Apple iPhone 14 Pro has Some upgrades to create a great iPhone

The iPhone 14 Pro includes various high-end capabilities, making it a worthwhile upgrade above the original iPhone 14.

These include the A16 Bionic CPU, Dynamic Island feature, ProMotion display, and a larger camera array, but the flagship phone’s time in the spotlight appears to be coming to an end.

The upcoming release of the iPhone 15 series is likely to make the iPhone 14 Pro a less appealing choice. The regular iPhone 15 is believed to get features like A16 Bionic and Dynamic Island at a lower cost, whilst the iPhone 15 Pro is expected to include a new titanium body, USB-C charging, a more powerful A17 Bionic chip, and a periscope lens.

So, with all of this in mind, is the Apple iPhone 14 Pro still a worthwhile purchase in 2023? These are my thoughts.

Price when reviewed: $662.00 | Check price at Amazon

iPhone 14 Pro KEY FEATURES

The iPhone 14 Pro includes numerous camera enhancements as well as the Dynamic Island, which replaces the controversial notch that first appeared on the iPhone X five years ago. There’s now a 48MP megapixel main camera on the rear, providing you greater flexibility with photos. A16 Bionic chipset, 6GB RAM, and up to 1TB of storage

I can easily state that the iPhone 14 Pro is the best phone I’ve ever used, however, I’m dissatisfied with the battery life. At $100 extra, the iPhone 14 Pro Max checks all of the boxes, including excellent battery life. From its pocketable design to its sheer power and photographic skills, the iPhone 14 Pro outperforms everything else on the market. Sure, it’s not the significant upgrade you would have expected, but that’s because the iPhone 13 Pro accomplished a lot of things well.

APPLE IPHONE 14 PRO UNBOXING

The iPhone is packaged in a tiny paper box with a USB-C-to-Lighting connector. We were disappointed that Apple did not retire the Lightning port on iPhones this year, as it has done with its other devices. We assume that’s a task for the next one.

Aside from the cable, you’ll receive a SIM ejection tool for models with a SIM slot and one Apple logo sticker. While Apple has removed the plastic wrapping from their packaging, the plastic sticker remains.

CAMERA

Apple made sure the iPhone 14 Pro received significant camera advancements this year. The most notable of these is the new 48MP quad-pixel primary sensor. While not exclusive to Apple devices, the iPhone 14 Pro can capture a 12MP image that the phone has adjusted to your lighting circumstances using the entire sensor, but with four times the detail thanks to the quad-pixel arrangement. If you wish, you can get a full 48MP image in ProRAW, which is incredible.

The 12MP ultrawide sensor also received an upgrade with a new sensor double the size of the iPhone 13 Pro. The telephoto lens is still 3x. I expected at least 4x to match the Pixel 6 Pro, but Apple only added 2x optical zoom to the primary sensor. So you have four zoom options: 0.5x for the ultrawide, 1x and 2x for the main lens, and 3x for the telephoto. (You can also read about how the Pixel 7 Pro recently shamed the iPhone 14 Pro with its new and enhanced zoom capabilities.

The Photonic Engine is a new feature for iPhones this year, and it is available to all iPhone 14 models. It’s essentially a new computational photography paradigm that enhances mid- and low-light images by introducing Apple’s Deep Fusion technology earlier in the process before the frames are compressed. Photonic Engine promises to improve dynamic range, bringing out clarity even in low-light photographs.

The iPhone 14 Pro’s selfie camera has also seen some enhancements. Autofocus is now included as standard, which I’ve been requesting for a while. Apple claims that the TrueDepth camera’s quicker aperture will result in better low-light selfies, which I tested below. The Front-facing Camera additionally has access to the Photonic Engine.

I tested the iPhone 14 Pro’s main camera opponent, the Pixel 6 Pro, to see how these enhancements translated into actual shots.

The selfie camera now has focus, which helps to guarantee detail is in the appropriate locations, while the video capabilities remain the best available. A new Action Mode stabilizes video with faster movement at the expense of 4K resolution and low-light performance, while the background blur-focused Cinematic Mode now shoots in 4K, making it significantly more useful. However, the backdrop blur can still be unpredictable.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

When comparing the iPhone 14 Pro to the 13 Pro, the notch is the most noticeable difference. While it remains, it is no longer connected to the top bezel, allowing the display to wrap around. In classic Apple form, this notch has been called the Dynamic Island.

I am sure we can all agree that it is a ridiculous term, but in practice, it is a significant improvement. Apple has managed to turn one of my major complaints about the previous model into a selling point for the iPhone 14 Pro.

The Dynamic Island contains the True Depth camera system components essential for the incredibly speedy (and equally reliable) Face ID unlocking system, as well as a new software layer that creates the illusion that some UI elements are appearing from the notch.

Start a song in Spotify and return to the home screen, and that song will be added to the Dynamic Island, where it will be visible regardless of which app you are in. Start a timer immediately, and the Dynamic Island will split in two, allowing you to see what music is playing in the background and how long the timer is set. When you connect AirPods or when your charge is low, you’ll see a pop-up in the Dynamic Island, which was previously not a good spot for notifications.

