Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max review

How do you write a review about an iPhone? The new iPhone is basically the same as the last iPhone except for faster processor, better camera and in the 14 Pro's case - Dynamic Island.



My last iPhone was an iPhone 13 mini. It was small, lightweight and great for doom-scrolling on social medias. But I sold it off and switched to the bigger, 14 Pro Max for the following reasons.

It has a bigger screen. Yes it will be a lot heavier and I need to hold it with both hands for comfort. That said, I consume media a lot. Especially during my free time. And let's be honest, the 13 mini was too small to enjoy watching anything for a prolonged period of time. I know I could always watch them on my iPad but unlike my iPhone, I don't carry my iPad everywhere I go.

With the original Apple leather case

It got a better camera. Before this year, I always capture photos whether on my digital camera or my iPhone in standard JPEG format. I did not care much about shooting in RAW because I thought they will not make much of a difference. I knew now, shooting in RAW or in iPhone's case, ProRAW make a hell of a difference, especially when you edit in Lightroom or similar apps. The amount of details that's not lost to post-processing into JPEGs are amazing. It's no wonder why serious photographers take pictures exclusively in RAW. When I want to take really beautiful or special pictures, I turned on ProRAW in my iPhone's camera settings. The camera on the 14 Pro is also 48 Megapixel, a massive upgrade from the 12 Megapixel found on previous generation iPhones.

Regular JPEG shot

ProRAW processed with Lightroom

It has always-on display. I never thought I would see this on an iPhone, but it finally came. At last, I can see the clock, notifications and widgets even when the screen is locked. It may not sound like a big deal to many but it is to me.



Finally, it has Dynamic Island. Yeah I know the pill-shaped Dynamic Island looks gimmicky at first but it will become much more useful in the future when more and more app developers continue to adopt it. I especially love the sound wave animation that is shows while playing music and the live-tracking features with delivery apps. Plus, if nothing else, it is a nice change from the regular notch bar that you usually see on almost every other phone out there.





Apart from those three main features, the !4 Pro Max also has a bigger battery, a super bright, 2,000 nits LTPO display and emergency SOS via satellite. The stereo speakers sounds really good and everything runs faster on the 14 Pro Max like installing and opening apps. For download speed, I got up to 200 Mbps on 4G and a sweet 1,049 Mbps on 5G.



Should I waited for the slightly better and newer iPhone 15 instead? At the time purchase, the 15 was some 6 months away, plus the 15 has proven be significantly more expensive than its predecessor. The 14 Pro Max cost $897 compared to $839 only for the regular iPhone 15 model. Yes, USB-C and Action button are nice, but I can still live with the regular Lightning port for a while longer. All in all, I'm quite happy with my 14 Pro Max so far and it will be a some time before I plan to upgrade to a new iPhone (my wager is 3 years minimum).