Three more sleeps and we will know what the new iPhones look like. Well, we know what the rumours are but everything we know and do not know of will be official.
I have had the iPhone 14 Pro Max since day one and below is what I like and dislike about my phone:
The Good:
– Dynamic Island
I still don’t think the potential of the Dynamic Island is fully realised yet, and is disappointing because we now know what is coming in iOS 17, but I am hoping there is some Dynamic-Island-related surprise in the final build of iOS 17. That said the Island is much better than the notch we had in prior iPhones. I use it a lot, especially when playing audio and tracking Uber/food delivery apps. It makes using the iPhone whimsical in a way – there is this Island at the top of your phone which responds to the various apps you use on your phone.
– The Performance
This goes without saying, every year Apple’s improvements to the SOC are outstanding and the A16 on the Pro iPhones are great and never did I once feel as if the phone was lagging.
– This Display
The display is pretty much the same as the iPhone 13 Pro before this, but the 14 Pro has a 2,000 nits peak brightness outdoors which does make a huge difference. It did kill the battery faster but it is worth it, I do all my photography on the iPhone and in the past I would not clearly see what i am shooting on a sunny day but that was not the case with the 14 Pro Max.
– The Always on display
Android phones have had this for years but it finally came to the iPhone with a bit of a twist where the whole wallpaper was visible, and in colour. Later there was a setting to turn off the wallpaper and go back to an Android-like traditional AOD with only the time and widgets. I did always keep the wallpaper on too until the last two months where i decided to turn off the wallpaper and have kept it like that ever since. iOS 17 has a standby mode which adds to this and is a pretty amazing with the AOD.
– Crash detection & Emergency SOS communication
Thankfully I haven’t had to use these and I pray it stays that way, but I have read loads of stories online where these two features have saved peoples lives. I am glad these features exist.
– The Camera
The camera has been my favourite 14 Pro Max feature and the camera is the single reason I upgrade every year. The 14 Pro Max is a great upgrade with 48 megapixel main camera and the improvements to the ultra wide and telephoto lens. I took some great photos (and video) and the details I see in the photos are simply outstanding. There was some chatter online about the 14 Pro Max over sharpening images, I didn’t run into this as I was extensively shooting in RAW and the images turned out great! I have taken close to 14500 photos and videos on this phone and I am happy about all of them. There will and can always be improvements to the camera but overall, this was a great upgrade.
The Bad:
– The Battery Life
The iPhone 13 Pro Max had great battery life and the 14 Pro Max, in comparison, was bad. Maybe it was the Always on display, or it could have been the state of iOS 16, but battery life was relatively bad coming from the 13 Pro Max. That said it did last me the whole day but I had my battery pack ready for days I would do a lot of photography, as shooting in RAW also killed the battery quick.
– The Weight
Both the 13 and 14 Pro Max weight the same which you can feel it in your hands after a while. Everytime I pick up a non-pro or an older iPhone I realise how monumental the weight of the 14 Pro Max is. Stainless steel and glass look good and are premium materials, but I wish these phones were lighter, the iPhone 15 Pro rumour is that titanium gets swapped for stainless steel, which is great and I do hope the phones will be a bit lighter.
– The Colour
This is simply about individual preferences, i have the deep purple colour which is a great colour but I think the silver and the space black look much better in my opinion. My iPhone 12 Pro Max i had was silver and that was a great looking phone, I wish I had gone back to it or gone space black, it’s the darkest black Apple has offered in a while and on the 14 Pro it looks great.
– The Storage
Just like the point above this is also personal preference and affordability. I have always argued if I get the least storage but pay for iCloud it should suffice and it has always helped. Except one time I was in Malta and ran out of space because I have the 128gb phone and shooting exclusively in RAW and 4k60fps meant I had to delete a lot of apps when I was out taking photos. I did come back to my hotel at night with WiFi and the iCloud photo sync did take care of things and gave me enough storage for the next day. This was dependent on good WiFi and my hotel did have good WiFi. All this said, I still would go for the cheapest storage option when I upgrade to the new iPhones. There is a rumour the new Pro phones will start at 256gb and I do hope it is true.
The Ugly:
– The Name
Seriously, the name is the worst thing about this phone and the prevous few iPhones with the “Pro Max” suffix to it. During this article I had to type in “Pro Max” more times than I’d like and it reminded me how much I dislike this name. I hope one day “Pro Max” gets renamed to “Ultra”. We will have to wait, maybe another 3 days, maybe over a year.