iPhone 14 Plus Facing No Delay Nearly a Week After Pre-Orders Opened Amid Reports of Low Demand

[nStyle]

Phones have basically plateaued for years now. Do people need to be upgrading ever year or two years? No it hasn’t been that way for a while now.
3-4 year cycles seem more normal nowadays with normal people.
not much change and previous years phones are still great. What’s there to upgrade for a fancy dynamic island? I’m good

Yep. New features and upgrades used to be exciting but now the phone is just a utility, like a fridge. You’re basically paying for a better camera now but the cameras on 5 year old phones are still beyond adequate in most scenarios. Any screen or design changes from here on out are just that…changes, but they don’t do anything different.

The new lock screen does nothing for me and I’m not a fan of always-on displays. And the island does nothing additional, it just puts things in different (hard to reach) spots.

 

[taneff]

Yep. New features and upgrades used to be exciting but now the phone is just a utility, like a fridge. You’re basically paying for a better camera now but the cameras on 5 year old phones are still beyond adequate in most scenarios. Any screen or design changes from here on out are just that…changes, but they don’t do anything different.

The new lock screen does nothing for me and I’m not a fan of always-on displays. And the island does nothing a

As much as I find the new always on display very beautiful and the best integration of any always on display if it doesn't draw too much power and no burn-in, it would increase my intention span even more. Now you don't even need to tap your phone anymore which is one step away from always looking at your screen. You just look at it every second without doing anything, a big thing for already addicted people. No thanks. But of course you can switch it off, right?!

 

[xpxp2002]

I don't think that's right. The Pro has better battery life than the regular model.

Already debunked this falsity.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/kuo-iphone-14-plus-pre-orders-worse-than-iphone-13-mini-product-strategy-fails.2358370/post-31450405

Don't know why everybody seems to want to artificially debase the concept of the mini over battery concerns when it's already dead. I've had a 12 mini and 13 mini since launch day. The 12 mini's battery life could've been better, but it was good enough for an average day and I just juiced up with a portable battery if I was going on vacation or at a concert. The 13 mini's battery life is far better than the 12 mini's, and really doesn't deserve any of the hate that it received from all the people who never even used it.

 

[boak]

Battery life (hours):
Model: audio/video (streamed)/video

• iPhone 12 mini: 50/10/15
• iPhone 12: 65/11/17
• iPhone 12 Pro: 65/11/17
• iPhone 13 mini: 55/13/17
• iPhone 13: 75/15/19
• iPhone 13 Pro: 75/20/22
• iPhone 14: 80/16/20
• iPhone 14 Pro: 75/20/23

So a hypothetical iPhone 14 mini Pro would do around 55/18/20?

 

[EugW]

Already debunked this falsity.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/kuo-iphone-14-plus-pre-orders-worse-than-iphone-13-mini-product-strategy-fails.2358370/post-31450405

Don't know why everybody seems to want to artificially debase the concept of the mini over battery concerns when it's already dead. I've had a 12 mini and 13 mini since launch day. The 12 mini's battery life could've been better, but it was good enough for an average day and I just juiced up with a portable battery if I was going on vacation or at a concert. The 13 mini's battery life is far better than the 12 mini's, and really doesn't deserve any of the hate that it received from all the people who never even used it.

Most of the reviewers seem to hate the mini's battery life. As in iPhone 13 OK for battery life, iPhone 13 Pro Max great for battery life, and iPhone 13 mini less than OK for battery life.

 

[I7guy]

Yep. New features and upgrades used to be exciting but now the phone is just a utility, like a fridge.

I was excited when the new fridge, dishwasher, range and double oven were delivered and installed. I still get excited with a new phone.

You’re basically paying for a better camera now but the cameras on 5 year old phones are still beyond adequate in most scenarios.

My 5s which still works is beyond adequate as well. So we shouldn’t upgrade if the camera is beyond adequate?

Any screen or design changes from here on out are just that…changes, but they don’t do anything different.

So from the iPhone 14 until eternity there will not be any further screen innovation?

The new lock screen does nothing for me

Got it. That’s you.

and I’m not a fan of always-on displays.

I can’t wait to try out aod.

And the island does nothing additional, it just puts things in different (hard to reach) spots.

True, but others feel like the dynamic island is class an innovation. Different strikers for different folks.

 

[evertjr]

They should've lowered the price for these phones since they use the same chip as last year, but all they really wanted is to get more people on the Pro line and its working.

 

[tgwaste]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA ::clears throat:: HAHAHAHHAHA

Garbage "update" gets garbage sales figures... go figure.


Hope this a wakeup call to Apple, because this is a slap in the face of all their stock owners and people who buy their products around the world. Absolute joke.

Bring on the 15 come Spring/early Summer.

Eh? This is exactly what Apple wants.

 

[kingtj1971]

This is just as I would have predicted. The truth is, most people who have the money to buy the latest iteration of a modern smartphone are able to make the stretch to get one with a better configuration/more features while they're at it.

That's why I've always been frustrated with the carriers like T-Mobile when I used to buy my iPhones through them with their "pay over 12/18 months on your bill" offers. They'd never stock models with more RAM like 512GB or 1TB but people could just walk up to a store or mall kiosk and leave with one of the other versions. If I'm going to bother to upgrade and do the hassle of restoring all my data to the new device, etc. etc.? I'm going to get a top-end configuration while I'm at it.

 

[Whathappened]

Mini had weak sales? Is that true? I am SO very happy with my 13 mini. Love the size and don't want anything larger. Note even remotely tempted by any of this years' models. Hope they bring mini back.

Yes it had very weak sales. Even weaker than its battery life.

