I was always the type of person who upgraded my phone every year through my carrier, until I wasn’t. I was always the type of person who looked at phone specs and conjured in my own imagination what the experience could be like. I’d get so hyped over the new stuff that my own excitement would more or less drive my choice – only to see the phone falling just short of expectations over time as the performance degrades. Having had plenty of phones since my days in school, there never seemed to be one that just “did it”.. until the iPhone 14 Pro. This article talks about my anecdotes, and why I recommend this phone.

Let’s step into the wayback machine..

Picture this: It’s 2009, the iPhone was fresh on the market, you get your first iPod touch in your hands.. and suddenly you don’t want an iPod nano or your friend’s used Palm Treo anymore. Matter of fact, this picture to the right was taken on a Motorola Karma QA1 which was my phone at the time. This iPod touch.. is different.. easier.. feels full of life.. as though the skeuomorphic icons beckoned me to dive into an unknown yet exciting world. As someone who was just getting acclimated to Macs, obsessing over the specs of computers, it was only natural for me to want to know what’s in the phone and how it translated to an experiential level. Then you get a 3Gs, suddenly the 4 comes out, and yearly upgrade cycles begin.

Fast forward to summer 2012 when smartphones were still in their infancy: I became equally mesmerized by Motorola’s “D R O I D” Android smartphones. The Droid X/X2 featured a larger 4.3″ screen versus iPhones until the 5, specs were changing seemingly drastically year over year, and suddenly the Motorola Droid Razor Maxx came onto the market with a Dual Core CPU and an AMOLED screen! While this phone became a favorite for a while and I loved the way the screen’s colors popped.. unbeknownst to me the phone would slow down to the point of unsuitability after a few years. Even bought a used one in 2016 to relive the nostalgia, only to find API/web standards have quickly outpaced what this former flagship could offer. (Click to enlarge image on left)

Now it’s 2016 – I had a “nothing burger” Droid mini, it was getting long in the tooth, and somehow I ended up looking into Chinese branded smartphones. I wanted to get a phone with such a substantial battery, that I’d seldom ever have to charge it. At first I picked up a VKworld VK6050 with a 6000 MAh battery then quickly put it aside in favor of what became my favorite Android phone ever: The Oukitel K10000. Thing had a 10K MAh battery, could reverse charge, but like other Androids would slow down after a couple years of use/updates. After dropping it a couple times and seeing how the screen delaminated from the frame, saved up enough to get off prepaid, got Sprint, and switched to a Samsung Galaxy S8+.

Hopping back on the iPhone train

The release of the iPhone X in 2017 is what brought me back. Finally, an iPhone with an AMOLED screen and what felt like a surprise to me: a screen that nearly covers the front of the phone! This is what innovation, progress, and technical prowess looked like to me. It was impossible not to keep up with the Apple event that day – walking outside in bright sunny weather, headphones plugged in, the keynote running on YouTube. Took only 3.5 months to ditch the Galaxy S8+, and Sprint was offering deals which felt too good to pass up. Early 2018 to Late 2022 was rinse and repeat: new iPhone, turn in the old one, wait ’till next year. When the 11 Pro Max’s comfortable rounded frame was swapped for the 12 Pro Max’s squared edge it gave me room for pause and consideration. When the 13 Pro/Pro Max came out with the 120 Hz screen, I felt frustrated for being stuck with an uncomfortable/gigantic 12 Pro Max.

Introducing the iPhone 14 Pro

Not gonna lie, the Deep Purple color mesmerized me. Between that, better ergonomics (smaller, more comfortable phone), and that desirable screen refresh rate to match, it felt like a natural choice. Little did I know this phone would grow on me like no other – except maybe that Oukitel or Droid Razr Maxx. Even still those phones couldn’t even compare.. gassing out after a couple years. It’s early 2025 at the time of writing this, the iPhone 16 series just came out, yet I don’t at all feel compelled to upgrade, possibly not even this year either. Nothing’s ever held up quite like this 14 Pro, and nothing else in the world was a nice and beautiful Deep Purple.

It’s a tough cookie alright, the iPhone 14 Pro that is. I’ve dropped this on tile flooring, hardwood floors, concrete from hip-height, and fumbled around a bit too much in owning it.. normally I’m a bit more careful with my phones. Granted, this phone’s had a few identical looking silicon cases to keep the dings off in all those circumstances. All that’s led to some minor screen de-lamination near the volume keys.. which is making me wonder if I should upgrade or eventually fix that issue. The shiny metal side band has scratches and dings, but it’s just as shiny as ever. No chips, hard dings, or cracks!

Nothing else at all is making me want to switch to a newer iPhone.. though I would consider replacing the battery soon. I’ve picked up a cheap battery case on eBay for the days I need it, but it sits on a shelf if I stay off my phone. 3200 Mah was the only shortcoming on this device as a whole, but I’m not sacrificing ergonomics (bigger iPhone 14 Pro Max) to hold an uncomfortable phone in my hands for the sake of a better battery.

