Verdict
It’s huge and heavy, but additionally implausible in so some ways. The Apple iPhone 14 Professional Max is a real flagship telephone.
Professionals
- Beautiful show
- Efficiency that ought to keep quick for a very long time
- Dependable cameras in all situations
- Lengthy battery life
- Dynamic island is a superb concept
Cons
- No huge zoom digital camera enhancements
- Uncomfy design with no case
Availability
- UKRRP: £1199
- USARRP: $1099
- EuropeRRP: €1449
- CanadaRRP: CA$1549
- AustraliaRRP: AU$1899
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Security techSOS satellite tv for pc community and Automobile Crash Detection -
Excessive-end specsA16 Bionic chipset, 6GB RAM and as much as 1TB storage -
Dynamic islandThe up to date notch now serves an precise objective
Introduction
The iPhone 14 Professional Max is the most important Professional-sized iPhone, although its time on the high may be coming to finish with the doubtless iPhone 15 launch in September.
In earlier years Apple has usually differentiated the Professional Max from the Professional by means of further options; perhaps smarter cameras or higher stabilisation options. That’s not the case this time round.
The iPhone 14 Professional Max is an iPhone 14 Professional with a battery that lasts a very good period of time longer and a much bigger display that’s higher for gaming.
Display and Design
- The massive 6.7-inch show is a pleasure
- Dynamic Island makes use of the notch (lastly)
- Boxy design can really feel cumbersome
There are two important causes to plump for the Max model of the iPhone 14 Professional over the common 14 Professional, and the primary of these causes is the display.
Whereas the iPhone 14 Professional has a modest 6.1-inch OLED show, the Max has a far bigger 6.7-inch show. An even bigger show is, in my view, a lot better for those who use your telephone lots for gaming, content material creation or consumption. TV reveals from Netflix or Disney, particularly these rendered in HDR, look gorgeous on the roomy canvas and there’s a lot extra space to really feel immersed in with video games.
After all, a much bigger display means a much bigger telephone and right here’s the place the iPhone 14 Professional Max falls down just a little. The boxy, squared-off design fits the smaller telephone much better – right here it may possibly make the 14 Professional Max just a little cumbersome, with the sharp edges digging into my palms. A softer case will simply repair this, nevertheless it’s value bearing in mind do you have to want to use the telephone with none added safety.
The iPhone 14 Professional Max, just like the 12 and 13 Professional Max earlier than it, stays virtually jewel-like in its design strategy. The extremely polished (and really fingerprint-prone) stainless-steel sides glisten within the daylight, whereas the vary of three colors – together with a really gaudy gold – are muted and tasteful. I personally desire the extra enjoyable shades you’d discover on the iPhone 14 line, however the decisions right here, particularly the brand new Deep Purple, do give off a extra ‘skilled’ vibe.
The largest visible change this time round is the brand new Dynamic Island. This acquired numerous stage time in the course of the telephone’s announcement and dodgy title apart it looks like a correct step ahead for the derided notch. If we don’t see a smattering of Android telephones with an analogous characteristic in 2023 I will likely be very shocked.
Dynamic Island takes the notch that’s been current because the iPhone X, separates it from the highest bezel and provides some intelligent software program round it to show it into a brand new little interactive space – whereas nonetheless hiding the array of entrance cameras and Face ID sensors.
All the things from music playback controls, to alerts from related AirPods to low battery warnings now pop up within the Dynamic Island – however common notifications and messages, as an example, don’t. This will create some complicated visible parts if two notifications from two totally different areas pop up on the identical time.
For probably the most half, the Dynamic Island is a step ahead. Having music management, or timer alerts, accessible in any app is nice, and the addition of Dwell Actions in iOS 16.1 expands the performance to third-party apps. In a yr or so, I feel we’ll actually begin to see the advantages of the change.
The remainder of the display is simply as sensible. The largest improve is in brightness, each in HDR consumption and whenever you’re outdoors on sunny days. That is the brightest display I’ve used outside, with it simply combating direct rays.
