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martin2345uk

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 6, 2013
1,508
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Essex
Are the (very few) differences worth an extra £50, do people think? 13 is £749 new, and 14 can now be got for £799 new...
 
Yes of course it is. It would be ridiculous to buy a 13 new over a 14. Whether you should upgrade to a 14 if you already have a 13 is another matter entirely however. But if buying for the first time or upgrading from something older, why would you get an 18 month old phone instead of the latest model for the sake of just £50
 
Lol, technology is something that gets outdated extremely fast. And in an iterative series like the iPhone, of course the next one is better than the last. So of course.
 
Personally, yes. The 6GB RAM on its own can mean an extra year (or longer) software support, and that might worth a lot depending on iPhone prices 3 to 5 years from now. Also, the iPhone 14 gets the sensor-shift camera from the 13 Pro, and the auto-focus front facing camera.
 
Sporting an iPhone 13 Pro Max here and given iPhone 14 also sports the same chip I haven’t personally noticed any degradation in performance either on iOS 16.
 
Ram, updated modem and an extra year of software updates makes it worth £50 more yes. Had a fair bit of app reloads near the end on my 12 with its 4gb ram, I think 6gb ram is a fair baseline for 2023 if you’re buying something brand new.
 
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Personally, I'd pay the extra £50 and get the 14.

The year or two (depending on Apple) of software support, more ram, newer version of bluetooth, and better modem are (in my opinion) worth paying the extra 50 quid for.
 
I have noticed a few retailers have dropped the prices, apart from Apple. I know Apple Watch 8’s are now £20 cheaper than Apple in most places. Then again the iPhone 13 has also dropped in price too so the price difference is mostly the same.
Yeah that is a good point tbf, the 13 is now £699 in the places where the 14 is £799...

I spent £799 on my XR at launch over 4 years ago so I guess people are right, it does make sense to get the newest model you can if you plan to keep it for 4-5 years or more...
 
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Was recently £720 on Very as well with their 10% promotion. You can find it brand new on eBay for even less, which is well worth it.

If you aren't buying directly from Apple, then your support options from buying brand new on eBay are the same as places like Amazon, i.e. Apple won't give a crap about you instore, they'll send you off to repair land.

Will admit it is nice to buy direct from Apple and always have the on-the-spot replacements should anything go wrong with a phone, but it isn't worth paying the potential £200 premium for that privelege.
 
Apple will replace devices up to 24 months in most cases even if you haven't bought from them. I've only bought 2 devices from Apple ever, but the ones I have had replaced were through carriers and more than a year old.
 
Honestly, I was about to post this same question, just in USD. It's the same SoC; just one one extra GPU core and 2GB extra RAM. The camera system seems only marginally improved. Yes, the crash detection stuff seems cool...but also half-baked (given the number of reports of false emergency calls that have been made from it). Satellite S.O.S. seems like it would be a life-saver...yet (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), that's a whole other subscription that you have to sign up and pay for; and I already pay way too much for cell service each month as it is! I'm also not exactly stoked on eSIM only. Where you are, I don't think that's an issue. But I fear the lack of flexibility when it comes to traveling and activating secondary service abroad. And for £50 or $100 more? I think were it not for the features I'm not yet ready for and/or that I feel are still half-baked, I'd probably pay the extra. Though, the fact that, otherwise, it is using the same SoC as last year's iPhone rubs me the wrong way.

Yes of course it is. It would be ridiculous to buy a 13 new over a 14. Whether you should upgrade to a 14 if you already have a 13 is another matter entirely however. But if buying for the first time or upgrading from something older, why would you get an 18 month old phone instead of the latest model for the sake of just £50

...But it's still the A15 Bionic from last year...

I get that it's got 2GB of RAM extra. But as far as it being the difference between an 18 month old phone and a six month old phone, that difference is about as minimal as has been in many years.