Look, what I’m trying to say is – look at the experiences, the expectations had over phones of years past and then look at how the iPhone 14 Pro actually delivered on them! This thing actually held together without major damage despite not being the most delicate with it. The device hasn’t perceptually slowed down in the minor, expected ways after some software updates. Although the battery leaves room for desire, it’s 2.5 years into ownership and I still find it challenging to convince myself of something newer. Still feels like the 14 Pro I got in September 2022, now with iOS 18.1.1.

Battery degradation

I’d charge this whenever I felt like it. There were long periods of time when I’d charge this phone on a regular basis at regular intervals, but this changed when I worked an overnight job. There were a couple times I let the phone die without realizing it, I tend to stretch the battery % down to 10-20% before charging, and there were plenty of times I randomly plugged the phone in to get a little more % without charging all the way. Some days I’ve used the phone so little it’d tide over into the following day, and there were some days here and there where I’d relax and spend a TON more time on the phone.

The value equation in Early 2025

As someone who stepped away from owning my phones outright to someone who wanted the latest and greatest every year, I would still personally buy this phone in Early 2025. Seriously, if mine stopped working all of a sudden – or if I had none, this would be my choice.

As much as I love tech specs, the “latest and greatest”, there’s always time for reflection. “How much am I spending versus what I’m getting out of it?”, “Will this still be okay in a year’s time?”, “Will this continue operating as I expect it, or will it start doing weird silly inconsistent things that frustrate me and prompt me to feel dissuaded from the comfort zone I developed around this phone?” are among the things circulating in my head. Glitches happen and I gloss them over, but the more they happen, the more the gears start turning!

Why is this phone “good enough” even if I’ve always wanted something “better”? The answer is as simple as can be: the phone acts like they say it’s going to. It feels like the phone I want it to be: pro performance on an “appliance-like-ish, don’t replace it every year” level. There’s a lot that can be done with tech, specs, etc; but I want the phone to work like a Swiss army knife. If I push a button, open an app, and simply use it like a phone, I want no delay. Now that this is all finally achieved, better yet sustained.. Time to relax. Coolest part is.. it’s in Deep Purple!

(Click to enlarge image above or you may download the Excel Spreadsheet)

There are of course discernible differences between the 14 Pro and others – but it’s up to you what makes or breaks the difference in owning one phone or the other. As a tech enthusiast who’s always riding the “new” wave, I instead find myself relaxing on the shore. I had to ask myself:

• 1: Will it mean anything to me that the iPhone 15 Pro/16 Pro have a 3nm CPU versus a 4nm CPU on my iPhone 14 Pro? Absolutely not. While smaller CPU fabrication processes allow for better power efficiency.. this + the 74 mAh extra in the battery wasn’t enough to justify the cost.
• 2: What will I get out of USB-C? Absolutely nothing. I charge this phone most of the time it’s ever even plugged into anything. The times I shot YouTube videos on it.. the USB 2.0 wasn’t slowing me down in a way where I felt dissatisfied.
• 3: Could the battery be better? Sure, it can. But is it worth continuing monthly payments for incremental improvements whereas the battery could simply be replaced? Is it worth an uncomfortable experience holding/using a larger “Pro Max” for the sake of battery capacity? I want a Swiss army knife, not a Swiss army brick.
• 4: If this thing is already paid off, functions as expected and desired after 2.5 years, why spend more? $45 a month doesn’t sound like much, but it’s still $45/mo. If it ever breaks, a used one in excellent shape is only around $530, if my carrier’s insurance doesn’t replace it with an identical one.
• 5: I literally just benched it on Geekbench 6 with 42% battery, tests robbed me of 4% battery.
  • 2660 Single Core, 6872 Multicore, and a 23776 GPU score. Link to CPU or GPU benchmarks.
• Sure, what I have now was MSRP, so I paid full price over time. Yet, If I were to get a 16 Pro: over the same range of time it took to pay this phone off, I would be spending double what this thing is even worth now – just to have minor experiential improvements, if any are even perceived to be worthy improvements.

(Click to enlarge the above or download the Excel spreadsheet)

In Conclusion

It’s evident in 2025 the smartphone market has matured year over year with a decrescendo in drastic changes. Between design, industry standards, consumer expectations, form factor experimentation, the reality is as such: the market is more saturated than ever, and perhaps even stagnating. Unless someone steps forward and provides a solution to a problem, people will merely will only window-shop. Features tell, benefits sell. Features on newer phones tell a story of change, but the law of diminishing results says otherwise. The benefit of holding onto this iPhone 14 Pro is that it’s like a breath of fresh air: it does what they say it’s going to do, and still does.