The Dynamic Island also integrates with the Live Activities API, allowing apps to use it and display information. Deliveroo, for example, could show you the location of your supper without you having to open the app, and a sports app might keep the score of a match accessible at all times, though over six months after its release, most apps have yet to adopt it.

I like how Dynamic Island works and the concept behind it, it adds another layer of interactivity to the phone. You won’t interact with it often, at least until more apps take advantage of it, but features like the ability to rapidly change the song are useful. Even in 2023, it feels a little uncooked, with app makers failing to give the feature the attention it needs to reach its potential.

I find it strange that pressing on the Dynamic Island returns you to an app while a long press brings up quick controls; in my opinion, the opposite is more logical. There are also instances where the conventional notification system and the Dynamic Island system overlap, leaving me wondering why they weren’t integrated.

Aside from the ability to go brighter in specific situations, the screen on the iPhone 14 Pro is the same as it was on the iPhone 13 Pro. The phone is quite flat, with polished stainless steel edges that dirty easily and a frosted glass back. It’s still IP68 rated for water and dust resistance and the Ceramic Shield layer adds drop protection. I wish the screen was a little more scratch-resistant, as they tend to surface more frequently.

As a result, whatever your lock screen is is represented by the always-on option, and you cannot change it. You can’t, for example, only have the clock visible unless you have a basic black wallpaper. You also can’t change the brightness, so the always-on screen was sometimes too bright and distracting. In this regard, it may feel limiting.

If you’re wearing an Apple Watch, the always-on display should switch off when it detects you’re away from your phone, and it will also turn off automatically when in Sleep mode to minimize a distracting light at night.

I appreciate how the always-on display has been handled here, but it requires a little more customization to make it truly worthwhile. There is also a substantial reduction in battery life with it turned on – see the Battery Life section for additional information – so I can imagine people simply turning it off.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

Every year I review iPhones, and it feels like I always say the same thing: it’s the fastest phone you can purchase. That is once again the case here, at least until the A17 Bionic is introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The A16 Bionic CPU and 6GB RAM within the iPhone 14 Pro remain a compelling combo, allowing you to easily play any Apple Arcade game and handle even large ProRes video exports and edits. There’s nearly too much power here for anything you can do right now, and there’s lots of space for future expansion.

The significant improvements over the A15 Bionic in the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 are difficult to see in benchmarks and practical use. There are tiny gains in the range of benchmarking apps we use at Trusted Reviews, but only in small numbers, and even when using the two chips side by side on two different phones, the benefits are minimal. I tried a few games on both and found that the A16 Bionic opened slightly faster.

Of course, the newer chip offers additional benefits. It is designed on a more efficient process, so it should use less juice in more demanding jobs, and Apple will most likely support it with software upgrades for a longer period. Based on my previous experience with older iPhones, this should endure for several years before slowing down.

As I am reviewing a UK model of the phone, it only supports sub-6 5G, but given that there is no mmWave network here yet, this does not appear to be an issue. If you buy the US variant, you will get mmWave capability, but there will be no physical SIM slot on the phone, compelling everyone to use eSIM.

As my colleague Hannah pointed out, the transition to eSIM may be costly for some – but it shouldn’t be too difficult if you’re an iPhone user and intend to remain for years to come. eSIM is significantly less extensively embraced in the UK – Three, for example, does not currently support it – so it will be fascinating to see if we preserve the SIM slot on the iPhone 15 or if this is the last model with it.

There are a few of extra capabilities advertised for the iPhone 14 Pro that you may not see or use. Car Crash detection is a function you’ll never want to use, and I can’t say I tested it for this review, but the idea is that it’ll notify local emergency services if you’re unable to do so after a crash.

The iPhone 14 Pro also supports Apple’s Emergency SOS satellite function. This allows the phone to reach emergency services even when you are not connected to the network. These are both intriguing upgrades to the phone. Neither would entice me to upgrade, but broadening what we expect from a phone is a compelling concept, especially as it becomes increasingly difficult to provide significant performance and camera increases year after year. Call quality is superb, as is Wi-Fi performance (albeit there is no WiFi 6E support), and the haptic reaction is still the finest of any phone I’ve tested.

Buy it if...

• Superior design, water resistance, and durability.
• Class-leading OLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate, AOD, Dolby Vision, and 2000nits brightness.
• Class-leading performance, with excellent stability.
• Excellent photo and video quality across all four cameras.
• Best video stabilization on a smartphone, with a high-quality action mode.
• Excellent stereo speakers.
• Face ID, satellite SOS support, crash detection, and a LiDAR scanner.
• Every iPhone includes at least five years of iOS updates.

Don't buy it if…

• Dynamic Island is a love-or-hate affair.
• Compact, yet heavy.
• The battery life is only okay.
• There was no charger in the box.
• Apple’s iOS restrictions can be discouraging to newbies to the ecosystem.

FULL SPECIFICATION