I delve extra into the show in my iPhone 14 Professional evaluate, nevertheless it actually does tick all of the packing containers. The graceful adaptive 120Hz ProMotion show ramps up and down relying on what you’re doing, and it makes all the pieces from scrolling up and down a webpage to gaming really feel a lot smoother than on the 60Hz iPhone 14.
Apple has allowed the display to drop to 1Hz for the 14 Professional sequence, enabling an At all times-On choice that retains the display all the time seen in a darkened state. Whereas some Android telephones do that by solely highlighting sure elements of the show, normally the clock, the iPhone 14 Professional Max slows the entire display down in order that it simply refreshes as soon as a second.
I’ve been utilizing the At all times-On show for over a month now, and I each discover it very helpful and just a little annoying. As soon as it’s enabled, you’ve gotten little or no customisation over it in any respect – you possibly can’t tweak the brightness ranges and no matter reveals on the Lock Display will likely be mirrored. When you have a loud wallpaper, this can all the time be seen.
Generally I’ve discovered it too vibrant, making the telephone a distraction when it’s on a desk. Although different instances, particularly when at a desk working, it may be helpful all the time to see the time and different alerts. You may flip the characteristic off if it actually annoys and it turns itself off when the telephone is in sleep mode, so it received’t distract an excessive amount of on a bedside desk at night time.
There’s additionally an impact on battery life by maintaining the display on on a regular basis, although I observed this far much less on the Professional Max versus the smaller Professional.
Digital camera
- Precisely the identical digital camera association because the iPhone 14 Professional
- 48-megapixel important sensor, improved selfie digital camera
- Telephoto zoom nonetheless not as robust because the competitors from Samsung
The iPhone 14 Professional Max matches the digital camera spec of the smaller Professional, so that you’re not getting any advantages by plumping for the larger, dearer choice. As I discussed within the evaluate of that telephone, that is proper up there with the Pixel 7 Professional and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely as one of the best digital camera telephone you should buy.
As with earlier iPhones, it’s a straightforward, fast telephone to shoot with and takes reliably glorious footage in all conditions. The addition of auto-focus on the entrance digital camera additionally helps it take nice selfies.
In daylight, it may be laborious to identify variations between the 13 Professional Max and the 14 Professional Max, nevertheless it does supply extra room for creativity with a few further pro-targeted options and improved low-light abilities.
The iPhone 14 Professional Max marks the primary time Apple has gone past a 12-megapixel sensor on a telephone, changing it with a totally new 48-megapixel model, For probably the most half, you’ll nonetheless be churning out 12-megapixel pictures, because it makes use of the pixel binning method Android telephones just like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely use. This combines 4 pixels into one within the sensor, supplying you with an efficient bigger pixel dimension with out leading to big picture sizes.
You may, if you need, utilise the complete megapixel rely by enabling the ProRaw mode. It will churn out giant (usually 80MB or extra) pictures within the RAW format, permitting for extra intricate and efficient enhancing in apps like Lightroom.
After capturing with each the iPhone 14 Professional and iPhone 14 Professional Max for a month, I’ve come to the conclusion that for probably the most half, I shoot at 12 megapixels as the standard and element are glorious and it’s simply that bit faster to shoot and simpler to share. Nonetheless, having the liberty to vary once I know there’s a shot I’ll wish to spend just a little extra time enhancing and tweaking could be very welcome, and may end up in some actually implausible pictures which are far past what I’d anticipate from a telephone.
The iPhone has lengthy been glorious at daylight capturing and that doesn’t change right here. Put a shot taken with the 13 Professional Max subsequent to 1 from the 14 Professional Max and the variations are minimal till you zoom in, however the distinction is way higher for those who’re coming from an older system.
Element in hair, crops and even the woollen strands on a jumper all are captured principally properly. Although there’s definitely extra processed sharpening in sure situations than earlier than. Sensible HDR ranges out dynamic vary properly, coping with trickier lighting situations with ease and constantly churning out nice pictures with correct colors. The larger sensor provides a extra pure bokeh impact too, so you may get the silky blurry background with the foreground in focus with out switching to the devoted portrait mode.
