The camera phone to beat?

Verdict

The iPhone 14 Professional is a unbelievable telephone that may maintain its personal in 2023, even when it’s not essentially an enormous improve from the iPhone 13 Professional.

Introduction

The iPhone 14 Professional packs quite a few high-end options to make it a worthwhile improve over the usual iPhone 14.

These embrace the A16 Bionic chip, Dynamic Island characteristic, ProMotion show and a better digital camera array, however the flagship telephone’s time within the solar seems to be coming to a detailed.

The approaching launch of the iPhone 15 sequence will seemingly make the iPhone 14 Professional a much less compelling buy. The bottom iPhone 15 is predicted to achieve options akin to A16 Bionic and Dynamic Island at a extra inexpensive worth, whereas the iPhone 15 Professional has been touted to characteristic a brand new titanium design, USB-C charging, a extra highly effective A17 Bionic processor and a periscope lens.

So with all of that in thoughts, is the Apple iPhone 14 Professional nonetheless price a purchase in 2023? Listed below are my ideas.

Display screen and Design

• Dynamic Island is a brilliant, if underutilised, alteration to the notch
• Wonderful, shiny show
• Squared-off design is extra snug within the smaller measurement

Place the iPhone 14 Professional subsequent to the 13 Professional and there’s one instantly apparent distinction – the notch. Whereas it stays, it’s not hooked up to the highest bezel, as a substitute permitting the show to wrap round. In typical Apple vogue it has named this notch the Dynamic Island.

I’m positive we will all agree it’s a foolish title, however in precise use it’s an enormous enchancment. Apple has managed to take one in all my greatest points with the earlier mannequin and made it a promoting level of the iPhone 14 Professional.

The Dynamic Island contains the weather of the True Depth digital camera system required for the very fast (and equally dependable) Face ID unlocking system and a brand new software program layer that makes it seem to be sure UI parts are showing out of the notch.

Begin a music enjoying in Spotify and head again to the house display and that music will soar to the Dynamic Island, turning into all the time seen no matter app you’re in. Begin a timer now and the Dynamic Island will cut up in two, permitting you to simply regulate what music is enjoying within the background and the way lengthy is left on the timer. You’ll get a pop-up within the Dynamic Island whenever you join AirPods or when your battery is low, notifications that earlier than by no means actually had a correct place to go.

The Dynamic Island additionally works with the Reside Actions API to permit apps to make use of it and present info. Deliveroo, for instance, might present you the situation of your dinner with out you needing to open the app, or a sports activities app might permit the rating of a match to be all the time seen, although practically six months after launch, most apps are but to utilize it.

I’m an enormous fan of the way in which the Dynamic Island works and the thought behind it, and it provides an additional interplay layer to the telephone. You received’t work together with it lots, not less than not till extra apps can make the most of it, however tips like with the ability to rapidly change the music are useful. It does nonetheless really feel somewhat undercooked although, even in 2023, with app builders not giving the characteristic sufficient consideration for it to understand its potential.

I discover it odd that tapping on the Dynamic Island takes you again to an app, whereas a protracted press brings up fast controls – for me, the opposite means round makes extra sense. There are additionally instances when the usual notification system and the Dynamic Island system overlap, making me surprise why they weren’t mixed collectively.

Elsewhere, the iPhone 14 Professional retains the visible fashion of the iPhone 13 Professional, and except for with the ability to go brighter in sure situations, the display is identical too. It’s a really flat telephone, with shiny chrome steel sides that smudge simply and a frosted glass again. It’s nonetheless IP68 rated for cover towards water and mud and there’s a Ceramic Protect coating for added drop safety. I do want the display was somewhat extra proof against scratches although, as they appear to seem with growing frequency.

The Professional I’m reviewing is the smaller of the 2 out there with its 6.1-inch show. There’s additionally the iPhone 14 Professional Max, which ups the ante to six.7-inches. It’s nice that Apple stays the one model on the market packing top-end tech right into a telephone that may be grasped comfortably in my hand. It’s a heavy telephone although and at 206g, the iPhone 14 Professional weighs 38g greater than the Galaxy S23 with the identical display measurement. That is anticipated to be rectified with the subsequent technology, with Apple shifting onto a lighter titanium materials for the construct of the iPhone 15 Professional.

The smaller telephone fits the boxy, industrial design much more than the larger mannequin. With the Professional Max, I usually discovered it digging into my palms if I’m utilizing it with out a case – however that’s not a problem with the Professional. I’d nonetheless suggest the Professional Max should you watch lots of movies or play lots of video games in your telephone, as the additional actual property may be very welcome in these duties.

