iPhone 7 is stuck on the restore screen, can't do a restore since that will wipe valuable photos.

My brother attempted to update the operating system on my mom's iPhone 7 from iOS 13.7 to 14. From what she's said the phone barely worked for a few days before sticking up the restore screen and becoming giving up on life. I know my options are to plug it into my laptop and either "upgrade" or "restore". Not my first rodeo.

There are a lot of photos on that phone of late pets, holidays, special occasions, and late relatives, so restore is not an option.

"What about iCloud or a backup on you computer?" It doesn't exist.

"Okay, well why haven't you tried upgrade, that'll do it!" It does.. about halfway, then produces an error code (14). Last attempt was with iOS 14.2.

After a Google search bringing me back to Apple's site, I see the error has to do with my USB connection. Well, I can either use my fancy new lighting to usb C, provided with my new phone, or one of two lightning to usb A.

Fun fact: I'm assuming my *new-ish* laptop's usb C isn't up to date enough because it does not provide any data connection to the phone - yes, the cord your phone ships with needs replaced if you want to sync via cable (unless it's my port or my cable or my phone (tried two phones) or my luck or the day of the week or the phase of the moon or the....).

After testing my other options I've come to realize my mom's iPhone 7 seems to disconnect at regular intervals while on idle. I will be honest, It's been a hot minute since I've tinkered with these things, but I've resurrected a few phones at least. I assumed it was something normal until I put two and two together. The phone's port, or something else internal, has to be the problem. My new iPhone was able to restore from a backup without issue, and it stayed connected far longer than it took my mother's phone to reach its "disconnect interval". Sounds like I've got the problem.

However, not to do any unofficial tinkering (which I'm very close to doing thanks to the wonderful price options of Apple's Service and the speed at which this is going) I'd like to see what Apple, or the community has to offer (even reluctantly willing to pay for a repair), so that these precious images can be collected.

The phone will be wiped once the images are backed up, so if it has to be done to complete the photo rescue that's no biggie. Grandma seems to be warming up to mobile tech so we were gonna clean it up and give it to her. Maybe with a new battery too? We'll see.

Anyone who has any suggestions you're thanked in advance. I know this took time to read and a reply will take time to produce, so thank you.

PS:

I've already talked to Apple Support over the phone. I was in full service on hold when my call was dropped or hung up. Seems like the person I was talking to tried to call back, but my phone never rang, I just got a ton of "please answer the phone" emails. The second person I spoke two when I scheduled another call requested my mom's Apple ID in leu of her serial number (which I didn't have), so he scheduled a call back.

I was never called back :(