For years, the notch just sat there on top of the iPhone, doing nothing besides obscuring the selfie camera and the Face ID components. It was a necessary nuisance, a compromise that afforded a slimmer bezel but not a fully continuous display.
Not any more. With the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max, Apple has reduced the notch into a pill-shaped, black cutout on top and gave it life. Apple's calling it the Dynamic Island, which may be a funny name, but it does convey the gist of it: The notch (now island) is no longer a passive thing that's only there to hide something; it's a clever, functional feature.
The 14 Pro and Pro Max are the same size as their 13 Pro and Pro Max model counterparts (6.1 and 6.7 inches, respectively) and their pricing remains the same: $999 for the Pro and $1,099 for the Pro Max, to start. But the 14 Pro and Pro Max offer upgrades in display, processor, and camera quality, as well as several unique features that may help save your life.
About that island
The Dynamic Island changes its shape and display to reflect the actions of certain apps that remain active even when minimized.
For example, let's say you want to listen to music while you write a note. When you hit play on a song in Apple Music and then minimize the app, the app will swoop up into the Dynamic Island where a tiny version of the album artwork and an animated music visualization will hang out as you write your note. If you then start a timer, it will be added to the Dynamic Island, which will split into two separate bubbles, each a miniature version of the corresponding app. Touch either bubble to launch the corresponding app. Touch and hold a bubble, and the Dynamic Island will grow larger, giving you a quick overview of what the app is doing.
The Dynamic Island isn't always active. It springs to life when an app is doing something in the background or when the phone wants to notify you of something, such as an incoming call or Face ID unlock. This works for all apps that ping Apple's NowPlaying or CallKit API, and cannot be disabled or customized.
Apple has integrated the Dynamic Island into the phone's other functions well. It looks cool, is pretty intuitive, and — most importantly — makes you completely forget that the Dynamic Island is there to hide the selfie camera and Face ID components. And it's never in the way — flip the phone horizontally to watch a video and the Dynamic Island stops being anything other than a small, black cutout.
The Dynamic Island works for compatible iOS apps, not just Apple ones. I tried it out with Spotify and WhatsApp, and the behavior was the same as with Apple Music and phone calls. Third-party app support has been baked into Dynamic Island from the start, enabling app developers are take advantage of the unique functionality.
I have two minor concerns about the Dynamic Island. First, because it's at the very top of the screen, the Island can be hard to reach while using your phone with just one hand (especially on the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max). Second, the constant touching of that area can leave smudges on front camera lens.
Still, I have to commend Apple for trying something new. Most modern smartphones have some sort of notch or punch-hole cutout for their front cameras and, until now, none of their developers thought to turn that area into an interactive feature.
Always-on, but for real
The Dynamic Island isn't the only big change to the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max's display. For the first time, Apple has introduced an always-on feature, meaning that the phone's display doesn't just black out when it goes to sleep.
Android phones, like the Galaxy S22, have had always-on displays for many years now, but Apple's implementation is a bit more powerful. Instead of minimizing the phone's display to a simplified version that only includes basic info (i.e., time, date, and weather) and notifications, Apple gives users a complete view of their home screen with lower brightness. Your wallpaper, time, and date, as well as your widgets and currently running apps (Apple Music, timer), will remain visible even when the phone goes to sleep. The display won't be animated in this state, but it will stay dynamic. For example, if you have music playing and the song changes, that will be visible even when the display is "asleep."
Apple has made this possible with tech that can reduce the refresh rate to just 1Hz (down from the maximum refresh rate of 120Hz). And the display does turn off fully when you set the phone down on its face or move far away from it (while wearing a connected Apple Watch) so that the always-on feature eats away less battery life.
That said, I'm not particularly fond of the always-on display. Having the display constantly on feels intrusive in an odd way. I'm used to the phone screen going black when I set it down on the table and I'm not sure I need it to show me something all the time. Apple's own Focus modes are there to make sure you don't spend unwanted time with your phone, so a display that's always on feels almost counterintuitive. However, the feature is easily turned off in the iPhone's settings, so it's hard to fault Apple for including it. If you don't like it, turn it off.
The iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max displays are now also brighter than past models, as they can achieve a maximum "peak" brightness of 2,000 nits (that's double the max brightness of the iPhone 13 Pro). I've tested the 14 Pro against my old iPhone 13 Pro in the bright sun and the 14 Pro was noticeably brighter. But that difference was only significant when I was looking at white letters on a black background (one more reason to switch to Dark Mode).