When taking footage of individuals, I nonetheless desire pictures from the Google Pixel 7 Professional. Google does a greater job of varied pores and skin tones and so they usually look much more pure.
It’s in harder situations the place these pricier telephones set themselves aside and the iPhone 14 Professional Max is superb in low-light conditions. I’ve discovered it doesn’t want to enter the Night time Mode as usually because the previous few iPhones and when it does, it requires much less time and lightweight to supply usable outcomes. Images taken at night time are universally superb: element is retained with out noise, colors are just a little brighter with out trying gaudy and skies retain the deep night time sky colors. The 12MP ultrawide digital camera is best at night time too, providing extra versatility.
There aren’t any adjustments to the 12MP telephoto digital camera, and whereas the zoom is on par with telephones that don’t utilise a periscope association, it doesn’t come anyplace near competing with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely when you push previous the 3x vary. Apple has added a brand new 2x zoom choice, which utilises the center 12-megapixels from the 48-megapixel to crop in.
No main adjustments have been made to make the videography expertise higher right here, but it nonetheless maintains its lead as one of the best telephone for capturing video in the marketplace. Smaller tweaks embody 4K help within the gimmicky Cinematic Mode and a brand new Motion Mode that stabilises video for those who’re transferring rapidly on the expense of low-light efficiency.
Efficiency
- The A16 Bionic chipset is a implausible performer
- 6GB RAM, as much as 1TB storage
- No SIM slot within the USA
One of many extra stunning features of the iPhone 14 vary is the elimination of the SIM slot fully within the USA, forcing customers to change to eSIM. It looks as if all main carriers are supported and the method of switching from a bodily card to a digital one is easy.
My UK evaluate unit sports activities a SIM slot like all earlier iPhones, and I don’t really feel the tech is anyplace near being as superior right here. Whereas Vodafone, the community I reviewed the telephone on, helps it, others don’t. Three, for instance, is a well-liked community within the UK and presently doesn’t help eSIM.
Just like the elimination of the headphone jack and the charging plug from the field, this looks like a change that can permeate the high-end telephone market within the coming years.
US fashions profit from mmWave 5G, a tech that’s not out there on any community within the UK so is lacking from these models. UK customers will nonetheless get 5G, simply the sub-6Ghz type.
One other US (and Canada) solely characteristic, at the least for now, is Emergency SOS – a satellite tv for pc service that’ll allow you to contact emergency companies even when there’s no telephone community sign. It’s laborious to evaluate this with out making an attempt it, nevertheless it’ll be welcome for these exploring locations with out mobile connections. Automobile Crash Detection is one other security characteristic that’ll alert chosen contacts if the telephone detects you’ve been in a collision (although it does appear to have been set off by individuals on rollercoasters…)
Contained in the telephone is the A16 Bionic chipset, one other severely speedy piece of Apple Silicon. It’s paired with 6GB RAM and storage choices starting from 128GB to 1TB. If capturing numerous RAW photographs and ProRes video are going to be in your to-do listing, you’ll wish to select one of many larger storage varieties.
Efficiency is superb – identical to iPhones have been for years. There aren’t any apparent real-world advantages of the brand new chip I might discover in my common use, however the deal with the neural studying cores will preserve AI parts of the software program quick for the following couple of years. It’s a implausible alternative for gaming, particularly with the wealth of titles out there on Apple Arcade and the implausible GPU efficiency.
Gaming is made higher by the loud audio system, robust Wi-Fi connectivity (the dearth of WiFi 6E is odd contemplating it’s out there on the brand new iPad Professional fashions) and, as I discussed above, the nice display.
Battery Life
- No charger included
- Qi, MagSafe and wired charging choices
- Charging speeds and endurance much like 13 Professional Max
The iPhone 14 Professional Max won’t be one of the best new iPhone for battery life – that accolade goes to the iPhone 14 Plus – nevertheless it’s a telephone that’ll go the gap, and comfortably outpaces Android telephones.