I’ve liked the shows on Apple’s telephone because it switched to OLED panels and as soon as once more it’s unbelievable right here. The 6.1-inch panel is sharp and will get critically shiny. No different telephone I’ve reviewed is as usable in direct daylight because the iPhone 14 Professional and also you’ll discover these additional nits of brightness in HDR video too.

Regardless that the display is pretty small, I used to be nonetheless immersed in an episode of Andor enjoying in Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR from Disney Plus. Colors popped, particularly in shiny scenes, and the OLED panel allowed for excellent deep and inky blacks.

The show retains the ProMotion expertise first added with the iPhone 13 Professional. This enables the panel to ramp up (and down) what number of instances per second it refreshes. Scrolling and swiping is smoother than on the iPhone 14 because of this, and because the display can now drop to 1Hz (refreshing as soon as a second) there’s now the choice to allow an always-on show.

Anybody aware of the most effective Android telephones received’t be too stunned to see this characteristic, however that is the primary time it’s been added to an iPhone.

The always-on show right here works in addition to it does on an Apple Watch. When the system is locked, the wallpaper and clock fade into the background – they’re nonetheless seen, however the display is dimmed. If the telephone is on a desk you possibly can look at it to see the time (and any widgets on the lock display) with out unlocking it.

Most telephones I’ve reviewed which have an identical characteristic allow it by utilising OLED’s skill to show off all however the pixels getting used, displaying simply the clock. However the iPhone 14 Professional really retains the entire display on, wallpaper included, and simply slows the refresh price all the way down to 1Hz to attempt to save battery.

Consequently, no matter your lock display is, is represented by the always-on various and you’ll’t alter it. You may’t, for instance, solely have the clock displaying except you set a plain black wallpaper. You can also’t alter the brightness, that means that at instances I felt the always-on display was somewhat too shiny and distracting. On this respect, it might really feel restrictive.

In case you’re carrying an Apple Watch the always-on show ought to flip itself off when it is aware of you’re away from the telephone and it’ll additionally flip off mechanically when it’s in Sleep mode to keep away from any distracting glow at evening.

I do actually like how the always-on show has been dealt with right here, however it wants somewhat extra customisation to make it actually worthwhile. There may be additionally a noticeable hit on battery life with it on – soar to the Battery Life part for extra on that – so I can think about many merely turning it off.

Digital camera

• The primary iPhone with a 48-megapixel digital camera
• Massive enhancements to the selfie digital camera
• Wonderful ends in all lighting, although barely an excessive amount of processing now and again

The iPhone 14 Professional is nearly the most effective digital camera telephone you should buy as we speak. It’s not with out its points, I’ll dive into them beneath, however on the entire, it gives a flexible array of sensors, lenses and choices that ought to please those that need to extract each element out of a snap simply as a lot as those that simply need to shoot and share on Instagram.

The standout spec from the brand new rear digital camera array is the 48MP sensor sitting behind the huge lens. That is the primary time Apple has gone above 12MP and the primary time it’s used the pixel binning approach so frequent on Android telephones. 

Primarily, except you manually swap to the ProRaw mode, the telephone will proceed to shoot 12MP pictures, however it’ll mix 4 pixels into one supplying you with an efficient bigger pixel measurement. The advantages of this embrace enchancment to low-light snaps amongst others.

Change to ProRaw mode and the digital camera will seize full uncompressed 48MP pictures which are big in measurement (round 80MB every) and supreme for enhancing in apps like Lightroom or Photoshop, both on the telephone itself or on a pc. For most individuals, taking pictures in ProRaw is pointless and the photographs that bin all the way down to 12MP are normally glorious, however having the choice is nice for many who need to actually tweak and tinker with the photographs.

I’ve been taking pictures with the iPhone 14 Professional for over every week and it churns out glorious photographs regardless of the situations are. It’s noticeably quicker kicking into Night time Mode than the iPhone 13 Professional and captures extra particulars when it’s darkish. Apple additionally makes use of the center 12MP of the 48MP sensor to supply up a brand new 2x zoom, and the outcomes from this are surprisingly nice and supreme if you wish to get somewhat nearer to a topic.

Photographs taken in daylight situations are additionally sturdy, though I usually discovered it laborious to distinguish between a panorama shot on the iPhone 13 Professional and one on the iPhone 14 Professional except you zoom proper in.

The outcomes had been glorious earlier than, they usually stay so now. Stand up near a plant or an merchandise of meals although and the larger sensor makes itself identified, with far better pure depth of discipline for a beautiful bokeh background.

Apple has tweaked a few of the post-processing on photographs this 12 months, notably upping the sharpness to usually irritating levels, with busy indoor photos the largest culprits. Normally although, colors in pictures are wealthy and pop with simply the correct amount of saturation. Forest greens look pure for example, whereas the purple on the boat propeller got here throughout simply as shiny in actual life. Pores and skin tones look principally pure, although Google’s Pixel 7 Professional does a greater job portraying pores and skin normally.

