Should you buy an iPhone 14 Pro now or wait for iPhone 15 Pro?
The iPhone 14 Pro is great, but is now the right time to buy?
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With theiPhone 15series probably landing in September, it’s a tricky time for theiPhone 14 Pro.
We’re close enough to the next models that it could be worth waiting, and either getting one of those or picking up an iPhone 14 Pro for less when it’s not the latest model anymore. But at the time of writing we’re still far enough from the iPhone 15’s launch that we’re in that awkward middle period.
So what should you do? Below we’ve looked at the key things you should consider before buying an iPhone 14 Pro now, including the factors above, along with the likely upgrades you’d get by waiting for aniPhone 15 Proinstead, and upcoming sales that might impact the price of the iPhone 14 Pro.
Wait if you want to get the iPhone 14 Pro for less
When a new iPhone comes out, typically the previous model drops in price soon after. As such, with the launch of the iPhone 15 Pro and its siblings (probably in September), we’d expect to see a decline in the price of the iPhone 14 Pro.
It’s likely thatApplewill discontinue the phone and stop selling it from its own online store, but third-party retailers are likely to have stock remaining that they’ll be keen to shift, so that’s an ideal time to buy an iPhone 14 Pro at a discount.
That said, you don’t necessarily even need to wait for the iPhone 15 Pro, asAmazon Prime Day 2023is expected to happen in mid-July. We’re unlikely to see significant discounts on the iPhone 14 Pro there, but there might be some small savings to be had.
The biggest deals could instead come onBlack Friday, on November 24. That date (and the days around it) will likely see massive discounts on a variety of smartphones – going by past form, and with the iPhone 14 Pro no longer being the latest model by then, it could be among them.
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Buy now if you want one of the best phones as soon as possible
Waiting isn’t for everyone, especially if your current phone is dead, damaged, or several years old. You might really want –or even need– an upgrade soon, and in that case you won’t go wrong by buying an iPhone 14 Pro now.
The iPhone 14 Pro is one of the verybest phonesyou can buy, and it will still be among the upper echelons when the iPhone 15 Pro launches.
It has a more powerful chipset than anyAndroid phone(based on artificial benchmark testing), a high-end build, competitive cameras, and a clever Dynamic Island, that you won’t find on any other handset right now, other than theiPhone 14 Pro Max.
So, you’ll be getting a great phone, and one that justifies its high price, even now, months on from when it first launched.
Wait if you want upgrades to the design and charging port
Two key upgrades we’re expecting from the iPhone 15 Pro are to the charging port – with a rumored movefrom Lightning to USB-C– and to the design, withtitanium sidesand thinner bezels rumored.
If they sound like things you care much about, then you should wait and buy the iPhone 15 Pro instead.
These aren’t the only upgrades we’re expecting, but the others so far sound less significant. There will almost certainly be a new chipset, but with the iPhone 14 Pro already being tremendously powerful, you probably won’t notice much difference.
There’s also talk of potentiallya new sensorfor one of the cameras, but that’s uncertain, and the basic setup will probably remain similar, with something along the lines of a 48MP wide sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide, and a 12MP telephoto, offering 3x optical zoom.
Buy now if you’re more interested in the iPhone 16 Pro than the iPhone 15 Pro
We’re not expecting big upgrades to the cameras, screen, or battery with the iPhone 15 Pro, so if they’re things you care a lot about then you can safely buy the iPhone 14 Pro – and perhaps upgrade to the iPhone 16 Pro in late 2024.
We haven’t heard much about that phone, but what we have heard suggests the iPhone 16 Pro will havea bigger 6.3-inch screen. That extra size might allow Apple to pack ina larger battery or improved camerastoo, including perhapsa periscope lens, and maybe evenunder-display Face ID, which would mean a big change to the design.
So in other words then, the iPhone 16 Pro sounds like it could present itself as a much bigger upgrade than the iPhone 15 Pro, but with that being well over a year away, we’re not suggesting buying nothing until then, just buy an iPhone 14 Pro and – if these rumors pan out and are things that you care about – you might feel ready to upgrade again by then.
Don’t worry about support either way
One final thing to note is that you don’t need to worry that Apple will stop supporting the iPhone 14 Pro anytime soon. Aside from the fact that it’s less than a year old, Apple is also very good about supporting its phones, often keeping them updated for as long as six years.
When you consider that Android phones tend to only get between two and four years of Android OS updates, that means any Apple phone made in the last two years or so will, at the very least, be supported for as long as the latest Android flagships, and in many cases longer.
James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.
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