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

[MrAverigeUser]

Thank you for your thoughtful response! The Apple Store only seems to lower the price of previous year models by $100, but I'm good with that. Had a bad experience with an EB purchase, so prefer to go the safe route.

Thank you for your feedback.

Well - I purchased my 14 PLUS from the biggest electronic market-chaine in germany, they sell resting then outdated NEW iPhones with full guarantee in the first 1-2 months after the new model hits the market for a 10-20% reduction, but in the following months the clear radically their reserves from old models. So - if one dont panic and is patient enough it is possible to buy one without risk for half the price.... nice !

Often also the Mobile-net-providers sell the "outdated" new iPhones with an important reduction - especially if you renew your contract at the same time.

Since I dont care about the colour and always use a cage/cover the colour is not important because not even visible. So one can get a further reduction of 100 EUR/USD for the same iPhone if you accept a colour that is less demanded by the customers....

did the same with my 3 rd gen. iPad Pro M1 11" 2 TB - and got ist for 45% less - very nice because its official price before it became "outdated" has been horribly high and not acceptable at all...

I am very happy with both, the ip14 Plus and the fantastic IPP M1....

in total for both I spent round about 1.400 EUR/USD less by just being patient - but buy instantly if the price goes rapidly down at the (final) end of the sales-action... That is a lot of money spared....

.
edit:

I did a short research of the price/timeline for the still newest iPhone 16 PLUS 512 (!) GB :

During the last 12 months a new one did already fall from about 1.480 EUR to now between 1.000-1.100 EUR in the market today...... although the iPhone 16 PLUS is not even "outdated" and the iPhone 17 models will perhaps not hit the market before september...

So there is a realistic hope that a patient buyer can purchase an absolutely new one incl. guarantee for about half the price or even less in Nov/Dec 2025 or Jan/Febr 2026....
If so I will sell perhaps my own 14 PLUS just to get the very last 16 Plus -line model that will have been produced by apple - then I dont need a new Iphone for at least 5 years and can be sure that there are even new IOS Versions for at least another 6-7 years...

 

[luvmymbp]

Thank you for your feedback.

Well - I purchased my 14 PLUS from the biggest electronic market-chaine in germany, they sell resting then outdated NEW iPhones with full guarantee in the first 1-2 months after the new model hits the market for a 10-20% reduction, but in the following months the clear radically their reserves from old models. So - if one dont panic and is patient enough it is possible to buy one without risk for half the price.... nice !

Often also the Mobile-net-providers sell the "outdated" new iPhones with an important reduction - especially if you renew your contract at the same time.

Since I dont care about the colour and always use a cage/cover the colour is not important because not even visible. So one can get a further reduction of 100 EUR/USD for the same iPhone if you accept a colour that is less demanded by the customers....

did the same with my 3 rd gen. iPad Pro M1 11" 2 TB - and got ist for 45% less - very nice because its official price before it became "outdated" has been horribly high and not acceptable at all...

I am very happy with both, the ip14 Plus and the fantastic IPP M1....

in total for both I spent round about 1.400 EUR/USD less by just being patient - but buy instantly if the price goes rapidly down at the (final) end of the sales-action... That is a lot of money spared....

.
edit:

I did a short research of the price/timeline for the still newest iPhone 16 PLUS 512 (!) GB :

During the last 12 months a new one did already fall from about 1.480 EUR to now between 1.000-1.100 EUR in the market today...... although the iPhone 16 PLUS is not even "outdated" and the iPhone 17 models will perhaps not hit the market before september...

So there is a realistic hope that a patient buyer can purchase an absolutely new one incl. guarantee for about half the price or even less in Nov/Dec 2025 or Jan/Febr 2026....
If so I will sell perhaps my own 14 PLUS just to get the very last 16 Plus -line model that will have been produced by apple - then I dont need a new Iphone for at least 5 years and can be sure that there are even new IOS Versions for at least another 6-7 years...

Thank you for your response! You are definitely a smart shopper! I am in the US where bargains are rare for Apple products.

 

[GioGiusi]

Not for everyone. Everyone do not have an issue with fitting a Pro Max in their pocket nor is it awkward to hold in their hand. Apple makes iPhones to suit different folks. The same way some folks like the mini, some folks like the Pro Max.

