Why are my portrait shots better than landscape?

Hey photographer community this is my first post here and I come asking a question:
Why when taking sunset photos are my portrait shots better than my landscape shotrecently?

Ill provide some evidence and some background information, please digest it all before helping me resolve the riddle.

Exhibit A

I’d noticed a slight preference for the lighting balance in a few portrait shots before Exhibit A, but i much prefer this portrait than landscape shot - so much that I’ve come here looking fir answers. My hope is that I can learn to improve my landscape photography in time for a trip to Hawaii next month.

**Background Information **
I’m super amateur at photography, only using an Iphone 14(not even the pro). It’s an upgrade from the Iphone 11 but whilst my portrait photos are looking much better, my landscape shots don’t seem to be as good as they used to be.

I don’t use filters at all, partly because i feel its cheating and partly because I’m too lazy to invest the time learning what works.

All i do is line up the shot, zoom to get only what i want in the photo and then touch the screen to adjust the cameras main focus which auto adjusts the contrast.

Exhibit B

Exhibit B the landscape shot is better than Exhibit A landscape, but Im still happier with the portrait shot.

Back on my Iphone 11 I had a theory, that when i tried to shoot portrait mode it often added in a new element, for example sand or bushes, and this new element added another layer of lighting requirements that my phone couldnt handle. But this doesnt seem to be true for the Iphone 14. Did they improve something that balances the light adjustment?

Exhibit A and B have more stones picking up light at the bottom of the picture in portrait than landscape - but they become a highlight in the picture. Previously i couldnt get them woth enough light on them, or if i did it was at a cost to the contrast of another element in the photo.

Exhibit C

Here ive added alot more sand before the seaweed which i thought would make the light balance/contrast harder for the phone to capture, but again yhe portrait mode looks better than the landscape. I even tried multiple points if focus for the landdcape shot but this was what looked best on screen when shooting it.

Thanks for reading - any ideas why? Or suggestions of how to improve my landscape shots that don’t include me buying a new camera?