Just throwing my tuppence-worth in here, and this is solely anecdotal but I have noticed that my 14PM battery is really not as great as my 13PM.
My 13PM, I never even used to worry about the battery - and consistently ended the day on 20-30% with very heavy usage for work.
I'd get up and be on it solidly for about an hour catching up on work stuff and checking social media, then go to the gym and stream music/radio for 90 mins and by mid morning, be no lower than 86% at the absolute lowest.
This morning, I was on it much less than normal before going to the gym, and then by the time I left the gym and got home, I was down to 74% - so 12 percent less than I would be normally at that point.
I just charged it up to 100% and took it off the charger. I'm now at 98% after an hour off charger which included one 20 min call over WhatsApp and one min call. Normally, my 13PM would be at 100% for another hour or two at least.
I got this phone on Friday and set it up Friday evening so I get that it might still be indexing, but I also remember being massively impressed with the 13PM from day one and not having to make excuses or tell myself it would probably get better after a few days.
I'm not one of these people who moans and hates and tends to get buyers remorse on an iPhone but here, I do personally feel that the experience isn't as 'wow' as it normally is. I don't feel delighted, I feel slightly disappointed. I still have my 13PM so will maybe return this if I don't feel any happier in a few days. I am one of those people who likes to get the new iPhone every year and has done since the first edition and view it as a great investment because I use it for absolutely everything.
But I also have a job that means at times, I have to be able to rely on that massive battery, I remember getting the first 6 Plus Phone and being absolutely blown away at how I just couldn't get it to drop from 100% and for me, the 13PM was similar and there's a reason that this is regarded as the gold standard by many reviewers and has been for the last twelve months. I don't feel that yet with the 14PM but I'm willing to give it a few more days.
I do love the AOD (I've dabbled with Samsung devices on and off over the years but have never been able to switch, though have always loved their AOD so I was excited to see Apple bring that.) I don't want to have to turn it off and start making compromises to make it work as it should.
I recall during the keynote that Apple didn't tout an amazing battery increase (in fact, I believe the battery is physically smaller now) which I remember thinking at the time spoke volumes because with their marketing nous, you know they would have talked about what an increase it would have been if that were the case. Instead saying 'still delivers all day battery life' is technically true (subjectively) but hardly pushes the envelope.
On a sidenote, a friend of mine who works at Apple was complaining about a buggy camera app on his and returned it and I see this is something that is affecting other people too. Mine has been OK, but it looks like this model doesn't seem as water-tight as previous years between this and the battery issue. And at the risk of drawing ire from some, I don't feel the camera quality is as good as the 13PM either.. YMMV (and I'm sure it will) but I find that some pictures just look a lot darker than they would on the 13PM (though I understand it's a technical compromise due to letting in more light for darker pics etc.)
Anyway, sounds like I'm just trying to justify returning it and keeping the 13PM which I really am not. I really want to love this phone, but the slight battery anxiety is muddying that so I hope that disappates one the next few days. Not least because the act of switching two eSims back is a right PITA (which also could be part of the issue, though I was running one eSim and one regular sim in my 13PM with no issues and battery was stellar.)
We'll see - and as I say, this is purely anecdotal. So don't come at me, lol!