Yes, everyone. It is the same size for everyone. These aren't subjective questions. Whether or not you are willing to tolerate these aspects of the device is your own preference. What size the actual device is, and what size pockets are, and what size human hands are, is not up for your interpretation.

 

[redcarian]

Yes, everyone. It is the same size for everyone. These aren't subjective questions. Whether or not you are willing to tolerate these aspects of the device is your own preference. What size the actual device is, and what size pockets are, and what size human hands are, is not up for your interpretation.

And it is portable for me, and handholdable for me, and pocketable for me, and would be if it were quite considerably larger.

I tolerate the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s frankly inadequately small size, because it’s the biggest iPhone I can get.

 

[cuzo]

I think Apple will do something without looking at people who are against. They have abandoned my tastes years ago when they have stopped making small iPhones like 5, 5s, SE, mini. Can only dream of one with modern specs.

I mean phones are not the best way to consume content and create. It should be purely a communication tool for calls, quick chats and photos/videos. I noticed phone OLED displays are very hard on eyes, whenever I switch to my TV, iMac or Macbook, or even more than a decade old iPad Air I feel good and no pain in the eyes like with iPhones.

In fact, why do we need bigger phones? We need smaller phones! But that’s my opinion for sure

Agree 100% I have a s24 ultra and it's nice for looking at stuff and browsing the internet but as a phone it's quite rough, it's big and wide and android os isn't ios.

 

[cuzo]

I. Think the air will be a hit at 6.6 under 160 grams I think it will fly off the shelves.

 

[heretiq]

The Plus model is transient and temporary, just as the mini was. If either of them sold impressively, Apple would cement them into the lineup.

iPhone Air will be the next product to take the "special" spot and we'll see how well it does. Incidentally, it will be a remarkably thin and light iPhone with a 6.6" display. Does anyone really need anything bigger than that?

My preference is a phone the size of the iPhone X (5.8” screen); but I’m happy to see Apple experimenting with different form factors based on their design inspirations, judgment and research. If the Air is indeed launched it will be an interesting experiment as I don’t believe anyone was expecting the rumored design.

 

[GioGiusi]

My preference is a phone the size of the iPhone X (5.8” screen); but I’m happy to see Apple experimenting with different form factors based on their design inspirations, judgment and research. If the Air is indeed launched it will be an interesting experiment as I don’t believe anyone was expecting the rumored design.

I think the Air is not so much an experiment as it is an early edition of a new design principle that will make its way through the lineup. At the moment, doing something so thin and light requires compromises on battery life and camera suite, but eventually that will not be the case. They certainly don't want a handheld device to be thick and heavy, that's just an unfortunate reality of prioritizing other things. This is the first time they are able to make a significant change to the physical size without totally compromising the device and it won't be the last move in this direction for iPhone.

 

[mwhite]

Considering Tim Cook has presided over a period of financial growth to place Apple at no 1 and a trillion dollar valued company, I would suggest that he has a full grasp on the economic impacts of this.

Of course he does. He knows it will drive his profit higher. Greed.

 

[TgeekB]

I think the Air is not so much an experiment as it is an early edition of a new design principle that will make its way through the lineup. At the moment, doing something so thin and light requires compromises on battery life and camera suite, but eventually that will not be the case. They certainly don't want a handheld device to be thick and heavy, that's just an unfortunate reality of prioritizing other things. This is the first time they are able to make a significant change to the physical size without totally compromising the device and it won't be the last move in this direction for iPhone.

I think those will be the big questions: how will battery life, camera quality, etc. be? We won’t know until it’s released.

 

[TgeekB]

Of course he does. He knows it will drive his profit higher. Greed.

Do you attempt to make as much money as possible or do you turn down raises and offers for advancement? Remember, if you accept a raise it can’t go to someone else. Greed.

 

[GioGiusi]

Do you attempt to make as much money as possible or do you turn down raises and offers for advancement? Remember, if you accept a raise it can’t go to someone else. Greed.

