iPhone 14/Plus apple is making a big mistake by stopping the iPhone PLUS models !

[MrAverigeUser]

As a apple customer (MBP, MacPro, iPhone, iPad) since nearly two decades I was impressed by "good-choice" iPhones like the SE-models and later the PLUS models, still extremely happy with my iPhone 14 Plus 512 gb.

But Tim Cook is getting crazy by stopping models with a good price/performance- relation like the PLUS-models.

He will never force me to purchase higher priced models with even shorter battery-life by stopping the PLUS-models. NEVER EVER. This step is absolutely a shot in apple´s knee: Me myself and suerely many other customers will just stay with their PLUS-Models longer than intended and the bottom- line will be less sales in this part of their customers.

Especially in times when the economy worldwide will be even more tumbling in the years to come it is ridiculous to stop the production of these models.
And in times when processor-hardware has reached already a nearly perfect level for real-life-use....

So - repair services that exchange batteries of PLUS models will earn a lot of money and the owners of the PLUS-models will profit even more of this because at least the 14 PLUS model has been the first iPhone with a technically much easier exchange of their batteries (time and cost for exchange mostly half the time/price compared with the other iPhones of the same generation, at least the Iphone 14 gen. the following iPhone 15 gen. has easier exchange-possibilities for all variants IIRC)...

Perhaps I should buy apple- puts... could be nice profit in 1-2 years...

 

[Paddle1]

At least there are options for new phones to switch to. Mini users can't say the same.

 

[russell_314]

He will never force me to purchase higher priced models

I hope Tim doesn’t try to force you to buy anything. He can be really persuasive but shouldn’t use force.

When the Plus came out so many people said it was garbage because it didn’t have the same specs as the Pro. In my personal opinion the price difference between the Pro and the Plus wasn’t enough to convince people to buy it. At least in the USA even “poor” people have no problem spending $1,000+ on a phone.

Just like how the mini was discontinued because of poor sales the Plus is about to. It’s unfortunate IMO.

 

[eyoungren]

Well, according to the vocal group of supporters in these forums we're all going to be buying thin Apple foldables anyway so this won't matter.

 

[huanbrother]

I completely agree — and I’ve said this in a few other posts — that dropping the iPhone 17 Plus isn’t just a logical step, it’s a calculated business move.

Let’s be honest: the Plus line was never set up to succeed. It lacked ProMotion, which was no accident. Apple deliberately crippled it so it wouldn’t serve as a real alternative for regular iPhone buyers. Instead, the Plus existed to make the Pro line look like the better deal — classic decoy pricing.

But here’s the catch: since high refresh rate displays are already standard even on sub-$200 Android phones, Apple is now forced to equip its entry-level iPhones with high refresh rate panels this year. That means the iPhone 17 (non-Pro) is about to become a lot more compelling.

And that’s a huge problem for Apple’s upsell strategy — because if the regular 17 gets a big screen and smooth display, what reason would budget-conscious buyers have to go Pro? People looking for the best bang for their buck would finally have a solid alternative — and Apple can’t allow that.

So instead of letting the 17 Plus evolve into a truly viable, big-screen non-Pro iPhone — maybe even a Pro Max-lite — they killed it. And in its place, they’re pushing the “iPhone 17 Air”: a stripped-down, single-camera device with a 2800mAh battery and a name that screams faux minimalism. A design meant not to delight, but to deflect — to steer buyers right back to the Pro models.

It’s not about innovation. It’s about insulation — keeping the Pro line protected at all costs. And they’re betting most consumers won’t notice the game they’re playing.

I’m a Plus user myself — mine has been rocking since last October. I even bought a Pro model just for AI use — since CN variants don’t support Apple Intelligence, I got a JP version as backup. But honestly, Apple’s AI hasn’t impressed me at all. The Pro’s now deactivated and just collecting dust in a drawer.

 

[russell_314]

the Plus existed to make the Pro line look like the better deal — classic decoy pricing.

That’s one crazy conspiracy theory. Do you realize how much Apple spends on R&D, supply chain, and production setup on an entirely new model? No they would not do that to make the Pro look like a better deal. The Pro already looks like a good deal, especially since the price hasn’t gone up in almost eight years.

