Does anyone have thoughts/help on iPhone upgrade decision?

The 13 has better battery, of course, and that's what I probably would have gone with if I hadn't wanted a smaller phone. I'm not sure how the pro would benefit a totally blind person any more than the 13 unless you had a lot of stuff you wanted to store on your phone.

The pro have the ultra chip that suppose to help you find AirTags if you lost it in the house. Give specific directions compare to just using regular where it will tell you is close to you. Also pro suppose to last long in battery. Accessibility nothing regarding iOS. If you can get the pro do so or wait to get iPhone 14 pro.

The precision finding of AirTags does not require the Pro. Any iPhone 12 or 13, and possibly even some of the earlier models will do that. I have the 12 mini myself and it works.
I think the Pro is the only one that has lidar, unless that changed in the 13. Whether lidar is actually worth anything is another question.
Dave

Just looking at the hardware in the 13 pro a lot could be done with the lidar sensor and it could be absolutely game changing for us blind folks. So far it hasn’t happened, I think because we’re too shortsighted in what we ask for from apps like Super Lidar and Seeing AI, but the technology is there and it's only in the pro version. Maybe a year or 2 down the line someone will do something actually useful with it.

When it comes to the use of LiDAR,, there's not enough audio demonstrations detailing its full potential.

An outside podcast of LiDAR's use would be benificial, especially with the use of Seeing AI.

Same goes with Augmented Reality to be fair.

I agree lidar is practically useless right now but I’m not sure it's, as you say, not worth considering. Apple released a lot of code developers can use to make lidar apps at the last WWDC so it's entirely possible someone will do something really useful with the hardware in the next year or two. I think just because the potential exists for applications that could be super useful for us blind folks, like way more than all these OCR app clones people use to read mail or whatever, I’d be looking at the pro if I had the budget for it. The pro will also give you better battery life and a device which can take more of a beating if you accidentally drop it as I sometimes do. Only you know your priorities and budget though. :)

Hello, I have the 13 Pro and love it.
I had choosed my 13 Pro because the great battery life, because it's importent to me, and there is no differents accessibility improovments between those modles.

If like me, you're in the small but vocal minority group of people who likes a smaller phone, a mini and a magsafe battery pack is the best of both worlds. If I know I'm going to be out all day, I'll slip the battery pack in my pocket with my phone and I can just pop it on when I know my battery is getting low. If I put it on at the beginning of the day, my 12 mini can easily go all day without me having to plug it in.

if you don't mind using Face ID.
I think IPhone 12 or 13 is really good.
but, if you just like to use Touch ID.
I think the new IPhone SE is the best one.

I would go 13 pro. You get a bigger battery and Lidar should it take off. Plus you will be future proof for years to come. It is also worth noting I have a 13 pro and love it. The battery is awesome in it.