Eh. That isn't the same thing at all. When Apple's greed results in making worse products than they otherwise could, they are failing in their mission. Making money is not their only purpose, or reason for existing. It is necessary, but it is not the mission.

They have 2 choices in their approach:

- Make the best possible products and experience, and if people like them, we'll make money.

Or

- Maximize profit wherever possible regardless of what needs to changed or stripped from planned products.

I could also rename those 2 options Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.

Apple needs a return to form.

 

[GioGiusi]

I think those will be the big questions: how will battery life, camera quality, etc. be? We won’t know until it’s released.

We pretty much know right now. The camera is expected to be the same wide camera that is on iPhone 16 with whatever modest but unremarkable improvements there are for 2025. The battery is expected to be a 2800mAh high density battery, governed by the A18 chip. High density is expected to increase efficiency by 15%. The A18 can be counted on to also increase efficiency by 10-15%. Resulting in a battery roughly equivalent in hours to the current iPhone 16 base model.

If any of that turns out to be dramatically untrue, it would be very unusual given the timing, sources and veracity of these rumors.

 

[TgeekB]

Eh. That isn't the same thing at all. When Apple's greed results in making worse products than they otherwise could, they are failing in their mission. Making money is not their only purpose, or reason for existing. It is necessary, but it is not the mission.

They have 2 choices in their approach:

- Make the best possible products and experience, and if people like them, we'll make money.

Or

- Maximize profit wherever possible regardless of what needs to changed or stripped from planned products.

I could also rename those 2 options Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.

Apple needs a return to form.

It’s exactly the same thing. Businesses are in business to make a profit, not lose money.
Smartphones are at a point where innovation is limited. They all do the same thing. Apple obviously makes an excellent product or people wouldn’t buy it. As far as the fantasy that Jobs was totally different than Cook you are making things up. Jobs just was at the beginning of the smartphone lifecycle. Otherwise they were both leaders who wanted to sell the most product. It’s a really simple philosophy.

 

[splifingate]

Of course he does. He knows it will drive his profit higher. Greed.

AAPL is not a 501(c)(3)

 

[Racineur]

I agree that the good picture can be taken with anything. But modern iPhones often feel lackluster due to intensive image processing.

I myself loved taking photos on iPhone back in the days and it served me as the perfect pocketable point-and-shoot, way better than older Sony DSC from 2005. But this was from bygone era and days… This was when Apple still didn’t apply tons of artificial stuff on photos like HDR, noise reduction and sharpening.

Like… Even my current iPhone 11 Pro photos often look ugly and artificial. I rarely like to take photos with it now. And I compared it recently to 16 Pro, and I mean… 16 Pro is worse! Tons of sharpening, noise reduction that you can notice when you open photos in previews (for a sec you see non-denoised version and then it becomes blurry and generic).

There is certainly some improvement with 48mp camera in terms of cropping ability but it is majorly overshadowed by excessive sharpening that is applied to every photo.

Also the portraits and photos of people in daylight, they are just nonsensical. Even in regular “photo” mode (not “portrait”, so zero computations) the iPhone would apply some sort of mask for an object (a person) and background, and the result looks like person was photoshopped on top of this background. Picture no longer looks realistic.

Apple needs to tune down this stuff, it is ruining photography as is, it is no more WYSIWYG

IM let's say an enthusiastic photograph and been using DSLR since 2002 with many different low and high end lens. My first iPhone was a 5s and I still have the pictures I took with it, same for my 6s, 11 and 12. Now with a 16 Plus. Whatever the phone, the result is the same: it's iPhonography. With my DSLR, it's photography. I'm not shooting or taking pictures of something. I'm into photography. Which is something different. Reminds me of the "battle" between point&shoot and DSLR back in the days. Whatever high end P&S you had, you were shooting. DSLR won easily. But I like taking pictures with an iPhone. I like the rendering. It's superb Iphonography. I take it for what it is. Exactly like in the P&S glorious time. I appreciated the practicality and the small size and the Ohhhh so usefulness. No lens to change. Now, a portable phone has been transformed into a glorious Point&Shoot with options like texting, browsing and lastly...........making calls. You have to be a little older than 20 to know that though. Which I am.