But here’s the catch: since high refresh rate displays are already standard even on sub-$200 Android phones,

I hear this so many times, but there’s more to a display than refresh rate. Those android displays are nowhere near the quality of a 60 Hz iPhone display. They focus on that one spec just put that on the box. Most people don’t have a clue so they think it has more Hz so it must be better. I’m not saying the iPhone doesn’t need a high refresh rate display, but you can’t compare one spec and act like the displays are even similar.

 

[huanbrother]

That’s one crazy conspiracy theory. Do you realize how much Apple spends on R&D, supply chain, and production setup on an entirely new model? No they would not do that to make the Pro look like a better deal. The Pro already looks like a good deal, especially since the price hasn’t gone up in almost eight years.


I hear this so many times, but there’s more to a display than refresh rate. Those android displays are nowhere near the quality of a 60 Hz iPhone display. They focus on that one spec just put that on the box. Most people don’t have a clue so they think it has more Hz so it must be better. I’m not saying the iPhone doesn’t need a high refresh rate display, but you can’t compare one spec and act like the displays are even similar.

Is it conspiracy theory? Not at all.
It’s basic consumer psychology — people will naturally pay more when the “middle” option is made intentionally underwhelming.

Ask yourself this:
If you had a choice between the rumored iPhone 17 Air, or a 17 Plus with ProMotion, same storage/memory, and the same price — which would you buy?

 

[russell_314]

Is it conspiracy theory? Not at all.
It’s basic consumer psychology — people will naturally pay more when the “middle” option is made intentionally underwhelming.

I’m not saying it doesn’t happen in marketing. I’m just saying, I don’t think Apple would make a new product to do this. I think it would cost them significantly more money than they would make.

Ask yourself this:
If you had a choice between the rumored iPhone 17 Air, or a 17 Plus with ProMotion, same storage/memory, and the same price — which would you buy?

If the Air is thin and light like it’s supposed to be, I would pick it. The only thing I like about ProMotion is the battery saving. That’s just me because I’m excited about getting away from my heavy Pro Max.

 

[cuzo]

I completely agree — and I’ve said this in a few other posts — that dropping the iPhone 17 Plus isn’t just a logical step, it’s a calculated business move.

Let’s be honest: the Plus line was never set up to succeed. It lacked ProMotion, which was no accident. Apple deliberately crippled it so it wouldn’t serve as a real alternative for regular iPhone buyers. Instead, the Plus existed to make the Pro line look like the better deal — classic decoy pricing.

But here’s the catch: since high refresh rate displays are already standard even on sub-$200 Android phones, Apple is now forced to equip its entry-level iPhones with high refresh rate panels this year. That means the iPhone 17 (non-Pro) is about to become a lot more compelling.

And that’s a huge problem for Apple’s upsell strategy — because if the regular 17 gets a big screen and smooth display, what reason would budget-conscious buyers have to go Pro? People looking for the best bang for their buck would finally have a solid alternative — and Apple can’t allow that.

So instead of letting the 17 Plus evolve into a truly viable, big-screen non-Pro iPhone — maybe even a Pro Max-lite — they killed it. And in its place, they’re pushing the “iPhone 17 Air”: a stripped-down, single-camera device with a 2800mAh battery and a name that screams faux minimalism. A design meant not to delight, but to deflect — to steer buyers right back to the Pro models.

It’s not about innovation. It’s about insulation — keeping the Pro line protected at all costs. And they’re betting most consumers won’t notice the game they’re playing.

I’m a Plus user myself — mine has been rocking since last October. I even bought a Pro model just for AI use — since CN variants don’t support Apple Intelligence, I got a JP version as backup. But honestly, Apple’s AI hasn’t impressed me at all. The Pro’s now deactivated and just collecting dust in a drawer.

Apple is kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place.

With android trying to focus of ease of use with Android 16 and Samsung trying to make OneUI more easier to use with big bright "Charging" notifications and trying to strip down the OS a bit Apple can't really have a non pro motion phone out there anymore. The 16 and 16 plus are nice phones but no promotion is a bad look for the price, the Pixel 9a is 500 bucks with pro motion, a small size, a good camera and all.