The sensor is greater on the ultrawide digital camera too, though that has led to a barely wider aperture. The tweaks to the software program appear to appease this variation in low-light conditions and the outcomes from this digital camera are nice in good mild and sufficient when it will get darker. There aren’t any such adjustments for 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 S23 Extremely when you push previous the 3x vary, with pictures turning very blurry.

There’s now autofocus on the selfie digital camera which helps guarantee element is in the fitting locations and the video expertise stay the most effective on the market. A brand new Motion Mode steadies video of quicker motion – on the expense of 4K decision and any low-light efficiency – whereas the background blur-focussed Cinematic Mode now shoots in 4K, making it way more usable. The background blur can nonetheless be very hit-or-miss, although.

Efficiency

• Speedy efficiency throughout the board
• 5G spec varies by area, no SIM slot within the USA
• As much as 1TB storage

Yearly I assessment the iPhones and yearly it looks as if I say the identical factor – it’s the quickest telephone you should buy. That’s as soon as once more the case right here, not less than till the A17 Bionic arrives within the iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone 15 Professional Max.

The A16 Bionic chipset and accompanying 6GB RAM contained in the iPhone 14 Professional stays a tempting mixture, comfortably enjoying any Apple Arcade sport with ease and making mild work of even hefty ProRes video exports and edits. There’s nearly an excessive amount of energy right here for something you are able to do as we speak and loads of headroom for what’s to come back sooner or later.

The tangible upgrades over the A15 Bionic from the iPhone 13 Professional and iPhone 14 are laborious to identify in benchmarks and even in precise use. There are minor enhancements within the array of benchmarking apps we use at Trusted Opinions, although solely pretty small numbers, and even utilizing the 2 chips side-by-side on two completely different telephones the advantages are modest. I opened up plenty of video games on each they usually solely opened mildly faster on the A16 Bionic.

After all, the newer chip does produce other advantages. It’s constructed on a extra environment friendly course of, so shouldn’t use as a lot juice in additional demanding duties and it’ll seemingly be supported by Apple with software program updates for longer. Judging by my expertise with older iPhones, this could final variety of years earlier than it begins to gradual.

As I’m reviewing a UK mannequin of the telephone it comes with sub-6 solely, although contemplating there’s no mmWave community right here but, it hardly appears a problem for it to lack the assist for that. In case you purchase the US mannequin there will probably be assist for mmWave, however there received’t be a bodily SIM slot on the telephone – pushing everybody in the direction of eSIM.

As my colleague Hannah has pointed out, the switch to eSIM could be a costly one for some – but it shouldn’t be too much of an issue if you’re an iPhone user and plan to be for years to come. eSIM is far less widely adopted in the UK – Three, for instance, doesn’t yet support it – so it’ll be interesting to see if we keep the SIM slot for the iPhone 15 or whether this will be the last model with it.

There are another couple of features touted for the iPhone 14 Pro that you can’t necessarily see, or would possibly ever use. Car Crash detection is a feature you’ll never want to use – and one I can’t say I have tested for this review – but the idea is that it’ll alert the local emergency services if you’re unable to after a crash. 

The iPhone 14 Pro also supports Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite feature. This will allow the phone to reach emergency services even if you’re out of network reach.

These are both interesting additions to a phone. Neither would make me rush out and upgrade, yet expanding what we expect from a phone is a strong proposition, especially as it becomes harder and harder to offer notable performance and camera upgrades year over year.

Call quality is excellent, as is Wi-Fi performance (although there’s no WiFi 6E support) and the haptic response remains the best of any phone I have reviewed.

Battery Life

• Similar endurance to the iPhone 13 Pro
• No charger included
• Multiple wireless charging options

Switching from an iPhone 13 Pro Max, I was initially a little disappointed by the endurance of the 14 Pro. But that’s more to do with my personal expectations after spending most of the past year with Apple’s bigger phone. However, after my near two weeks with the phone I don’t think battery life is a weakness – even if it’s not taken any great strides forward.

Throughout a typical day with the always-on display enabled, the screen set to automatic brightness and hundreds of notifications coming through I got from an 8am alarm to midnight bedtime with about 10-15% left. Turn the always-on display off and it was more like 15-20% depending on how busy the day was. That’s perfectly acceptable endurance if you’re happy to charge the phone up every night and slightly better than the results I got with the 13 Pro.

There are factors that massively impact the battery life, though. Pushing the screen full-blast with HDR content can eat through 15% an hour, more than I have noticed on an iPhone before, and if the brightness is being pumped in super-bright conditions it’ll drain even faster. Tone things down though, and you’ll be nearer 10% per hour for video streaming.