 

[uacd]

IM let's say an enthusiastic photograph and been using DSLR since 2002 with many different low and high end lens. My first iPhone was a 5s and I still have the pictures I took with it, same for my 6s, 11 and 12. Now with a 16 Plus. Whatever the phone, the result is the same: it's iPhonography. With my DSLR, it's photography. I'm not shooting or taking pictures of something. I'm into photography. Which is something different. Reminds me of the "battle" between point&shoot and DSLR back in the days. Whatever high end P&S you had, you were shooting. DSLR won easily. But I like taking pictures with an iPhone. I like the rendering. It's superb Iphonography. I take it for what it is. Exactly like in the P&S glorious time. I appreciated the practicality and the small size and the Ohhhh so usefulness. No lens to change. Now, a portable phone has been transformed into a glorious Point&Shoot with options like texting, browsing and lastly...........making calls. You have to be a little older than 20 to know that though. Which I am.

well, saying iPhone 16 Pro photos are ugly was a HUUGEE exaggeration from me

I myself am mostly iPhoneographer. Similarly to you, I store all photos and can tell which iPhone I shot it with without even looking at EXIF. And will probably go for iPhone 17 Pro since I want ALL the new photo features my 11 Pro is missing such as ProRAW, photographic styles, 48MP and this fusion cropping (I kinda hate digital crop but… I kinda like it, it is a complicated relationship ).

As you noted, iPhone is a tool. And a DSLR is a tool. Both are to capture a moment. At the end of the day, doesn’t really matter how many megapixels the shot is or how small sensor is – you have captured a moment! And this is where the magic of photographic art is, the magic of being able to catch the moment, the colors, the reality, the mood.

I also have a D3100 DSLR, albeit unfunctional due to dead battery and requires new lens. It was a decent camera tho, taken lots of awesome photos with this one. But I am not very eager to invest money in it at the moment. I have largerly transitioned to iPhoneography.

More I have to say, iPhone blows out of the water some of very pricey cameras such as Fujifilm X100V which cannot stand direct comparison even with older 14 Pro or 15 Pro, it just misses the colors and has way too many useless film emulations. Soo, despite being a “big boy camera”, it lost to 1000$ iPhone. And there are soo many examples like this one.

Obviously, when the sun goes down the iPhone shows its small sensor essence, but on the other hand if you find external light sources or play with modes creatively you can push the limits of iPhone and make great shots!

For example this shot could have not happened if I had no iPhone. I decided to experiment and take shots by putting iPhone to binocular. Turns out it can bring nice results!

Or this random B&W photo. I rarely take black and whites, but this morning I just chose the built-in noir filter and called it a day

 

[Racineur]

well, saying iPhone 16 Pro photos are ugly was a HUUGEE exaggeration from me

I myself am mostly iPhoneographer. Similarly to you, I store all photos and can tell which iPhone I shot it with without even looking at EXIF. And will probably go for iPhone 17 Pro since I want ALL the new photo features my 11 Pro is missing such as ProRAW, photographic styles, 48MP and this fusion cropping (I kinda hate digital crop but… I kinda like it, it is a complicated relationship ).

As you noted, iPhone is a tool. And a DSLR is a tool. Both are to capture a moment. At the end of the day, doesn’t really matter how many megapixels the shot is or how small sensor is – you have captured a moment! And this is where the magic of photographic art is, the magic of being able to catch the moment, the colors, the reality, the mood.

I also have a D3100 DSLR, albeit unfunctional due to dead battery and requires new lens. It was a decent camera tho, taken lots of awesome photos with this one. But I am not very eager to invest money in it at the moment. I have largerly transitioned to iPhoneography.

More I have to say, iPhone blows out of the water some of very pricey cameras such as Fujifilm X100V which cannot stand direct comparison even with older 14 Pro or 15 Pro, it just misses the colors and has way too many useless film emulations. Soo, despite being a “big boy camera”, it lost to 1000$ iPhone. And there are soo many examples like this one.

Obviously, when the sun goes down the iPhone shows its small sensor essence, but on the other hand if you find external light sources or play with modes creatively you can push the limits of iPhone and make great shots!

