Another year, another new iPhone is upon us!
We got the iPhone 14 Pro Max Space Black, and we loved it! Some might argue that the upgrades are marginal, but personally, we think this year’s iPhone 14 Pro Max has some new features and updates that worth the upgrade. Additionally, the iPhone 14 Pro series is the most exciting of all the four new iPhone 14 models.
Design & Display
Although the overall Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max design is familiar, but there are some differences setting it apart from its predecessors, both on the front and back.
The screen this year is similar to last year’s models, but a bit taller at 20:9 screen aspect ratio with an XDR OLED ProMotion display.
To start with, the notch at the top of the display has been replaced by a pill shaped cutout, which Apple (being Apple of course), called it the Dynamic Island. The Dynamic Island houses the Face ID sensors and the front facing camera, and most importantly, IT’S ALIVE!
Yes, the Dynamic Island is now functional and has a purpose, a really smart one and also fun to use. The pill shaped Dynamic Island comes to life and changes shape depending on what you’re doing and can expand to display different functions such as music playing in the background, maps directions, and houses your multitasking tasks, in addition to live activities which are coming later this year. The Dynamic Island works as well with notifications,, such as connecting AirPods, phone calls, charing and others.
Overall, WE LOVE IT!
Another change Apple added to this year’s iPhone 14 Pro Max is the Always On Display. Apple has made some changes to the adaptive refresh rate which is now between 1Hz and 120Hz compared to 10Hz and 120Hz on the iPhone 13 Pro Max. This of course allows for the Always On Display to be possible.
The Always On Display means that your locks screen remains on all the time in dimmed status, visible enough to see information displayed. Of course Apple did not just slap the Always On Display without adding its own touch on it. If your iPhone is in a Focus mode, Sleep for example, the Always On Display turns off to conserve battery life. Additionally, if you are wearing an Apple Watch and you walk away from your device, the Always On Display also switches off.
It’s also worth noting that this year’s display has a 1600nits max brightness (400nits higher than the iPhone 13 Pro Max), and has a peak brightness of 2000nits which makes this iPhone super bright in outdoor situation and colors are very vibrant in any lighting condition.
Elsewhere, the iPhone 14 Pro Max has the same body, though slightly thicker than its predecessor. The iPhone 14 Pro Max measures 6.33 x 3.05 x 0.31 inches and weighs 240g, compared to 6.33 x 3.07 x 0.3 inches and 240g for the iPhone 13 Pro Max. The body is made out of surgical-grade stainless steel, of course delivering a premium feel. The standard iPhone controls are all there, from the silence switch, to the volume and power buttons and placed respectively on the left and right side. The SIM tray is also on the left side (if you have the non US version of course). At the bottom, the speakers flank the Lightning port.
This year, the iPhone 14 Pro lineup comes with new color options including a Deep Purple, which seems to be the most wanted color so far, in addition to Gold, Silver and Space Black which is our favorite one by far! It has deep black shades and looks so good from any angle.
On the rear, the iPhone 14 Pro continues with a three lens camera setup and a Lidar sensor in the top left. The camera lenses on the back of the iPhone 14 Pro Max are larger than its predecessor.
Specs, New Features & Performance
Apple has introduced the A16 Bionic chip with this year’s Pro models, which might not be purely about benchmarks numbers (very close to last year’s), but more to do with the Always On Display, the new camera setup, and more efficient processing overall which also leads to better and long batter life.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max is powered by 4nm chip with a 6-core CPU with two performance cores, four efficiency cores, a 5-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine capable of nearly 17 trillion operations per second. Apple says that his delivers 20% more efficiency and is “40% faster than the competition”.
In our testing, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is super responsive as expected. whether multitasking, or playing heavy games without getting hot, and this is primarily due to the improved cooling system Apple added this year. Storage wise, the standard 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and a 1TB storage versions still apply.
Additionally, Apple added few new features to this year’s iPhones, one being satellite connectivity, which unfortunately won’t work in our region yet. The feature essentially means the iPhone 14 Pro Max allows you to contact emergency services via text when you don’t have phone signal. Another feature is the crash detection, which means that when a crash is detected, an alert displays your iPhone for 10 seconds and users would either swipe the screen to call emergency services or dismiss the alert.
Camera
The primary camera of the iPhone 14 Pro Max received its biggest upgrade yet. Its 48MP sensor is 65% bigger than the camera of the iPhone 13 Pro max. There’s a triple camera module on the back (noticeably bigger than the iPhone 13 Pro Max), comprised of a main camera, ultra-wide camera and a telephoto camera.
The main camera has been upgraded from a 12-megapixel sensor to a 48-megapixel sensor with an f/1.78 aperture. he ultra wide-angle camera has also been upgraded, to a 12-megapixels with f/2.2 aperture, while the telephoto stands at 12-megapixels with an f/2.8 aperture.
Now, by default, the sensor works in a 4-in-1 pixel binning combination to produce 12MP images. Once you enable Apple ProRAW you’ll immediately get detailed 48MP photos, and it’s quite impressive to be honest. Zoom wise, the 48MP camera enables a new 2x zoom capability with the 12MP 3x telephoto zoom lens. On the front the 12MP TrueDepth camera now offers autofocus along with a faster f/1.9 aperture for better low-light photos.
When it comes to low-light photos, this is where Apple has also put in a big upgrade across all cameras, with the Photonic Engine, which is powered by the A16 Bionic chip.
Apple claims that the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s main camera can capture 49% more light than the iPhone 13, which we found to be true. Low-light photos have improved massively (photo sample below shot in a closed box).
On the video front, another 2 major upgrade came this year, one is Action mode, and the second is 4K resolution in Cinema Mode.
With Action mode, whenever you are shooting a video in motion, like running or jumping, the video stabilization kicks in to a new level and delivers a super smooth footage, which we have not seen on any other device right now.
Overall, the iPhone 14 Pro Max offers crisp, clear, and vibrant results in good, as well as low-light conditions.
Verdict
With super camera upgrades, processor, always on display and Dynamic Island, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max is undoubtedly the most exciting model this year, and probably the best that Apple made so far, and as of now, the best flagship out there in our opinion.
