Savvy MBA: Which of the 4 Apple iPhone 14 Models Is the Smart Buy?

What do you actually get with the iPhone 14 Pro model over the regular iPhone 14? Is it worth the extra money?

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There has never been a better time to buy an Apple iPhone than today. The set of features that you get — on any of the models — for the price you pay is extraordinary.

There has also never been a more confusing time to buy an iPhone than today.

• iPhone 14 vs. iPhone 14 Pro? Do I need the extra features/functionality?
• iPhone 6.1" models vs. 6.7" models? Is the bigger screen worth it?
• Is 256GB enough? Is 512GB too little?
• Is the extra money for AppleCare+ worth it?
• What does this new semiconductor trade war between the U.S. and China mean for my purchase?

Articles that you’ll read on tech websites and in tech magazines drown you in feature lists and details. They don’t help you navigate the key factors that matter for you to make a savvy decision based on your needs.

And those articles sure as hell aren’t going to help you cut through a blizzard of tech specifications and simplify your decision process.

Today, let’s SIMPLIFY everything so you make a smart, savvy decision for yourself.

The geopolitical situation between the U.S. and China is changing — potentially dramatically. Lean in the direction of “overbuying” on this purchase.

Apple does a huge amount of their production and assembly in China.

Unfortunately, the semiconductor trade war between the US and Japan China has heated up substantially over the past couple days.

Unless you think that China will not retaliate at all — and I do think they WILL retaliate — then the risk to Apple’s ability to reliably produce all of their hardware is far higher than was the case 6–12 months ago.

What the Biden administration just did by expanding “its export curbs to Chinese semiconductor companies on October 07, 2022” is a big deal. For more details, see this Fortune article and this Reuters article, both from October 10, 2022.

As a result, I would lean toward the direction of somewhat “overbuying” on this Apple iPhone purchase.

Whatever the risk would have been 1 year ago of Apple becoming unable to produce their products as easily and inexpensively as they have been, that risk level is much higher this year than last year . . .

. . . and that risk is substantially higher this week than it was last week.

So it’s possible that this phone might have to last you a year or two longer than you would normally keep a phone. It’s savvy to plan for that risk.

iPhone 14 vs. iPhone 14 Pro. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

What is different in terms of features and functionality?

You get too many extra features with the Pro model to list and discuss here, but these are the 5 key features and specs that jump out at me:

1. iPhone 14 Pro Screen: ProMotion with up to 120Hz refresh. I have used an iPad Pro with 120Hz PrMotion refresh for the past 5 years, and — in my personal experience — the scrolling and overall user experience is noticeably smoother than the case with 60Hz iPad screens that don’t have ProMotion. Once you have used it, you won’t want to go back.
2. Camera: Triple lens with 48 megapixel lens. Big jump in photo quality — see CNET review for details.
3. Camera: Optical image stabilization. 3X optical zoom in. Digital zoom up to 15X (vs. 5X on iPhone14.)
4. Camera: LiDAR — night mode portraits enabled by LiDAR Scanner Photos taken at night or in low light are markedly better.
5. Camera: Action Mode captures seemingly impossibly shake-free videos. “[Action Mode] uses heavy cropping to achieve action-camera-like stabilization and saves videos in 2.8K resolution or 2,816 x 1,584 px. It’s best used in 60fps with the ultrawide camera, but it is available to the main and telephoto cameras, too.” (GSMArena)

Here are a few other features that will get called out elsewhere, too. They make *some* difference but not enough — in my opinion — to be major reasons to choose the iPhone 14 Pro over the regular iPhone 14. Differences that won’t make much of a difference include:

1. A16 Bionic processor chip (iPhone 14 Pro) vs. A15 Bionic processor chip (iPhone 14). The A16 Bionic-based iPhone 14 Pro is roughly 8–12% faster than the iPhone 14. This is a nice-to-have, but the average person just isn’t going to notice this small a speed increase. The A16 is also roughly 10% more energy efficient than the A15, so you get up to 29 hours of video playback on the iPhone 14 Pro Max (6.7") vs. up to 26 hours on the iPhone 14 Plus (6.7"). Again, this is a nice-to-have, but it’s not going to change anyone’s life.
2. Screen brightness. The screen on the iPhone 14 Pro has a max brightness, a peak brightness (HDR), and a peak brightness (outdoors) that is 25%, 33%, and 67% (respectively) brighter than with the iPhone 14. But keep in mind that the screen on the iPhone 14 is already a really bright screen.

How much extra does the iPhone 14 Pro cost vs. the iPhone 14?

$200. That’s the difference in price across all storage and size confurations.

128GB iPhone 14 @ $799 vs. 128GB iPhone 14 Pro @ $999.

512GB iPhone 14 Plus @ $1199 vs. 512GB iPhone 14 Pro Max @ $1399.

For any given size and storage configuration of the iPhone 14, moving up to the Pro version (with the better screen, the 3rd camera lens, etc.) costs exactly $200 more.

I’m going to assume that everyone would prefer to have the 5 main features I listed for the iPhone 14 Pro that differentiate it from the iPhone 14.

Given that, the only question is, “Are those features worth the extra $200?”

Spoiler alert: yes, in my opinion, those features are worth the extra $200, unless you can say that none of the feature benefits described above have any value at all to you. Given how many photos and videos that typical iPhone user takes, I’m assuming that the better camera alone is worth that $200.

Here are 4 additional factors to make the difference in cost even easier to bear and even easier to say “yes” to.

