iPhone 14 vs. iPhone 14 Pro Buyer's Guide

Friday March 3, 2023 6:19 AM PST by Hartley Charlton

The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro are among Apple's newest iPhone models and follow the previous year's iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, but how different are the two latest 6.1-inch iPhone models, and what exactly does a "Pro" device give you?

iPhone 14 vs iPhone 14 Pro Feature
Last year, the biggest differences between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro were ProMotion, 2GB of memory, three hours of battery life, and rear cameras with different apertures. With iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, both devices share new features like Emergency SOS via satellite, Crash Detection, Action mode, 6GB of memory, Photonic Engine, and an upgraded 12-megapixel TrueDepth front camera with autofocus, but Apple's "Pro" and non-Pro iPhone models are more different than ever.

Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two iPhone models is best for you, and serves as a way to clearly see what additional features and upgrades the iPhone 14 Pro brings to the table.

Key Differences

iPhone 14	iPhone 14 Pro
Aerospace-grade aluminum design with glass back	Surgical-grade stainless steel design with frosted glass back
–	ProMotion with adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz
–	Always-on display
800 nits max brightness (typical)	1,000 nits max brightness (typical)
1,200 nits peak brightness (HDR)	1,600 nits peak brightness (HDR) and 2,000 nits peak brightness (outdoor)
"Notch" TrueDepth camera array	TrueDepth camera array with Dynamic Island
A15 Bionic chip	A16 Bionic chip
"Advanced" dual-camera system	"Pro" camera system
2x optical zoom range (2x optical zoom out, digital zoom up to 5x)	6x optical zoom range (3x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out, digital zoom up to 15x)
12-megapixel Main camera with ƒ/1.5 aperture	48-megapixel Main camera with ƒ/1.78 aperture
12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera with ƒ/2.4 aperture	12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera with ƒ/2.2 aperture
–	12-megapixel Telephoto camera with ƒ/2.8 aperture
Sensor-shift optical image stabilization	Second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization
True Tone flash	Adaptive True Tone flash
–	LiDAR scanner
–	Night mode portraits
–	Macro photography
–	Apple ProRAW
–	ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB capacity)
–	Macro video recording, including slo‑mo and time‑lapse
146.7mm height	147.5mm height
7.80mm thickness	7.85mm thickness
Weight of 172 grams	Weight of 206 grams
20-hour battery life (during video playback)	23-hour battery life (during video playback)
128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage options	128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options
Available in Blue, Purple, Midnight, Starlight, and PRODUCT(RED)	Available in Deep Purple, Space Black, Silver, and Gold
Starts at $799	Starts at $999

Final Thoughts

The iPhone 14 Pro offers a large number of upgrades over the standard iPhone 14. With just $200 difference to obtain a brighter display with ProMotion and always-on functionality, the ‌Dynamic Island‌, the A16 Bionic chip, and a radically different rear camera set up, not to mention longer battery life and a more premium design, many customers will be able to justify getting the iPhone 14 Pro over the iPhone 14. Due to the scale and breadth of the iPhone 14 Pro's improvements and features, customers should actively choose the high-end model in most cases.

It will only be worth getting the iPhone 14 over the iPhone 14 Pro if you want a lighter device, do not care for the "Pro" rear camera setup or features like ProMotion and the always-on display, or cannot afford the $200 to upgrade to the high-end model. In this instance, you will still benefit from shared features like Emergency SOS via satellite. The iPhone 14 is still a well-rounded device, especially for customers coming from a much older model.

Related Forum: iPhone

Top Rated Comments

Luna Murasaki

54 months ago

This is a reasonable, rational concern. But, to Apple's credit, they support their devices for many years. For example, iOS 16 is supported all the way back to iPhone 8, released in 2017. That's pretty darned solid.

It's likely the 14/Plus will be supported for 5+ years. That's a long time to keep a phone...

Well, we've been looking at our budget here at our household and we are trying to save money where we can. We were upgrading our phones every 4 years but want to move to a 6-year cycle instead. We can't be the only ones thinking of this. These things are expensive and if it still works well, can still get the latest iOS with the latest security patches, and can still run the latest apps, and you aren't a tech enthusiast or someone with shallow friends, it doesn't seem a huge sacrifice to keep the device longer, especially with how mature the iPhone's feature set is at this point. This also applies to people on a hand-me-down system with a relative which is part of what we are doing. So I think the concern is more relevant than it seems at first glance.

If you do the math by calculating the price of each device per year of support rather than the total price, having one less year of support for the non-Pro shrinks the already small price gap between the two phones considerably. And with how badly they differ this year in terms of specs, it's looking like the non-Pro is a rip-off to me. I agree it greatly depends on the person though, and this is of course assuming they actually WILL get 1 year less of support, which we don't and can't actually know.

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

MayaUser

54 months ago

you should point out just the difference to be easier for understanding
Car industry is doing it like this for years and its easy to understand what the pro has additional

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Luna Murasaki

54 months ago

To me, I'm very concerned with the use of last year's chip in the non-Pro iPhone 14. That makes me think it won't be supported as long in new iOS releases, making it necessary to replace it earlier and calling into question how much money you actually save by getting it.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

You're So Right Carl

54 months ago

Still on my XR and was debating getting the 14 Pro since it looks like the Apple Store near me has plenty in stock for same day delivery, but this phone still just works. So I’ll hold out for at least a USB-C iPhone.

XS user here. I'm picking up what you're putting down.

Plus, my gal still uses an 8 Max. She's winning this war of attrition!

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

svish

54 months ago

iPhone 14 is no doubt a great iPhone. But not enough to upgrade from 13.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)