It is well into September, so you know what that means: it is new iPhone season! Like clockwork, Apple announced last week the latest iPhone 14 lineup. And of course I am trading in my iPhone 13 Pro for the 14 Pro. Just like I’ve done since the iPhone 7: a new phone every year. For something that is our most often used device, I feel like it’s well worth the expense. As the cliche goes, life is too short to use a smartphone for more than one year. Treat yourself!
So I woke up last Friday super early at 5:00 AM to preorder the new iPhone. Thankfully, Apple makes it somewhat painless. Customers are able to fill out their order information ahead of time. On that Friday morning, all I had to do is click a few buttons to confirm whether I want shipping or in-store pickup. 10 minutes later and I was back asleep in slumber. Not sure it was worth interrupting my all important sleep to preorder. The last few years I was able to grab an in-stock unit at an Apple Store on release weekend with no fuss.
Perhaps I’m just excited about the innovation I always most look forward to in the newest iPhones: the camera. There’s a massive improvement to the iPhone 14 Pro’s main camera. The sensor is physically larger, and the megapixel count jumps - for the first time in a decade of iPhones - from 12 megapixels to 42 megapixels. As someone’s whose photography hobby have completely migrated from the traditional camera to the iPhone, it’s good to see Apple continue to innovate in this area at a rapid rate.
This is why I upgrade to the new iPhone every year.
What’s not so exciting about the iPhone 14 lineup is the elimination of the physical SIM card slot in the U.S. models. The 14 will be eSIM only. This means users are forced to pay the ridiculous upgrade fee to Verizon when they buy a new iPhone. Past years I simply take the SIM card out of the old one and stick into the new. Can’t do that anymore! For the iPhone 14 Pro, I will have to go log in on the Verizon website to register it. Which means there’s no avoiding the $30 charge of pure and extortionate profit.
It will also make travel slightly difficult as I can no longer buy a local SIM card. I have to count on carriers in a particular country to offer eSIM support. That’s going to be a pain, I reckon.
Autumn roads.