the specs when ever possible. So long as you aren’t making massive compromises elsewhere.
The move from a 16 megapixel sensor to a 12 megapixel sensor with a larger surface area and better f-stop on the aperture were frankly very intelligent choices by Apple years ago. I see this current move as maybe testing the waters with these newer / cheaper sensors.
I personally think Apple should bring back the “s” naming to temper expectations. This would’ve been a iPhone 13s release which would have made sense IMO.
Are they though?
The aperture settings are now worse, not better. Smaller f-stop is better, it lets in more light, and is massively important for low light conditions, and also allows the blurred background effect. For me, low light ability is the most important aspect. Pretty much any modern camera can take great pics in good light, it's low light where the difference is.
However, smaller f-stop is offset by a larger sensor, so an unanswered question I have is, does the new phone have a larger sensor? (and no, more mega-pixels does not equate to a larger sensor).
I'm one of those that did upgrade (pre-ordered this morning), but just for a few specific reasons. Since the first iteration, I've personally used iPhones, but I did many years of wireless and mobile support on a large campus network, and used many different phones. I always imagined a phone with always on display, and when I saw it on the Androids, I was hooked (even tho it was a bad implementation). A small thing, but I'm use to looking at monitors and displays all day that instantly tell me what I need to know, so why shouldn't my phone be the same way without picking it up or tapping on it? Also, a friend had a LG V20 phone that had a 'second' top screen that I thought was pretty interesting.
My 6s was a great phone and lasted me way longer than I thought. When it died, the 12 wasn't offering AOD, so in hopes of seeing it in a later model, I made the mistake of buying a cheaper SE-2 to hold me out until Apple came out with AOD. A decent budget phone, but honestly, after about 10 months, I was ready to sell it. Battery life was not suited to my day's usage, and it just felt kind of cheap. After that, I just went for the 13 Pro, but was afraid the next version would have what I wanted, and it did, darn it! The Dynamic Island is a plus, and something I hadn't counted on. Lastly, because I use my iPhone to fly drones out in the Colorado sun, a super bright display is a real plus. USB-C would've made this upgrade perfect, but you 'can't always get what you want...'
But, my Sierra Blue 13 Pro will sell very well online, and my actual cash output will be worth it, along with gaining the other improvements.
My 6s was a great phone and lasted me way longer than I thought. When it died, the 12 wasn't offering AOD, so in hopes of seeing it in a later model, I made the mistake of buying a cheaper SE-2 to hold me out until Apple came out with AOD. A decent budget phone, but honestly, after about 10 months, I was ready to sell it. Battery life was not suited to my day's usage, and it just felt kind of cheap. After that, I just went for the 13 Pro, but was afraid the next version would have what I wanted, and it did, darn it! The Dynamic Island is a plus, and something I hadn't counted on. Lastly, because I use my iPhone to fly drones out in the Colorado sun, a super bright display is a real plus. USB-C would've made this upgrade perfect, but you 'can't always get what you want...'
But, my Sierra Blue 13 Pro will sell very well online, and my actual cash output will be worth it, along with gaining the other improvements.
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In reality, the "black spot" is still a black spot with the marketing scheme of calling it the dynamic island. It's a software hack. The black spot just enlarges to display some other information next to the standard black spot where the camera and sensors are located. Guaranteed they could activate that same capability via IOS for prior iPhones, but they won't because it would eat into iPhone 14 sales. Apple, for all their chest beating about their advances, are really behind the power curve on meaningful advances like under display sensors, under display biometrics, foldable formats, etc.
Instead, they come up with marketing buzzwords to make simple changes sound like impressive advances. They change the color and try to convince us this is a big deal. They change the size and position of sensors and buttons to force you to buy a new case. It's crazy. Their marketing hype is getting old and its time for them to fish or cut bait on the same old iPhone platform and do something pivotal to truly advance the product. Until then, I'm holding onto my iPhone 13. (...for the record, I've purchased every prior model year iPhone to date starting with the original iPhone. But as mentioned above, that now ends. I'm done filling their coffers and rewarding them for incremental, minor changes).