This may surprise you, but my favorite iPhone is the 12 mini.
It's light. It doesn't have a ridiculous camera bump for pictures I don't take.
I think the wider notch looks better on it and it's the perfect size.
I always thought the original 5 generations of iPhone screens to be just a little too
narrow and the 4.7 inch screen that came after to be a little too big.
The iPhone mini is right in between. Goldilocks, me, finally got their perfect phone.
What worries me though is with the 14th generation iPhone, Apple is reversing course and committing
to big. And that's a big deal. No, it's a bad deal.
I'm willing to concede that I'm a minority here.
After the launch of the iPhone 12 and 13 mini models, stories were emerging that production
had to be cut due to unsatisfactory sales volume, thereby justifying the inevitable end of this
form factor. People like bigger phones.
For instance, I was trying to find a good deal on a used iPhone for a friend almost
a year ago. I managed to find her a brand new 12 mini on Craigslist.
Turns out the seller had bought it for his wife, but she didn't like how small it is.
His loss are gain. And now we'd have to take an even bigger hit with the plus because the price.
It costs $900, $100 more than the base iPhone 14, but crucially it's only $100 less than
the iPhone 14 Pro. All you gain compared to the 14 is a bigger screen and a bigger battery.
With the plus phones in the 6 and 6s generations though, you also got optical image stabilization.
With the 7 and 8 plus, you got a whole other camera, plus more RAM.
But for another $100 to jump to the 14 Pro, you get the suite of advanced cameras, dynamic
island, brighter screen, new processor, stainless steel pro design, and a partridge in a pear
tree. So what are the priorities with the plus? Not good value, surely?
Now, I think I have an idea of what the priorities actually are, they're just kind of weird.
The iPhone 14 has undergone a major redesign, though not that you would notice.
It still has the 13's narrower notch, diagonal camera arrangement, and a 15 chip.
Sure on the outside, there are two new baby colors, but the differences are actually much
more than skin deep. The back glass, and I can't believe I'm saying this, is actually replaceable.
It's the first point of entry into the phone. In a teardown, iFixit found that Apple actually went through great effort re-engineering the
iPhone 14, improving the repairability back to a 7 out of 10, and reducing the cost to
replace the back glass by triple digits. So while you would have no idea looking at it, you might well appreciate it.
The other improvements include a slightly wider aperture on the main camera, and the implementation
of the photonic engine. I'd say that this makes the camera ever so slightly better than the iPhone 13.
But after using this and the 14 Pro, it's clear that Apple is adding a lot of sharpening
to their photos. It clearly makes the photos you take pop.
But the 14's photos don't pop significantly over a 13.
The wider aperture is really going to help when things are darker. If you do care about still photos, I should note that a Pixel 7 Pro is the same price.
And though it struggled in this overcast evening photo, it takes the most realistic photos.
And it's the same size as the Plus. The biggest improvement is actually found here at the front.
The front facing camera also gets a slightly wider aperture, which is going to be great
when you're at the bar at night with your friends. But crucially, it also gets autofocus.
This means your selfies will look much, much clearer.
If you're someone who takes a lot of those, getting a 14 over a 13 will be worth it.
And on the Plus, you get a bigger viewfinder, and the flash is probably brighter too.
But what about this pesky Plus? If you want a large screen on Android, there's one available at every price point.
If you want a large screen on an iPhone, it up until now would be the most expensive model.
However, even with this, the price to entry has dropped a mere $200.
With the Plus, I am able to get up to and sometimes more than two days on a full charge.
And I don't care. I really don't like big phones, and I have pretty big hands.
Sure, there were some times where I thought, maybe I can live with this.
Maybe I can get used to it. But then I put it in my man jeans and bent down to pick something off the ground.
You can definitely feel it in your pocket. Using it is even more annoying.
Like when I'm trying to bring down the control center or tap a back button.
I'm stretching so far. This isn't great for one-handed use, which is how I use my phone all the time.
I always thought that the reason someone would get a big phone is because they want to do more.
Doing big tasks on a big screen is less onerous, and therefore you're going to do more of them.
And then when you're done those tasks, you have a nice big screen to unwind with.
So the thinking goes, if you want to live a more focused life off your phone, you get a smaller phone.
But after using this for over a week, I don't feel I used it significantly more than the mini.
In fact, I feel like I used it less. I'm sure I didn't, but perhaps that's because I find the phone so cumbersome.
Maybe the phone you'll use less is in the form factor you like the least.
This then confirms my distaste for extra-large phones.
The mid-sized 6.1-inch iPhone I could live with.
So splurging another 100 on the Pro would make more sense to me.
Actually, no. Because if I were to buy an iPhone right now, I would get a 13-mini.
At $600, it's the best deal on an iPhone right now.
For that money, you get double the storage of the equally priced iPhone 12, the same
camera as the larger 13, and the same CPU as the new 14.
It even has similar gaming performance, unless you're playing Genshin Impact where the 13-mini shines.
For small-screen install works like me, it really is a great phone.
And it really sucks that Apple has large-screen iPhone users over a barrel.
It really does seem that iPhone introduced the plus as a way to get people to upgrade
to the Pro. And worse still, it's working.
Already reports have emerged that Apple has significantly cut back production on the 14
and 14 Plus models to replace them with more Pros.
In fact, from what I've been reading, it appears that the 14 Plus is even less desirable
than the minis were. But why are you canceling it?
Maybe they'll bring it back? I think I resent the 14 Plus.
Thanks for expanding the size, scope, and price of this Mac Address.
If you are a large phone user, give this video a like.
And if you are a small phone user, then subscribe.
Now, I'm curious if the $900 price tag of the Plus is worth it, or you would just get
a Pro for even another $100 over that. Or maybe you just like the regular iPhone 14.
That's really weird. You gotta tell me why.