iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 Pro: Is the older Pro a better choice?

Apple has announced its latest line of smartphones, led by the iPhone 14. With inevitable improvements, it will be instructive to see how the phone stacks up against last year's flagship iPhone 13 Pro.

There are some striking similarities between these two phones, which are a year apart and have changed a lot. But has Apple made any progress with its mainstream iPhone 14, or is it better to just track down the price-cut iPhone 13 Pro?

We're not ready to make a firm judgment on the iPhone 14, but here's how it compares to last year's Pro model in terms of specs.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 Pro: Price and availability
The iPhone 14 was announced on September 7th and will be available on September 16th.

Apple kept the iPhone 14 prices from last year's iPhone 13 in the U.S., but raised prices in the U.K. and Australia. Pricing starts at $799/£849/AU$1,399 for 128GB of storage, while 256GB starts at $899/£959/AU$1,579. The top-of-the-line 512GB model costs $1,099 / £1,179 / AU$1,899.

The iPhone 13 Pro will be available on September 24, 2021. At launch, the 128GB model was $999/£949/AU$1,699, while the 256GB model was $1,099/£1,049/AU$1,869 and the 512GB model was $1,299/£1,249/AU$2,219. Apple has also added a 1TB model with an initial MSRP of $1,499 / £1,449 / AU$2,569.

Considering only the launch price, the price gap between the two models is huge. However, with the new launch of the iPhone 14 Pro, the price of the iPhone 13 Pro will inevitably drop with third-party retailers.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 Pro: Design
The base iPhone 14 is very similar to last year's iPhone 13. Apple is clearly not trying to reinvent the wheel here.

It has the same flat aluminum rims and the same flat glass front and back as the iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 series. Unlike the iPhone 14 Pro, it even has the same chunky display notch.

More specifically, the design is very similar to that of the iPhone 13 Pro. The two phones are comparable in size and shape, with the iPhone 13 Pro measuring 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.7mm, while the iPhone 14 is only 0.1mm thicker.

The main difference here is the choice of higher-quality, more resilient stainless steel for the iPhone 13 Pro's rims. This also makes the iPhone 13 Pro weigh 204g, second only to the iPhone 14's 172g.

The iPhone 13 Pro also features a more prominent camera module with three lenses instead of the two on the iPhone 14.
The iPhone 14 does add a new purple option this time around, which looks more pink to our eyes — or lavender at best. The equivalent on the iPhone 13 Pro is a softer Sierra Blue.

iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 Pro: Display
Both phones feature 6.1-inch OLED displays with a resolution of 1170 x 2532. They are indeed very similar, but not exactly the same.

The main difference here has to do with the refresh rate, with the iPhone 14 sticking to 60Hz, while the iPhone 13 Pro is fully compliant with Apple's 120Hz "Pro Motion" standard. It's actually twice as smooth, especially when scrolling through web content and photos.
The iPhone 13 Pro also gets brighter in High Brightness Mode (HBM) at 1000 nits. By comparison, the iPhone 14 can only hit 800 nits. In limited circumstances, both are capable of 1200 nits of peak brightness.

iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 Pro: Cameras
We know very well how the two camera systems will compare, as the iPhone 14 unit seems to borrow a little from the iPhone 13 and a lot from the iPhone 13 Pro.

Apple gave the iPhone 14 a dual-camera system to replace the triple 12-megapixel iPhone 13 Pro. However, the main sensor appears to be much the same.

They share the number of pixels, but are the same size, both with a pixel size of 1.9µm. Both benefit from the iPhone 12 Pro Max's sensor-shift stabilization system, so we'd expect equally good low-light shots.

Another common factor here is that the two phones run on the exact same A15 Bionic chip with the exact same image processing potential. Most of Apple's camera strengths are in image processing, so that's key.

But, Apple is Apple, and it kept the new Photonic Engine for the iPhone 14. This hardware-software hybrid system, which applies Deep Fusion early in the photography process, improves the low-light performance of the iPhone 14's two cameras by at least 2x, leading to the potential for it to actually outperform the iPhone in low-light situations 13 Pro.

A big advantage of the older but higher-end iPhone 13 Pro is that it has a dedicated 3x telephoto camera, so it can take more detailed zoom shots than the iPhone 14, which relies on cropping.

However, the iPhone 14 looks better than its older brother, the Pro, in one respect - the front-facing camera. While both are 12-megapixel examples, the iPhone 14 features a wider f/1.9 aperture (compared to the f/​​2.2 in the iPhone 13 Pro) and has a proper autofocus system in place of the Pro fixed focus. Expect better low-light focus and performance as well as better long-distance group shots.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 Pro: Specs and performance
As we just mentioned in the camera section, both phones run on the exact same A15 Bionic chip. This actually represents a small upgrade from the iPhone 14, from the iPhone 13's A15 with a 4-core GPU to the iPhone 13 Pro's A15 with a 5-core GPU.

That's not to say, however, that the two phones perform the same. While both phones may reportedly come with 6GB of RAM (we'll need to confirm before launch), the iPhone 14 is said to use slower LPDDR4X memory than the iPhone 13 Pro's LPDDR5 RAM.

Another lingering spec advantage of the iPhone 13 Pro is the option of 1TB of internal storage, while the iPhone 14 can only be expanded to 512GB.

All in all, in terms of performance, these two devices are probably pretty close. If anything, we suspect the old Pro will hold the slightest edge.
iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 Pro: Battery
Apple has never confirmed the exact battery capacity, so we'll have to wait a little longer to confirm how big the iPhone 14's battery will be. We've heard it's a 3279mAh unit, which would make it just a tad bigger than the previous iPhone 13.

More pertinent is this comparison piece, which makes the iPhone 14's battery even bigger than the 3095mAh iPhone 13 Pro.

That's not to say the iPhone 14 will have longer battery life than the iPhone 13 Pro. The latter's display may refresh twice as fast; but it can also be scaled down to 10Hz if necessary, saving real power.

As mentioned above, the iPhone 14's larger battery seems to be confirmed by the simple fact that it's a bit thicker than the iPhone 13 Pro.

iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 Pro: Which should you buy?
The iPhone 14 is shaping up to be the biggest disappointment in this year's series. It's very similar to the iPhone 13 before it, and it doesn't even get the strong performance boost we're used to.

To that end, the iPhone 13 Pro remains an excellent device overall, offering very similar performance, along with a great display and a more versatile camera.

In the case of the iPhone 14, it has some new camera tricks that have been arbitrarily moved away despite the iPhone 13 Pro having similar or even better hardware.

Of course, Apple hardware is known to keep its prices, which means you won't find any brand new iPhone 13 Pro phones for cheap after the iPhone 14 Pro is released. But there's a good chance you'll get a nice discount, which could take away from the iPhone 14's low price.

If you can find such a deal, the iPhone 13 Pro seems like the better option. We'll know for sure once we get a chance to test the iPhone 14.