iPhonefest is over for another year. The final iPhone 14 is out the door and available to buy right now, including in New Zealand.
It is, of course, the iPhone 14 Plus — the first big-screen iPhone that won’t cost an arm and a leg to buy. Don’t get me wrong: at NZ$1,799, it still costs at least an arm, but given the other big-screen handset — the iPhone 14 Pro Max — starts at NZ$2,199, people can at least save the leg if they like.
Otherwise, it’s like the regular iPhone 14 which has largely underwhelmed reviewers by being near identical to last year’s iPhone 13, even going as far as to use a very similar chipset to the previous model. But that big screen is entirely new and could make an appropriately big impact on sales.
Apple will certainly hope so, given the arrival of the new chunky model has seen the end of the teeny-tiny 5.4in iPhone mini. Said dinky phone was technically brilliant, but barely sold at all, making it a no-brainer for Apple to put out of its misery. Maybe we’ll see the form factor again in a future iPhone SE, but for now, Apple’s dalliance with small smartphones is over.
Even if the iPhone 14 Plus is a flop, we’ll likely get at least one more version of it before Apple shakes things up again. It was obvious pretty quickly that the iPhone 12 mini was a flop, yet sure enough the iPhone 13 mini arrived 12 months later, as plans were too advanced to turn around. You’d imagine an iPhone 15 Plus is already nailed down for 11 months’ time, but who knows about the iPhone 16?
Unlike the iPhone 14 Pro family, stock doesn’t seem to be a problem. While an iPhone 14 Pro is currently listed as having a 3-4 wait time on the Apple NZ site, the brand-new iPhone 14 Plus is available right now. Apple will be hoping that’s not a bad omen.
