Why would a knowledgeable person rather buy a second-hand iPhone 14 Pro than a brand new iPhone 15?

As the saying goes, war reports deceive, but the front does not. How to evaluate whether the iPhone 15 is worth buying, the second-hand market can find the most real answer.         

The current second-hand mobile phone market has formed a delicate balance: iPhone 14 Pro 256GB version, 95 new is about 6100 yuan. The 256GB version of the iPhone 15 also starts at 6,000 yuan.

In the case of these two mobile phones at almost the same price, many knowledgeable people have suggested that they would rather buy a second-hand iPhone 14 Pro than an iPhone 15, what is the reason? There are 4 points in total.

First of all, the most obvious change in the appearance of the iPhone 15 is the "smart island", and this is just a copy for the iPhone 14 Pro. However, the screen quality of the iPhone 15 standard version has indeed improved greatly, and the peak brightness has reached 1600 nits like the iPhone 14 Pro.

However, the iPhone 15 screen refresh rate is only 60HZ, and the 120HZ adaptive high brush is still the exclusive selling point of the Pro series. Although I think 120HZ is not a "difficult to use" experience, it is nothing more than a matter that can be adapted in half an hour, but considering that the iOS end of Genshin, King, and Chicken has supported high brushing, the shortcomings of the hardware level are better to avoid as much as possible.

Second, in terms of performance, the core hardware of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 is the same, both are A16 chips, 6GB LPDDR5 memory, 128GB flash memory. In layman's terms, both phones have the same lifespan.

But according to the information disclosed by foreign media, the iPhone 15 may use a cheaper battery, and the theoretical number of cycles is only 600 times. It is reported that from 2024, the average life of the iPhone will be as long as 8 years. It can only be said that Apple is already trying to reduce the service life and stabilize sales - just as the life of the light bulb could have been bright for 100 years, but it was deliberately limited by the manufacturer.

Third, Apple is from the iPhone 15 series to start the C port, as we all know, USB-C compatibility, transmission performance, expandability are stronger, such as iPhone 15 Pro can do external hard disk shooting 4K Prores, completely get rid of the shackles of built-in SSD. The use of lightning interface is undoubtedly a hard injury for the iPhone 14 Pro.

However, although the iPhone 15 is a C port, supports C-C reverse charging, and also supports the DP protocol to connect an external display with a line, the transmission rate is deliberately controlled by Apple at the USB 2.0 level - which leads to its inability to achieve cool functions such as external SSD shooting, so the iPhone 14 Pro has not been pulled apart in functionality.

Fourth, the main camera of the iPhone 15 has been upgraded to 48MP and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens. Because of the lack of a telephoto lens, the iPhone 15 can only zoom up to 2x optically, while the iPhone 14 Pro supports 3x optical zoom.

The iPhone 15 outputs 24 million pixel photos by default, and the photo comes with the depth of field information of the portrait, which can be adjusted freely. In theory, the hardware base of the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 15 is similar, and this feature should be updated in subsequent iOS updates. Looking only at the camera hardware, the iPhone 14 Pro has a slight advantage.

To sum up, buying the iPhone 14 Pro at this stage, what is lost is USB-C, but it got a one-step 120HZ high brush, better telephoto shooting performance, and better body texture (stainless steel material). If you choose the iPhone 15, there is basically only one advantage of USB-C. From the perspective of practicality, the iPhone 14 Pro is more worth buying.