View attachment 2516332

For example this shot could have not happened if I had no iPhone. I decided to experiment and take shots by putting iPhone to binocular. Turns out it can bring nice results!

View attachment 2516333

Or this random B&W photo. I rarely take black and whites, but this morning I just chose the built-in noir filter and called it a day

My friend, I feel 100% like you but more and more I hear people say Photography with a "big" camera is a thing of the past, it's dead like a HTC phone. I say not so fast. We're talking of two different things: iphonography and Photography. Iphonography has killed the Point & Shoot, not the DSLR photography. Both renders photos magnificently. Even if their purpose its the same (immortalizing a moment in time), they are two different beasts. I for one am happy to use both tech and I am satisfied equally cause in my head, I know what I'm doing which is more than merely shooting at my breakfast to share on any platform. I never said iPhones took bad pictures. Far from it and I'm happy to carry this wonderful piece of tech in my pocket.

 

[Denise60]

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...

I love the plus models I have the 15 plus

 

[The Game 161]

sells suggests nobody really wants it.

 

[subjonas]

I see a lot of people in these forums always claiming that Apple makes the cheaper models bad value on purpose to “upsell”, but 1) I’ve never heard of this ‘creating a bad model to sell the more expensive model’ strategy outside of these and similar tech forums, and 2) I’m not at all convinced that the numbers would work in a company’s favor considering the high cost of creating and maintaining each new SKU, and that they also lose sales from customers who would have bought the more expensive model had the cheaper one not existed.
Is there any factual evidence (not conjecture) of this strategy working for Apple or other companies, or of companies even doing this? If this was a known strategy, I would think I could easily find something about it online, but any search for “upsell” only came up with links regarding sales/marketing tactics, not bad value products. Or is this just cynical conjecture by people who find the product to be bad value to them personally?

 

[MrAverigeUser]

IM let's say an enthusiastic photograph and been using DSLR since 2002 with many different low and high end lens. My first iPhone was a 5s and I still have the pictures I took with it, same for my 6s, 11 and 12. Now with a 16 Plus. Whatever the phone, the result is the same: it's iPhonography. With my DSLR, it's photography. I'm not shooting or taking pictures of something. I'm into photography. Which is something different. Reminds me of the "battle" between point&shoot and DSLR back in the days. Whatever high end P&S you had, you were shooting. DSLR won easily. But I like taking pictures with an iPhone. I like the rendering. It's superb Iphonography. I take it for what it is. Exactly like in the P&S glorious time. I appreciated the practicality and the small size and the Ohhhh so usefulness. No lens to change. Now, a portable phone has been transformed into a glorious Point&Shoot with options like texting, browsing and lastly...........making calls. You have to be a little older than 20 to know that though. Which I am.

I am an enthusiastic photographer since more than 50 years... at the beginning with simple, cheap (but not bad) equipment for 15 years, than many, many years with very godd analogue equipmehn and since 2003 with the relatively simple, then semi/professional equipment DSLR) and now very good DSLM.

And I agree with you about photography:

It is about 95-99% nothing but about the photographer and his creative talent, the ability to be aware of situations and realize the shot to express a certain feeling or interpretation of a szene you are about to freeze it is about empathie, awareness.. ...
and not at all about the equipment.... !

Many wonderful photography has been made with simple gear - because the photographer is excellent and talented.
I like to regard from time to time some of my best photos I did... some of them have been made a long time ago with (from nowaday´s perspective) "simple" and since a long time outdated gear - but the best of my (and many other people´s) photos are after all these years still able to carry a message and to touch people regarding them. Even if taken with a camera that had just a 2 GB sensor... it is all about the message - of course.

I like always to explain this fact by citing Eric Clapton:
After one of his concerts a fan asked him to tell him which guitar from which enterprise he uses....

and Eric clapton just answered:
"It is the PLAYER, NOT the guitar ! "
and walked away....




By the way: The best camera is the one you have with you to taake a shot at the decisive moment - and that is the advantage of nowadays smartphones.

I still like to use my photo-gear - but even a smartphone (I use a iPhone 14 PLUS) with reduced creative possibilities compRED to a upper class equipment is better than none.
And because I like authentical and natural colours a lot I like the coulors of iPhones a lot.