Apple appears to be curtailing its plans to ramp up iPhone 14 production, according to media reports. And if you’ve ever spent any time with an iPhone 14 like us, it should come as no surprise.
Look, we love Apple’s $799 iPhone, and we commend the iPhone 14 for its vibrant screen, excellent cameras, and overall value. It’s definitely one of the best iPhones you can get right now, but even the most ardent iPhone 14 fans admit that the iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 comparison reveals some substantial changes from last year’s phone.
This may help explain Bloomberg report (Opens in a new tab) Apple is canceling its plans to increase iPhone production between now and the end of the year. The report claims that the culprit is that the demand for the new phone did not materialize in the way Apple expected.
To be clear, this does not mean that no one is upgrading to new phones. Bloomberg says Apple still wants to produce 90 million phones, which is its original goal and roughly the same level of production for the iPhone 13 in 2021. It’s just that there hasn’t been an increase in orders that would require Apple to roll out more models.
iPhone 14 Pro problem
You don’t have to be very familiar with the laws of supply and demand to guess why. The changes Apple made to the iPhone 14 compared to previous models are modest, focused largely on improvements to the front and rear cameras. Apple hasn’t done much to tweak the standard iPhone 14 design, and even the A15 Bionic chipset that powers the phone is part of the previous round of smartphone updates.
Compare that with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models, which have undergone substantial changes. Apple outfitted these two phones with the latest on-chip A16 Bionic, and the camera upgrades were even more significant, with Pro models now using the 48MP main shooter. Pro models were also the first to drop the notch that has been part of the iPhone design since 2017, opting instead for the innovative Dynamic Island feature.
The set of differences between the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro will also reveal what features Apple keeps for its more expensive phones. For example, the iPhone 14 Pro, like the iPhone 13 Pro before it, can adjust its screen refresh rate up to 120Hz for smooth scrolling and more immersive gaming. (The refresh rate on the iPhone 14 Pro also enables the always-on display feature that the regular iPhone 14 lacks.) Non-Pro iPhones work with a refresh rate of 60Hz.
It wouldn’t surprise you, then, to hear that there is more interest among shoppers for the iPhone 14 Pro options. In fact, the Bloomberg article asserts, at least one Apple supplier will shift its production capacity to the pros to meet the growing demand. This mirrors previous reports of production shifts in favor of the iPhone 14 Pro.
What’s next for Apple
Again, this doesn’t mean the iPhone 14 won’t get its share of customers, as we’ll likely learn next month when Apple announces its quarterly performance for the three-month period that included the first few weeks of the iPhone 14 launch. But if you’re an iPhone 12 owner And stick with your two-year-old smartphone, the iPhone 14 might not offer enough new features to make you want to move to a newer model, especially with the iOS 16 update that brings its own set of improvements.
These reports come ahead of the release of the iPhone 14 Plus, a 6.7-inch model that shares many of the same features as the iPhone 14, only with its larger screen size and battery. Early reports indicated that pre-orders for the iPhone 14 Plus were disappointing, but the popularity of phones with large screens and the potential for extended battery life may convince developers that the $899 device is a better choice.
Truth be told, Apple’s iPhone 14 production orders will have little impact on consumers, as they mostly affect the bottom line profits of Apple and its various manufacturing partners. But it will be interesting to see how iPhone 14 sales ultimately shape Apple’s iPhone strategy and whether it will continue to mark such clear distinctions between the Pro and standard models with the iPhone 15 next year.
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