 

[seanmcbay]

Hopefully they revive the mini now. I think more people want a smaller phone rather than some weird middle ground of a big non-pro phone.

 

[taneff]

Most of the reviewers seem to hate the mini's battery life. As in iPhone 13 OK for battery life, iPhone 13 Pro Max great for battery life, and iPhone 13 mini less than OK for battery life.

Well I can't speak for the majority of Mini users but I use my 13 Mini in a normal way, maybe 1h-2h screen on time each day. Sometimes 2h, sometimes 30min. 13 Mini lasts me at least 2 days, sometimes 3 days (BT on only when needed, no GPS, no apple/icloud account though). And I believe that the majority of Mini users aren't smartphone "junkies" with 5h and more of screen on time. Because then a bigger phone would probably make more sense if they use their phones so much. And with a normal usage you get 1-3 days of usage.

 

[BC2009]

Not sure if this is the case here, but usually Apple’s “failure” iPhone models only rank below their “successful” models in sales, still outpacing the competition. At least that was the case with iPhone 5c. Everybody called it a failure and it was the second best selling phone worldwide.

In this case though I would argue that the typical customer who has the mentality to want the biggest iPhone is also the one who wants all the latest features. The mini serves a larger niche — people who are more practical in a way. Mind you, people with poor eyesight will get a larger iPhone for practical reasons, but most are people who want to splurge. Nobody says “I am going to splurge and get the mini”. The mini has a specific use case when small size matters most.

 

[Whathappened]

Any light phone user or person who likes small phones was in love.

Then they canceled it for the opposite, and now the sales are bad. Oh man this feels like karmic justice.

The sales were bad for the mini too as outside the nerd forums there seem to be very few of you buying the mini.

 

[xpxp2002]

Most of the reviewers seem to hate the mini's battery life. As in iPhone 13 OK for battery life, iPhone 13 Pro Max great for battery life, and iPhone 13 mini less than OK for battery life.

Most of these reviewers spend a day or less using it. Those reviewers love big phones and most are blatantly biased. They have no interest in reviewing a 5.4" device, and only did it because they received a review unit and had to and surely switched back to their Pro Maxes as soon as they got the bare minimum they needed to pump out a "review."

The people who own one who actually use it day in and day out for productive work that benefits society are a much better testament to the mini's real-world usability and battery life, rather than the handful of 26-year-old "tech reviewers" making $2mm/year peddling ads for snake oil supplements on social media in between their YouTube videos reminding you to "ring the bell."

 

[turbineseaplane]

The 14 Plus is way too expensive for the folks who want a mostly basic iPhone, but just need more screen.

Older folks and normal soccer mom types are squarely in this category, and the cheapest 14 Max with base storage is $900+tax ... and that's the starting point

$900 as the entry point is just too much for who this phone likely targets

 

[Lakersfan74]

They need a larger price gap between Pro and Regular. They can start by dropping the 128 models from the Pro’s.

 

[Philip Miller]

Shocker that people don’t want to pay $900 for a larger version of last year’s base model. Can I have my iPhone 15 mini Pro, please?

The biggest problem about the mini wasn’t the size it was that it wasn’t Pro

 

[mrat93]

The biggest problem about the mini wasn’t the size it was that it wasn’t Pro

Agreed. I’ll maintain my speculation that “low sales” wasn’t the issue. It was because more people (like me) “downgraded” to a cheaper phone, rather than people with cheaper phones (XR, 11, SE) “up”grading to a 12 mini. I went back to 13 Pro (soon to be 14 Pro) because of Pro Motion, but I would happily spend $1k on an updated mini with Pro Motion.

 

[JDJones92]

As a fan of smaller phones hopefully, it tanks enough for them to reconsider the line up, for the past couple of years it looks like people either want the 'regular' numbered version or a variation on the pros. Dump the other sizes of the regular phone and double down on the pro, give each of those different numbers of GPU cores and then filter those down the line each year.

Line up should be:

- SE
- 14
- 14 pro mini
- 14 pro
- 14 pro max

 

[boak]

A mini Pro would require a redesign with rear cameras arranged horizontally at the top to allow for MagSafe.

 

[boak]

As a fan of smaller phones hopefully, it tanks enough for them to reconsider the line up, for the past couple of years it looks like people either want the 'regular' numbered version for a variation on the pros. Dump the other sizes of the regular phone and double down on the pro, give each of those different numbers of GPU cores and then filter those down the line each year.

Line up should be:

- SE
- 14
- 14 pro mini
- 14 pro
- 14 pro max

Dump the 14 pro in this lineup and we have the old strategy 😂

 

[morphineseason]

I think it would sell better if it actually had a new chip in it. As is, it's basically just a repackaged iPhone 13. I hope they keep this option around though. Shouldn't have to buy a Pro Max if you only want the bigger screen. That's an issue I've always had with the Pro lineup is when they make features that average users want exclusive to the "Pro" models. I get why they do it, but it really makes the Pro moniker meaningless.

 

[boak]

I think it would sell better if it actually had a new chip in it. As is, it's basically just a repackaged iPhone 13. I hope they keep this option around though. Shouldn't have to buy a Pro Max if you only want the bigger screen. That's an issue I've always had with the Pro lineup is when they make features that average users want exclusive to the "Pro" models. I get why they do it, but it really makes the Pro moniker meaningless.

I wonder if that strategy is also a result of balancing chip capacities for different gens.

 

[B-Mc-C]

Not a huge surprise when the pro model is only $100 USD more.

Pro was priced too low this year. It should have gotten the rumored $100 price increase. Then the Plus would not have been a flop, maybe 10% of Pro Max buyers would have opted for the cheaper Plus and Apple would have more than made up for the money lost on those sales with the other 90% of people paying $100 more.