iPhone 14 is the most disappointing iPhone in over a decade

iPhone 14 Review
(Image credit: iMore / Stephen Warwick)

The iPhone 14 is the most disappointing iPhone in a decade for consumers, according to a new report from PerfectRec.

The report, which analyzes more than 669,000 user-generated reviews, has found that one of the best iPhones at the moment, the iPhone 14, has seen a huge decline in opinion versus its predecessor - for the first time since 2012.

"Economists and data scientists at the new product review website PerfectRec have analyzed 13 years of user-generated iPhone reviews, tracking consumers' changing perception of the world's most successful technology product over time. We found that from 2012 to 2021, starting with the iPhone 5, consumers rated every new generation of iPhones better than the preceding one."

"But with the iPhone 14, released in September 2022, that changed."

Apple loves to showcase consumer opinion in keynotes, but the iPhone 14 results in this report wouldn't be something worth writing home about.

Why is the iPhone 14 so disappointing?

There could be many reasons for the widespread lack of positive opinion on the iPhone 14. For starters, the average price of iPhones across the globe is on the rise, and with a cost of living crisis, consumers might find the upgrade a little too minimal to warrant the cost. 

Add to that the lack of stand-out improvements of the iPhone 14 versus last year's models like the iPhone 13 Pro (which I think is still a better buy), and there's no real excitement around the baseline 2022 iPhone model.

Additionally, we're at a point where annual upgrades to iPhones don't have the same weight they used to. For consumers upgrading every four or five years, there's huge incentive to get the latest and greatest, but for those that upgrade annually, the iPhone 14 leaves a lot to be desired. 

With September fast approaching, we don't have long to wait for the new iPhone 15  to be revealed, and we can't wait to see if the new iPhone pushes consumer opinion back toward the green. For now, there are iPhone 14 deals around if you simply can't wait.

John-Anthony Disotto
How To Editor

John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019.  John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit. 

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