Party in the front, business in the back
The Dynamic Island and the always-on display features make the iPhone 14 Pro models instantly recognizable from the front, which is important for people who like their new smartphone to look fresh when compared to past models (reader, I am one of these people).
The most noticeable change to the back of the device are the 14 Pro colorways: deep purple, space black, gold, and white. The gold is a little more yellow and the white is whiter than the pearly white of yesteryear. The black version has a truly jet black stainless steel frame and a dark-grey back. The deep purple is nice, but feels a little too subdued, especially in low light.
Other than these differences in color, the iPhone 14 Pro models are practically the same as their predecessors. They come in two sizes — 6.1 and 6.7 inches — and have a ceramic shield on the front and a stainless steel frame.
I say "practically" because there are subtle differences. The iPhone 14 Pro is 0.2mm thicker and 0.8mm longer than its predecessor. The camera lenses and camera bump are a hair larger than before, but you'll only notice this with a measuring tape. Bad news: I've tried stuffing the iPhone 14 Pro into Apple's official silicone case for the iPhone 13 Pro, and it didn't fit. If you upgrade, you'll have to cough up another $49 (or more) for a new case.
Invisible power
Unlike the regular iPhone 14 models, the Pro variants come with Apple's A16 Bionic chip. There's not much to report here in terms of user experience, as you won't really notice the speed improvements.
Yes, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max feel extremely snappy, but preceding models are equally as fast. The battery life, while nominally improved, is roughly the same: One and a half days for the iPhone 14 Pro Max during regular (but heavy) usage. On the iPhone 14 Pro, which I've spent less time with, I got roughly a day of use.
Bottom line is that Apple's smartphone chips are so ahead of everything else that you only start noticing slowdowns after a few years of use. For example, my GeekBench CPU score on the iPhone 14 Pro Max was 1,869 for the single-core and 5,461 for the multi-core score, which handily beats all Android devices. It's nice to have the latest chip, but it's not really essential.
It's worth noting, however, that the more powerful chip enables Apple to do more with computational photography. It also powers many of the features that are unique to the iPhone 14 Pro models, including the 1Hz refresh rate and the smooth animations of the Dynamic Island.
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro feature 6GB of RAM, the same amount as the iPhone 13 Pro models. Storage starts at 128GB and goes up to 1TB, which is plenty for even the most demanding users.
Megapixels galore
While smartphone makers were racing to cram as many megapixels into their phones' cameras (Samsung went as high as 108 megapixels), Apple's iPhones maxed out at 12 megapixels. That has changed with the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, which offer an upgraded main rear camera with a 48-megapixel sensor. That's the biggest leap since the iPhone 6s, which upped the megapixel count from eight to 12.
The upgraded sensor has enabled Apple to add a few features to the iPhone 14 Pro cameras. The most obvious is pixel binning (seen before on phones like the OnePlus 9 Pro), which allows for better low-light performance by combining information from the 48-megapixel sensor to create a 12-megapixel image.
Another obvious advantage is the ability to actually take a photo with 48-megapixel resolution, ideal for extracting as much detail as you can from a scene when there's enough light.
Megapixels aren't everything and I've often found, on other phones, that maxing out the megapixel count makes for worse photos, as it did on this Xiaomi phone. There appears to be no degradation in other aspects of image quality when taking a 48-megapixel photo on the iPhone, so you should use it when you really want a top-quality image.
In Night Mode, however, photos always max out at 12 megapixels. Also note that you can only take 48-megapixel photos in Apple's ProRAW format. Storing the photo will take a little longer than regular photos, approximately one to two seconds. And those photos are huge, roughly 75MB in size, so they'll clog up your phone's storage fast.
The iPhone 14 Pro also has improved zoom, though maybe not in the ways you'd think it would. The iPhone 13 Pro models only offer 1x and 3x zoom, the iPhone 14 Pro models include a 2x option. This 2x option is essentially a digital crop-out from the larger, 48-megapixel image, and it works pretty well. For real optical zoom, switch to 3x, though I've found I can hardly tell the difference between digital and optical. The bottom line is that zooming in works quite well and you'll get good results at any magnification.
The most significant benefits of the 14 Pro cameras, according to Apple, should be evident in low-light photography. This is not only because of the 48-megapixel sensor, but also the Photonic Engine which — as far as I can tell — repurposes Apple's Deep Fusion AI, only reworked and applied a lot earlier in image processing than before.