If android can make the OS more IOS friendly it's gonna be problems for Apple, so they're focusing on this thin phone stuff and I think apple can pull it off due to image and hype very well.


Make sense why they went this route, they focusing more on design.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

Well, according to the vocal group of supporters in these forums we're all going to be buying thin Apple foldables anyway so this won't matter.

Welll....

You alll will be crashtest-Dummies of the apple-designers ...

and test in real-life use if ...
- the extremely thin iPhone 17 "Air" will bent or crush by far easier than the other models
- the "new" C1 processor will be just a little bit worse than the processor from market-leader Qualcom...

There arealready some insiders who reported that the C1 modem-chip has some important problems (at least up to now) and it seems that they are damn right - why should apple only give the C1-modem-chip to the "cheapest" or "low budget" iPhone instead use it for the Pro-Models - as if they have their doubts about their own technical developments?

This modem is responsible for THE Core-feature of an iPhone: Connection to the Mobile-network....

This reminds me of the time when the first iPhone model(s) came out:
At that time I still used the famous and legendary Nokia Communicator- phone, which I purchased in 1998 - it was better than the apple-crap: which hit the maket even later.

You were still able to communicate in regions, where apple-Users realized that they had purchased a Mobile phone with just basic core-technology... more or less crappy...

You forgot already "Bent-Gate" and "You´re holding it wrong!" and all the bad design-flops apple did (and denied for years) ... ? I wish you all good luck !

"Apple's first custom-designed modem chip, the C1, has finally made its debut in the iPhone 16e, which Apple announced on Wednesday. It's a significant milestone in the company's efforts to reduce reliance on external suppliers like Qualcomm. However, the C1 lacks support for ultra-fast mmWave 5G technology, and the chip's limitations are expected to extend to the upcoming ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air."

---> "Apple's current agreement with Qualcomm extends through 2026, giving Apple ample time to perfect its modem technology while it has access to Qualcomm's modems for its premium iPhone models."

that doesn´t read like apple is already on par with Qualcomm modem-chips,...

.

 

[Jumpthesnark]

He will never force me to purchase higher priced models with even shorter battery-life by stopping the PLUS-models. NEVER EVER.

Just checking, you're saying you won't be forced to buy a model that hasn't been announced, with a battery life that is unknown to you, at a price you don't know.

Yeah, I don't think Tim Cook or anyone is forcing you to do that.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

Just checking, you're saying you won't be forced to buy a model that hasn't been announced, with a battery life that is unknown to you, at a price you don't know.

Yeah, I don't think Tim Cook or anyone is forcing you to do that.

Well... of course "being forced" means in this case not by physical force, but...

if you dont´t want an iPhone which will perhaps be prone to bending, surely have much lesser battery time than the Plus models but
a very long battery life, 6.1" Screen and NOT a "new" C1-modem-chip Tim Cook forces you indeed to pay for features that are useless for a lot of customers - if you want a not at all perfect, but nevertheless ergonomical IOS UI...

If you cancel one very interesting model-option with a good/acceptable price/performance relation and offer only either less performance (i-e- shorter battery life, just one lens-camera, risk to bent the iPhone,...) or a much more expensive model, you force indeed the customer to spend more money than needed for the now canceled model-option.

It is nice that you pretend not to understand what I meant with "being forced" to make a point but it is all about marketing-strategy - and market leaders like apple like it too much to force customers instead of just convincing them..

.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

A phone with a glass back like the iPhone air won’t bend.
Glass doesn’t bend.
The iPhone 6 had an aluminum back, and aluminum does bend. That was also 11 years ago.

 

[aries81]

As a apple customer (MBP, MacPro, iPhone, iPad) since nearly two decades I was impressed by "good-choice" iPhones like the SE-models and later the PLUS models, still extremely happy with my iPhone 14 Plus 512 gb.

But Tim Cook is getting crazy by stopping models with a good price/performance- relation like the PLUS-models.