I used the iPhone 13 Professional Max solidly for a lot of months after launch and I cherished how lengthy it will final between prices. I’d usually have 30% left after a busy day, and there have been quite a few situations the place I might go two slower days with out reaching for the charger.
Having used the iPhone 14 Professional Max for 10 days, the battery life is comparable however not fairly on par with the 13 Professional – at the least with the show all the time on. Disable that characteristic and the battery can match that of its predecessor.
I’ve discovered that the iPhone 14 Professional Max runs down faster than the 13 Professional in on a regular basis use, but in singular duties, it lasts longer. That is doubtless right down to the brighter display sucking up extra juice. Streaming looped video lasted round 90 minutes longer on the newer mannequin, a advantage of the extra environment friendly chip.
How lengthy the iPhone 14 Professional Max will final for you’ll actually rely on how laborious you push it, and what duties you do with it. In case you decrease the brightness, restrict among the display options and keep away from intensive duties like high-end gaming then it’s a two-day telephone. Stream numerous HDR video, shoot RAW photographs and hammer 5G and also you’ll be juicing up earlier than you go to mattress.
There are myriad methods to cost the iPhone 14 Professional Max. MagSafe and Qi are the 2 wi-fi options, whereas the Lightning port offers the wired choice. Hopefully this would be the closing yr of the previous, sluggish port with USB-C hopefully taking its place in 2023.
I haven’t discovered charging to be any faster this time round, with a 50% cost in roughly half-hour (simply as Apple claims) and a full 0-100% taking between 92 and 100 minutes. This matches my checks with the 13 Professional Max.
Newest offers
Must you purchase it?
You need one of the best display on an iPhone: The 6.7-inch OLED panel is nice. It’s huge, has a quick refresh fee and might get very (very) vibrant.
You desire a telephone that’s comfy to carry for lengthy durations: Whereas I like the flat sides and boxy look of the smaller Professional, it’s fairly uncomfortable at this bigger dimension.
Last Ideas
The iPhone 14 Professional Max is a strong, big-screen system with lengthy battery life and implausible cameras. It’s not a monumental leap from the 13 Professional Max, however if you need the additional show actual property and one of the best array of options, that is the iPhone to decide on.
There are some easy adjustments that might make it even higher, although. The boxy, straight-edged design doesn’t swimsuit the big dimension and the Lightning port feels antiquated for a contemporary telephone. Not solely does it cost pretty slowly, however transferring huge video information with a cable is extra time-consuming than it ought to be. The telephoto zoom can also be absolutely the following huge digital camera enchancment.
It’s definitely value ready till the iPhone 15 arrives earlier than making a choice, although and we anticipate that to occur someday in September. Even when the upgrades aren’t to your tastes, it ought to decrease the costs of the iPhone 14 vary – together with the 14 Professional Max.
How we check
We check each cell phone we evaluate totally. We use trade commonplace checks to match options correctly and we use the telephone as our important system over the evaluate interval. We’ll all the time let you know what we discover and we by no means, ever, settle for cash to evaluate a product.
Used as important telephone for greater than per week
Taken a whole lot of photographs in numerous situations
In contrast in opposition to the iPhone 13 Professional Max
FAQs
There isn’t any charger within the field, only a USB-C to Lightning cable
There are 4 hues out there: Deep Purple, Area Black, Gold and Silver
Trusted Opinions check knowledge
UK RRP
USA RRP
EU RRP
CA RRP
AUD RRP
Producer
Display Dimension
Storage Capability
Rear Digital camera
Entrance Digital camera
Video Recording
IP score
Wi-fi charging
Quick Charging
Dimension (Dimensions)
Weight
Working System
Launch Date
Decision
HDR
Refresh Fee
Ports
Chipset
RAM
Colors
Jargon buster
5G
Providing sooner obtain and add speeds when in comparison with 4G. Nice for recreation streaming and HDR video playback. Not supported in every single place but and speeds differ wildly.
OLED
Natural Mild Emitting Diode is panel expertise that permits every particular person pixel to supply mild fairly than counting on a backlight. This allows the display to precisely show blacks by turning off the pixel, leading to improved distinction in comparison with typical LCD panels.
