iPhone 14 Plus sales are unexpectedly slow, report claims

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple's iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus devices aren't selling as well as hoped according to a new report.

While the iPhone 14 Plus only went on sale on October 7, the iPhone 14 went on sale alongside iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max on September 16. According to one report, the two cheaper models aren't proving to be strong sellers — in contrast to the more costly Pro models.

Pro, not Plus

According to a paywalled DigiTimes report seen by MacRumors, Apple's sales of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus were "lower than expected," despite a strong showing for the higher-end versions.

The DigiTimes report claims that Apple may choose to cut iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus orders if sales don't improve — and some say that it could cut them so far as to them fall below iPhone 13 orders around this time last year.

This isn't the first time that we have heard that the non-Pro iPhones might not be as popular as the Pro variants, and last year's iPhone 13 lineup saw a similar breakdown of orders.

Anyone buying an iPhone today is likely to suffer longer delivery times for an iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro max than an iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Plus, depending on the color and storage configuration they choose. If Apple does indeed move manufacturing capacity to favor the Pro models, that could be one way of easing that situation.

This year's iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus both use the same A15 Bionic as last year's iPhone 13 and feature modest camera upgrades. By contrast, the Pro models benefit from a new display with always-on support and the Dynamic Island as well as a new A16 Bionic chip. Improved cameras also make the Pro models the best iPhones for many, too.

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.