He will never force me to purchase higher priced models with even shorter battery-life by stopping the PLUS-models. NEVER EVER. This step is absolutely a shot in apple´s knee: Me myself and suerely many other customers will just stay with their PLUS-Models longer than intended and the bottom- line will be less sales in this part of their customers.

Especially in times when the economy worldwide will be even more tumbling in the years to come it is ridiculous to stop the production of these models.
And in times when processor-hardware has reached already a nearly perfect level for real-life-use....

So - repair services that exchange batteries of PLUS models will earn a lot of money and the owners of the PLUS-models will profit even more of this because at least the 14 PLUS model has been the first iPhone with a technically much easier exchange of their batteries (time and cost for exchange mostly half the time/price compared with the other iPhones of the same generation, at least the Iphone 14 gen. the following iPhone 15 gen. has easier exchange-possibilities for all variants IIRC)...

Perhaps I should buy apple- puts... could be nice profit in 1-2 years...

Nobody forces you to buy anything.

 

[Siliconguy]

At least in the USA even “poor” people have no problem spending $1,000+ on a phone.

Some poor people do, and some even play the lottery.

Apple's phones are way too expensive for me and I am not poor. I can't justify $800 for six minutes of voice and ten texts per month. It's also too big to be a good MP3 player. (I want the first generation iPod Nano back.)

I don't even need a portable phone. I have one because the land line was abandoned and voice over IP doesn't work if the power goes out so you can't call the power company to tell them.

An iPad that actually worked as a phone would be a useful device for me, but for some reason Apple won't do that. An AI free 11th generation iPad with the cell phone capabilities fully turned on would convince me to open my wallet. As it is when my flip phone dies whatever is cheapest will win and it won't be an Apple product.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

A phone with a glass back like the iPhone air won’t bend.
Glass doesn’t bend.
The iPhone 6 had an aluminum back, and aluminum does bend. That was also 11 years ago.

In my first posting I wrote "bent or crack/crush"...

choose one of both...

"There is said to be a "glass section" around the logo that's integrated into an "overall metal chassis," which has previously been described as a half aluminum, half glass build."

 

[klasma]

They also made a big mistake by stopping the iPhone mini, but here we are.

 

[klasma]

Ask yourself this:

If you had a choice between the rumored iPhone 17 Air, or a 17 Plus with ProMotion, same storage/memory, and the same price — which would you buy?

The Air, because it’s more light-weight, which I care much more about than a 120 Hz screen on a phone.

 

[klasma]

if you dont´t want an iPhone which will perhaps be prone to bending

It looks pretty robust:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1925906968159392029

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Well... of course "being forced" means in this case not by physical force, but...

if you dont´t want an iPhone which will perhaps be prone to bending, surely have much lesser battery time than the Plus models but
a very long battery life, 6.1" Screen and NOT a "new" C1-modem-chip Tim Cook forces you indeed to pay for features that are useless for a lot of customers - if you want a not at all perfect, but nevertheless ergonomical IOS UI...

If you cancel one very interesting model-option with a good/acceptable price/performance relation and offer only either less performance (i-e- shorter battery life, just one lens-camera, risk to bent the iPhone,...) or a much more expensive model, you force indeed the customer to spend more money than needed for the now canceled model-option.

It is nice that you pretend not to understand what I meant with "being forced" to make a point but it is all about marketing-strategy - and market leaders like apple like it too much to force customers instead of just convincing them..

.

I wasn't pretending not to understand anything, I was referencing the hyperbole and assumptions you were making about the features and quality of a phone that hasn't been announced.

The iPhone Air, if it is released as rumored, would be just one in a lineup of phones. If you must buy a new iPhone this fall, then you can select from what is actually released at the time, or buy something from a previous generation. Just because the Plus is rumored to go away, that doesn't mean your free will has been taken from you, or that an Air would be your only option.

I'm not one of those people who feels the need to buy a new phone every year (and if you are using a 14 Plus, it sounds like you aren't one of them either), so if Apple releases a new device that doesn't fit my needs at the time, it's no big deal.

