iPhone 14 Plus flops with 'lukewarm' market response as Apple focuses on Pro models

iPhone 14 Pro Max Deep Purple and iPhone 14 Pro Space Black

(Image credit: Future)

Apple's brand-new iPhone 14 Plus has only been on sale for a couple of weeks, but it's already being branded a flop, with analysts at TrendForce noting a "lukewarm" market response to the product.

As a result of a market that seems increasingly willing to pass on Apple's 6.7-inch non-Pro iPhone, the company is said to be focusing on the iPhone 14 Pro as its savior.

Lukewarm response

As part of a larger TrendForce report, analyst Mia Huang says that "the market response after the release of the iPhone 14 Plus was lukewarm" and that Apple has adjusted its production accordingly. Instead, Apple is continuing to focus on the iPhone 14 Pro, with the Pro models traditionally selling better in the weeks immediately following its initial release.

The report also correctly points out that this year's iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models haven't increased in price over last year's iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, despite a notable improvement in capabilities and specifications. This year's models have a new A17 Bionic chip, 48-megapixel camera, Always-In Display, and Dynamic Island. By contrast, the non-Pro models are incredibly similar to last year's models.

TrendForce also suggests that the delayed launch of the iPhone 14 Plus — it shipped weeks after the other models — didn't help its case, either.

The same TrenForce report also points to new iPhone 15 features and specifications, including a new periscope lens that is expected to be part of the iPhone 15 Pro Max camera setup. That alone should make for the best iPhone yet in terms of photography capabilities, thanks to a rumored 10x zoom.

If Apple follows its usual release schedule, we can expect an iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max to be announced in September of 2023.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.