However, in actual usage, the benefits were minor, at least when compared to the iPhone 13 Pro. Colors were a little more accurate in low light and you could occasionally get some more details from certain scenes. More often than not, though, I was able to get a similarly good low-light photo from the iPhone 13 Pro. That's not to say that the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max's low-light performance is bad; it's just not as improved as Apple's promo materials want you to believe.
The cameras now have a video feature called Action Mode. It's basically image stabilization for extreme activity, like running, when the picture would normally be bouncing all over the place. I've tested it out on the iPhone 14 Pro Max and, curiously enough, turning it on made little difference, not because the Action Mode did nothing, but because the iPhone applies quite a bit of image stabilization during regular video capture.
I gave it another try, taking things to the extreme this time, moving my hand up and down frantically, and the difference was more pronounced. The resulting videos were not as good as having a pro-grade gimbal, but still good enough to turn your action shots into something watchable.
The selfie camera also benefits from the Photonic Engine tech. It takes great selfies during the day that are sharp and detailed. In low light, it's not overly aggressive in trying to make the subject matter brighter, so it produces more accurate, but slightly darker images than you'd get on the previous generation iPhone.
Life-saving features
All of Apple's iPhone 14 models come with two features that are peculiar simply because, while you're happy they're there, you also hope you never need to use them.
One is Crash Detection, which uses the iPhone's various sensors to detect when you've been in a car crash and can automatically dial 911 for you if you're incapacitated. Updated gyroscope and accelerometer sensors in the phones help with the accuracy of this feature. It's nice to have and something that people with kids who are old enough to drive will likely consider when getting them a new phone.
The other feature is Emergency SOS, which allows you to send an emergency message when there are no cell towers around and you have absolutely no reception. You do this by going through a short setup process with questions about the nature of your emergency and then pointing the phone towards the sky to find a satellite.
After the iPhone launch event in Cupertino, Apple set up a test near Apple Park for me to try this and it worked well, only taking a few seconds for me to lock the satellite in and send the SOS. The test was set up beneath parasols, which didn't cause problems with reception at all, meaning that light foliage above you would probably also be fine.
Of course, beaming a signal to a satellite from a canyon will be tough. Using a phone when severely injured would probably be tough as well. But it's better than nothing. The feature also allows you to beam your location to friends or family, which is great for mountaineers and people who like to camp or hike in the wilderness.
The fine print
The iPhone 14 line has quite a few features and changes you won't notice at first glance. For example, the Pro models have dual ambient light sensors — one on the front, and one on the back — which further improve how the phone's display behaves in various types of light. I held both the 14 Pro and the 13 Pro up to bright light, then brought them into a dark room, and the 14 Pro was more responsive in adapting the display's brightness.
The display resolution on the 14 Pro and the 14 Pro Max has been slightly increased, too, but there's no way you'll tell the difference. The iPhone 13 Pro has a 2,532 x 1,170 pixel resolution, while the 14 Pro has a 2,556 x 1,179 pixel resolution. The Pro Max has a similar increase in pixels, too.
One thing that these iPhones do not have, at least in the U.S., is a physical SIM slot. It's all about eSIM these days, which might take some getting used to. I set up a U.S. version of the phone with an eSIM and it went without a hitch. Apple also gave me a European market-bound phone to play with and that one had a standard, physical SIM card which worked normally.
All iPhones 14s still have Apple's proprietary Lightning connector which feels weird given that pretty much everyone else — even Apple itself on its other devices — has switched to USB-C.
It's time to go Pro
These days, smartphones don't change much from version to version. And often we've seen Android smartphone makers innovate, with Apple coming in late. With the Dynamic Island, Apple has turned one of the most annoying traits of modern phones — the visible front-facing camera — into a feature you'll actually want to have.
Equally as innovative are Crash Detection and the Emergency SOS features. In a way, these could be life-or-death features, and it says a lot about Apple's certainty into the robustness of its tech to launch these widely on its most popular devices.
Other features, including the always-on display and the 48-megapixel camera, could easily be dismissed as stuff that competing phones have had for years, but Apple has tweaked things enough for these to be noteworthy.
Unless you really love the notch or need a physical SIM slot, the 14 Pro models have been improved in enough ways to matter.
It seems the Apple of old is back and innovating again. Finally, an iPhone that's worth the upgrade.
