Winners and Losers: OnePlus users score a big win, iPhone 14 Pro shortages ensue

OPINION: Time to break down a week’s worth of news into two top contenders, with OnePlus and Apple making the headlines for very different reasons.

While the continuing drama on Twitter probably deserves a weekly column of its own, there have been plenty of other stories in the world of tech to keep us occupied, namely the announcements from OnePlus that it will offer four years of updates for some of its phones going forward.

It wasn’t all good news however as the ongoing stock plaguing devices since 2020 have found their new victim: the iPhone 14 Pro. What this means is that trying to get your hands on Apple’s latest flagship device is going to be trickier than ever, particularly before Christmas.

Winner: OnePlus users

When it comes to offering software updates for phones, Apple has stood above the competition for a considerable amount of time, and while it’s taken quite a while for other companies to follow suit, one more brand can now be added to the club: OnePlus.

Earlier this week, OnePlus revealed its plans to include four years of software updates with a handful of its phones released in 2023 and beyond. This is great news for anyone who’s already a fan of the OnePlus ecosystem as it likely means that your next upgrade will be one that’s futureproofed for quite some time.

That four-year claim even beats Google, which previously led the way in the Android space with an offering of three years’ worth of updates. Anything that helps consumers to make the most out of their products is fine by us, and it goes a long way to building trust if brands recognise that some folks simply don’t have the means to upgrade their handsets regularly.

I only hope that OnePlus goes one step further and decides to extend that four-year cycle to all of its future phones and potentially some of the devices that are currently available to buy. Speaking from experience, that peace of mind is one of the reasons why Apple has kept me in its ecosystem for so long, so it’d be nice to see the Android crowd offered the same treatment.

Loser: iPhone 14 Pro

These days, it’s probably easier to list the products that haven’t been caught up in price hikes or stock issues (or sometimes a combination of the two) and unfortunately we can now add the iPhone 14 Pro as being subject to the latter.

As a direct result of the ongoing protests in the Hon Hai/Foxconn iPhone plant in Zhengzhou, China, production of iPhone 14 Pro units has been significantly reduced, with an expected loss of around 15 to 20 million units below Apple’s intended target.

In this instance however, the protests are in regard to strict Covid-19 policies enacted by the Chinese Government, which means that the disruption isn’t likely to end any time soon. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo anticipates that the loss of production will cause a 20-30% drop in Apple’s profits which could have huge ramifications for the company.

If you try and order the iPhone 14 Pro now you’ll be met with some seriously lengthy delivery times as even the Apple store is listing December 29th as the earliest date that it can get the device to your desired address. With that said, we did our own research and found that online retailer Fonehouse still has some units in stock if you want to get your hands on the iPhone 14 Pro before Christmas.