Here’s our take on 2022’s flagship iPhones and their enhanced capabilities. Are they worth spending some major moolah on? Find out…
This year Apple’s flagship Pro devices — the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are loaded with new user experiences. From Apple’s new Dynamic Island, to an enhanced camera system, an always-on display and the formidable new A16 Bionic Chip, there’s a whole bunch of improvements. It’s more than just an incremental upgrade. Does it all make a compelling case to upgrade the iPhone 14 Pro Max?
They’ve got the look!
The rear of this year’s Pro Max looks almost identical to the 2021 iPhone 13 Pro Max but flip it over and you will notice the one big change that we’re really excited about. Apple calls it Dynamic Island. We’re glad to see this new pill-shaped cut-out with Face ID components and the front-facing camera replace the Notch that first debuted in 2017 with the iPhone X. You can stay on your primary display even as you control ongoing background activities. It’s not just about the now, it’s the future prospect of how app developers are likely to create new user experiences around Dynamic Island that has us excited.
Just like its predecessors, the iPhone 14 Pro Max feels every inch premium with its surgical steel frame. It plays out particularly well in the new Deep Purple shade, a gorgeous smoky shade of purple. At 240 gm, it’s as heavy as the 13 Pro Max but oddly it felt lighter in my hand. It’s marginally thinner than last year’s Pro Max. The triple rear camera module might look similar, but it’s been reimagined on the inside.
Shoot it right
The camera has remained one of the big differentiators between Pro devices and Apple’s entry-level iPhone since the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. This year Apple is playing up Photonic Engine, its computational photography solution. The 2022 Pro Models become the first iPhones to incorporate a 48MP main camera that gets a boost from a quad-pixel sensor. It adapts to the photo being captured and features second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilisation. Lowlight images and videos are visibly better.
Turned on!
It’s taken a while, but Apple has finally added an Always On Display to the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. This is not the conventional always on display you’re used to, but one with a cool Apple twist. The display is one of the big improvements over last year’s iPhone Pro duo. It now peaks at a whopping 2000 nits, the highest outdoor peak brightness in a smartphone. We found the battery life on last year’s iPhone 13 Pro Max marginally better than the 14 Pro Max but this can vary depending on your usage patterns and screen brightness settings.
Each year Apple bumps up the processor on its Pro models. This year is no exception. At the heart of the iPhone Pro is Apple’s A16 bionic chip with two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. This chip features an accelerated 5-core GPU with 50 percent more memory bandwidth and a new 16-core Neural Engine capable of nearly 17 trillion operations per second. It keeps things ridiculously smooth.
So, should you upgrade to an iPhone 14 Pro Max?
If you already own an iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, there’s no compelling reason to upgrade but if you’re moving from a 12 Pro or older device, the improved camera and user experiences make the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max a great buy. It’s the best iPhone ever; but you already know that.
Pricing for iPhone 14 Pro starts at Rs 1,29,900 while the iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at Rs 139,900. Both phones are available in deep purple, silver, gold, and space black in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage variants.
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