Personally, yes. The 6GB RAM on its own can mean an extra year (or longer) software support, and that might worth a lot depending on iPhone prices 3 to 5 years from now. Also, the iPhone 14 gets the sensor-shift camera from the 13 Pro, and the auto-focus front facing camera.

Let's assume that Apple does put out a release that wherein the iPhone 13 isn't supported, but the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 are. Both those phones will not be running that release of iOS well at all, being at the bottom of the requirements list. Any time Apple has allowed one device with a given SoC, but not another with the same SoC, with RAM making the difference, the experience on the allowed device is not great. iPadOS 13-15 on the A8-based iPad mini 4 comes to mind. As does iOS 7 on the A4-based iPhone 4.

The additional RAM and updated modem alone are worth $50.

It's not a $50 difference. It's a $100 difference. Otherwise, I'd easily pay $50 for upgraded RAM.

Agreed. You’re also getting Crash Detection, Emergency SOS, and Bluetooth 5.3. Plus it will hold its value for longer. For 50 more bucks I would say it is worth it.
Bluetooth 5.3 is cool. Crash Detection is obviously in its infancy and hell if I know what all extra money is required for Emergency/Satellite SOS, but I know it's not a complimentary service. These things are already fiendishly expensive to own and keep running as it is.
 
Please wait 6 months and buy iPhone 15. You will get Dufus island, slow as molasses USB 2.0 port in Type-C format and an ancient 60hz screen for cheap android phone users to laugh at you.
 
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Please wait 6 months and buy iPhone 15. You will get Dufus island, slow as molasses USB 2.0 port in Type-C format and an ancient 60hz screen for cheap android phone users to laugh at you.
Outside Samsung or Pixel flagships, most Android flagships from the Chinese are still USB2 as well.
 
Now I seem to have gotten over the eye strain, I’m very happy with my 14 and hope to keep it for at least 5 years
 
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MiL bought the iPhone 14 over the 13 due to the small price difference; deffo the right choice to do...

The purple is a great colour too, I agree 👌🏼
 
Honestly, I was about to post this same question, just in USD. It's the same SoC; just one one extra GPU core and 2GB extra RAM. The camera system seems only marginally improved. Yes, the crash detection stuff seems cool...but also half-baked (given the number of reports of false emergency calls that have been made from it). Satellite S.O.S. seems like it would be a life-saver...yet (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), that's a whole other subscription that you have to sign up and pay for; and I already pay way too much for cell service each month as it is! I'm also not exactly stoked on eSIM only. Where you are, I don't think that's an issue. But I fear the lack of flexibility when it comes to traveling and activating secondary service abroad. And for £50 or $100 more? I think were it not for the features I'm not yet ready for and/or that I feel are still half-baked, I'd probably pay the extra. Though, the fact that, otherwise, it is using the same SoC as last year's iPhone rubs me the wrong way.



...But it's still the A15 Bionic from last year...

I get that it's got 2GB of RAM extra. But as far as it being the difference between an 18 month old phone and a six month old phone, that difference is about as minimal as has been in many years.



Let's assume that Apple does put out a release that wherein the iPhone 13 isn't supported, but the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 are. Both those phones will not be running that release of iOS well at all, being at the bottom of the requirements list. Any time Apple has allowed one device with a given SoC, but not another with the same SoC, with RAM making the difference, the experience on the allowed device is not great. iPadOS 13-15 on the A8-based iPad mini 4 comes to mind. As does iOS 7 on the A4-based iPhone 4.



It's not a $50 difference. It's a $100 difference. Otherwise, I'd easily pay $50 for upgraded RAM.


Bluetooth 5.3 is cool. Crash Detection is obviously in its infancy and hell if I know what all extra money is required for Emergency/Satellite SOS, but I know it's not a complimentary service. These things are already fiendishly expensive to own and keep running as it is.
Sure if one ignores every difference except the cpu the difference is minimal. Taken in the aggregate all the upgrades to me would be worth a few more bucks.
 
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