As we don't know what price a rumored Air would fetch, it's impossible for us to know which might be a "much more expensive model," an Air or something else. You might find a different phone than you expected to be a better value proposition. We simply don't know yet, so it's probably not worth losing sleep over.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Well, according to the vocal group of supporters in these forums we're all going to be buying thin Apple foldables anyway so this won't matter.

Perhaps I have not been paying proper attention, but I have not seen even one person talk about a thin Apple foldable. Almost every comment that I have seen perceives a new foldable as thicker and heavier when folded than a regular iPhone.

 

[azhava]

I'd feel pretty safe in guessing that Apple has a pretty extensive marketing department and mountains of data to inform their decisions on which phone models they introduce and/or discontinue, it's not a spur of the moment willy nilly decision made in a vacuum by Tim Cook or any other one person.

Apple is a business, and the goal of a business is to make money. They have not only top management, but also shareholders who they answer to. If they discontinue a product/product line, I'm sure the reasons go a lot deeper than some dude in a cubicle who doesn't like Plus phones and doesn't think people should have them.

 

[russell_314]

Some poor people do, and some even play the lottery.

Apple's phones are way too expensive for me and I am not poor. I can't justify $800 for six minutes of voice and ten texts per month. It's also too big to be a good MP3 player. (I want the first generation iPod Nano back.)

I don't even need a portable phone. I have one because the land line was abandoned and voice over IP doesn't work if the power goes out so you can't call the power company to tell them.

An iPad that actually worked as a phone would be a useful device for me, but for some reason Apple won't do that. An AI free 11th generation iPad with the cell phone capabilities fully turned on would convince me to open my wallet. As it is when my flip phone dies whatever is cheapest will win and it won't be an Apple product.

Well, it sounds like you don’t use a phone. The iPhone for you would be a refurbished iPhone 12. It has all the features you would need. Either that or try to find one of the carrier locked older iPhones that works with whatever prepaid service you have. You can sometimes get those crazy cheap because they want you to be on their service.

I’m not sure why Apple blocks the iPad for being used as a phone. I suspect it’s some agreement they have with carriers.

I think you can do Google Voice on it, which would be the same thing as a phone, but I’ve not tried that.

 

[throAU]

When the Plus came out so many people said it was garbage because it didn’t have the same specs as the Pro. In my personal opinion the price difference between the Pro and the Plus wasn’t enough to convince people to buy it. At least in the USA even “poor” people have no problem spending $1,000+ on a phone.

I went through this exact dilemma 3 months ago. wanted bigger screen and 256 GB, the plus gave up far too much in terms of features I wanted vs. the pro max to be worth the saving.

Is the pro max freaking expensive? Sure. but my smartphone, like most people, has been the device I spend a huge amount of time on, and rely on for a huge amount of functionality day to day.

Password manager, authenticator, sms, email, voice, nav etc. for such a crucial device to my life, compromising on it is less attractive.

 

[Racineur]

As a apple customer (MBP, MacPro, iPhone, iPad) since nearly two decades I was impressed by "good-choice" iPhones like the SE-models and later the PLUS models, still extremely happy with my iPhone 14 Plus 512 gb.

But Tim Cook is getting crazy by stopping models with a good price/performance- relation like the PLUS-models.

He will never force me to purchase higher priced models with even shorter battery-life by stopping the PLUS-models. NEVER EVER. This step is absolutely a shot in apple´s knee: Me myself and suerely many other customers will just stay with their PLUS-Models longer than intended and the bottom- line will be less sales in this part of their customers.

Especially in times when the economy worldwide will be even more tumbling in the years to come it is ridiculous to stop the production of these models.
And in times when processor-hardware has reached already a nearly perfect level for real-life-use....

So - repair services that exchange batteries of PLUS models will earn a lot of money and the owners of the PLUS-models will profit even more of this because at least the 14 PLUS model has been the first iPhone with a technically much easier exchange of their batteries (time and cost for exchange mostly half the time/price compared with the other iPhones of the same generation, at least the Iphone 14 gen. the following iPhone 15 gen. has easier exchange-possibilities for all variants IIRC)...

Perhaps I should buy apple- puts... could be nice profit in 1-2 years...

The reason why I just bought a 16 Plus to replace a 12. Have no regrets and to me, my needs are met.