iPhone 14 Pro Max focuses most of the time. Sometimes it refuses. Same Environment

Is there a hardware issue with the iPhone 14 Pro Max that randomly causes it to refuse to focus? I'm trying to figure out whether to wait for an update, or have them dissect my brand new phone (which could cause more issues).

The camera just will not focus on easy-focus scenes sometimes, no matter what settings I use. I've been using iPhone cameras since iPhone 3, so I'm pretty familiar with them and have never had such an issue. It's beautiful when it works (most of the time). But once it goes out of focus, it's almost always impossible to get it back in focus until restarting the camera app, and sometimes, restarting the phone. You can be shooting great one moment, and a few seconds later, it goes out. I'm not jarring the phone or hitting it or tapping anything other than a soft screen touch. Attached are some images I was just outside and took from pretty much the same spot of the same subject.

This has been a consistent problem for the entire 6 weeks I've owned it. I even went to the Apple Store, who had me completely reset and wipe my phone (ouch!) and not restore it, but reload everything from scratch to eliminate the possibility of an old setting gone awry.

It happens with every zoom level and with all picture and video modes. It happens no matter what app I use to take a picture.

Although it's aggravating either way, I'm willing to wait for a software update if they'll admit there's an issue they're working on, but the Apple Store repair guy says he's never heard of the problem. Really? But if there's a random problem with my phone camera parts (it passed all the Apple Store's diagnostics), then I guess I'll have to let them do surgery.

Help!