1. If you’re already about to spend $1100–$1400 (with tax and AppleCare+) on an iPhone 14, you’re not a budget buyer. Own that fact. The extra $200 is only an additional 14–22%. It’s not a massive increase in cost.
2. You will get at least 20% (or $40) of that $200 back when you sell or trade in your iPhone in a few years.
3. You may be able to write off the iPhone purchase on your taxes. If so, that is probably at least 30% of the $200 ($60) you will get back at tax time.
4. Assume you will have the phone for 3 years. The extra $160 for the iPhone Pro ($200 minus the trade-in value) works out to roughly $1 per week over those 3 years. As long as you can handle the up-front expense of the additional $200, then spreading that initial cost out over the 3 years you would have the phone makes this a small, easy-to-bear cost for most people.

Bottom line — unless you have a compelling reason to NOT get the iPhone 14 Pro, go ahead and spend the extra $200 for the additional benefits.

Don’t over-analyze the choice. It’s not hard.

The additional benefits you get with the iPhone 14 Pro are worth far more to most people than the additional $200 cost.

You’ll enjoy the additional features and benefits of this higher-end model over the next few years.

Which size do you want — 6.1 inch screen or 6.7 inch screen?

This really is a personal preference.

There’s a good chance that you already have an opinion. If so, go with that.

Personally, I prefer the larger sized phone because I do a lot of web browsing and often watch videos on my phone, so the larger screen size is meaningful for me.

But again, this is a personal preference.

If you don’t already have a strong opinion on this, and if there is an Apple store near you, I recommend that you visit the store and spend 10–15 minutes playing with the phones to get a hands-on feel for which size phone you’re going to be happier with.

Also remember that you have a 14-day window after purchasing anything FROM APPLE to return it, no questions asked. (And note that you generally do NOT have this kind of flexible, customer-friendly return policy if you buy an iPhone from one of phone companies — this is one of the reasons why I always buy my iPhones directly from Apple.)

Storage. 256GB, 512GB, or 1T?

Unless you are a person:

1. who doesn’t download many apps and knows that that will not change over the next 3 years that you have this phone;
2. who won’t be taking many photos or many videos; and
3. who won’t download many videos onto the phone to watch, get at least 512GB of storage. It’s worth the extra $200 to go from 256GB to 512GB.

If you do think you’ll take a lot of photos and you want to be able to take full advantage of the 48 megapixel camera lens on the iPhone 14 Pro models, consider upgrading to 1TB of storage.

Yes, I know 1TB of storage sounds like a lot.

But consider that “Apple says the 12-megapixel shots are about 25MB and 48-megapixel shots are about 75MB.” (CNET)

700 photos at 48 megapixels will take up about 52.5GB on your phone. If you have the 512GB iPhone 14 Pro (or Pro Max), you will have used up 10% of the entire storage on the phone just for those 700 photos.

Most people have far more than 700 photos on their phone, so even with the 512GB or 1TB storage options, you will probably still want to make a conscious choice about whether you are shooting photos in 12-megapixels or 48-megapixels.

The CNET reviewer also noted that Pro-Res videos take up quite a bit of storage also. “One 18-minute video I just shot in ProRes gobbled up 27GB of storage space.”

AppleCare+

Finally, also get AppleCare+ for $199. If you break or crack the screen on your phone during the 2 years of AppleCare+ care, you can get it repaired by Apple for only $29.

If you don’t have AppleCare+, Apple will charge you $329 to fix the screen.

1. I am very familiar with the insurance business (I was a co-founder at Esurance), and I will be the first to say that there are many occasions where it does NOT make sense to buy insurance or extended warranties on products you buy. Apple iPhones are one of the few situations where I think it almost always make sense to get it. The only exception would be if you have a well-established track record of never dropping and breaking your phone. Then in that case, I think you can make a good case for skipping AppleCare+.
2. Also, if you are buying your phone outright — and not making monthly payments on it to Apple or to your cell service provider — then your credit card may include “extended warranty” benefits that would apply to your iPhone. For instance, the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cards both give you an additional 1 year of warranty coverage “on eligible warranties of 3 years or less.” Also, both cards include theft and damage protection within the first 120 days after purchase. Many credit cards — Chase, Amex, Capital One, Citi, etc. — offer these benefits. This article from ThePointsGuy has a thorough summary. If you already have a credit card that gives you this kind of warranty extension benefit, I recommend using it for your purchase.

Bottom Line

When you look at the the extra benefit you get for the extra cost you pay — i.e., “marginal benefit vs. marginal cost” — it’s an easy decision to get one of the iPhone 14 Pro models.

The benefits from the extra features on the iPhone 14 Pro are many, and they are meaningful.

Also consider the possibility that due to the possibility of hard-hitting and long-lasting trade wars between the U.S. and China, you may end up keeping this phone longer than you normally would. This is another reason to spend the incremental $200 to get one of the iPhone 14 Pro models. It may have to last you longer than normal.

Good luck, and enjoy your new iPhone!

Related

• How the Al Dente App Eliminates the MacBook Battery Life Problem • Sarcastic MBA’s Review of the M2 MacBook Air — Too Slow Or Plenty Fast? • 4 Lessons on When to Sell $400,000 Worth of Stock

Recent

• Why Are Chinese People Smarter About Mortgages than Americans? • Enraged Anti-War Protesters Missed a Big Chance at Harvard This Week • The Social Contract Broke in the U.S. Years Later Than in Japan • The Ultimate Question for Starting a Conversation Between Two People

Potential to Change the Way You Think

• Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare Costs in the U.S. (and Japan, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, etc.) • Why Vote “Blue No Matter Who” If Centrist Dems Never Play to Win? • Sarcastic MBA’s Guide to Porter’s 5 Competitive Forces (Pt 1) (Pt 2) • Six Behavioral Barriers That Prevent You from Changing the Status Quo — Part 5. Smart Man’s DiseaseWant unlimited access to all Medium articles? Become a member!

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Jeffrey Goodman