On a couple of very busy days, notably the ones with lots of music streaming to a connected pair of AirPods Pro 2 and some gaming, I felt the need to charge the phone up a bit once I had got home from work.

There’s no charger included, but a 20w plug paired with the included USB-C to Lightning cable got me a 50% charge in 32 minutes and to 100% in 99 minutes. Those results are virtually the same as the iPhone 13 Pro. This will be the last iteration that uses Lightning, with Apple expected to move onto a USB-C power connector for the iPhone 15.

Wireless charging remains the slower option. Apple’s MagSafe charger tops out at 15w, while a standard Qi pad will max out at 7.5w. None of these speeds are groundbreaking, especially compared to some of the phones, like the OnePlus 11 which can go from 0-100% in less than half an hour.

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Should you buy it?

You hate the notch: The Dynamic Island turns the notch into a new way to interact with the phone. Once developers start building it into their apps, this could be a huge shift in how we use an iPhone.

If you went for the iPhone 13 Pro last year: There are a lot of nice upgrades here, though nothing stands out too much if you upgraded to the iPhone 13 Pro in the past year. You’re better off waiting to see what Apple has in store for 2023.

Final Thoughts

The iPhone 14 Pro is an excellent phone, even if it’s not necessarily a huge upgrade from the iPhone 13 Pro. If you’re coming from an older model – maybe an 11 Pro or one of the non-Pro phones – then the differences can be stark.

The Dynamic Island is a silly name but turns an annoying design quirk into something useful, while the cameras are very powerful if pushing them to the limit is of interest. The display remains gorgeous, while the performance boosts might not make themselves known for a few years yet.

However, it’s impossible to ignore the impending arrival of the iPhone 15 Pro, which will be packed with even more fancy features such as USB-C charging, a more powerful processor, new titanium design and more. If you want the best possible iPhone, then it’s worth waiting for the new model.

That’s not to say the iPhone 14 Pro will no longer be a good option. We’re hoping for a price drop following the reveal of its successor, allowing you to get one of the best camera phones at a reduced rate.

How we test

We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.

Used as main phone for more than a week

Taken hundreds of photos in various conditons

Comapred against the iPhone 13 Pro

FAQs

Does the iPhone 14 Pro come with a charger?

There is no charging plug in the box, just a USB-C to Lightning cable. If you’re buying a new plug, look for one that supports 20w charging.

What are the biggest differences between the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14?

The Pro model sports a better screen, faster chipset and an extra camera.

How many colours is the iPhone 14 Pro available in?

Four colours are available: Deep Purple, Space Black, Gold and Silver.

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UK RRP

USA RRP

EU RRP

CA RRP

AUD RRP

Producer

Display screen 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

Acknowledged Energy

iPhone 14 Professional

£1099

$999

€1299

CA$1399

AU$1749

Apple

6.1 inches

128GB

48MP Essential, 12MP Ultrawide, 12MP 2x Telephoto, 12MP 3x Telephoto

12MP True Depth

Sure

IP68

Sure

Sure

71.5 x 7.85 x 147.5 MM

206 G

iOS 16

2022

2556 x 460

Sure

120 Hz

Lightning

A16 Bionic chip

–

House Black, Silver, Gold, Deep Purple

20 W

iPhone 14 Professional Max

£1199

$1099

€1449

CA$1549

AU$1899

Apple

6.7 inches

128GB

48MP Essential, 12MP Extremely Huge, 12MP 2X Telephoto, 12MP 3x Telephoto

12MP

Sure

IP68

Sure

Sure

77.6 x 7.85 x 160.7 MM

240 G

iOS 16

2022

2796 x 1290

Sure

120 Hz

Lightning

A16 Bionic chip

–

House Black, Silver, Gold, Deep Purple

–

iPhone 13 Professional

£949

$999

€1189

CA$1399

AU$1699

Apple

6.1 mm

128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

12MP + 12MP + 12MP

12MP

Sure

IP68

Sure

Sure

71.5 x 7.65 x 146.7 MM

203 G

iOS 15

2021

2532 x 1170

Sure

120 Hz

Lightning

A15 Bionic

6GB

Blue, Black, Silver, Gold

–

iPhone 13 Professional Max

£1049

$1099

€1259

CA$1549

AU$1849

Apple

6.7 inches

128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

12MP + 12MP + 12MP

12MP

Sure

IP68

Sure

Sure

78.1 x 7.65 x 160.8 MM

238 G

iOS 15

2021

2778 x 1284

Sure

120 Hz

Lightning

A15 Bionic

6GB

Black, Gold, Blue, Silver

–

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