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Happy iPhone launch day! The iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max are officially in the hands of customers and are available in Apple retail stores worldwide. We managed to pick up an iPhone 14 Pro and thought we'd show it off for MacRumors readers awaiting their deliveries or still trying to decide on a purchase.


First and foremost, the Dynamic Island is one of the most interesting new iPhone 14 Pro features because it's a clever redesign that turns the TrueDepth system hardware into part of the user interface. Right out of the box, the Dynamic Island works well, and it's going to change the way we view information and interact with our iPhones.

The Dynamic Island changes shape and function for alerts like incoming phone calls, AirPods being connected, Face ID, Apple Pay, charging, when the camera is in use, when music is playing, and tons more. It does a lot, and since it's front and center, it feels like a more seamless and integrated notification experience.

iphone-14-pro-hands-on-7.jpg

Apple also introduced always-on display technology, which is a notable change and brings the iPhone 14 Pro models in line with the Apple Watch. The always-on display is just a dimmer version of your Lock Screen with no additional customization options, so you can see the time, your widgets, and a darkened version of your wallpaper even when the iPhone's display isn't in active use. Always-on display uses a new 1Hz refresh rate to preserve battery life, but reviews so far have suggested that you might see a bit of battery drain using it. We're going to test that out next week.

There's a new 48-megapixel camera in the iPhone 14 Pro, which also has an updated sensor that lets in more light, along with the "Photonic Engine" software optimizations that further improve low-light photography. Images of course look fantastic, but we will be doing a deeper dive into the camera to really dig into the differences between the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro models.

You'll notice the low-light photography improvements, and with close-up photos, you can see more natural bokeh even when not using Portrait Mode.

iphone-14-pro-hands-on-8.jpg

By default, Apple is using pixel binning to combine the data from four pixels into one for a 12-megapixel photo from the 48-megapixel lens, but you can take full 48-megapixel RAW images. With this option, you can crop in a decent bit, and Apple has also used it to provide a 2x zoom option that's available alongside the 3x zoom from the telephoto. 2x zoom is nicer for portraits, so it's great to have options.

For video, there's an Action mode that makes action sequences smoother and gets rid of camera shake, mimicking what you might get when you use a gimbal. Action mode works at up to 2.8K resolution, and outside of Action mode, you've got 4K video available at 60, 30, and 24 fps. Unfortunately, we never got that rumored 8K video option.

iphone-14-pro-hands-on-3.jpg

Moving on to the A16, the iPhone 14 Pro models are the only ones to get an updated chip this year. The A16 is the first chip built on TSMC's 4-nanometer process, an upgrade over the 5-nanometer process. The smaller node basically means the chips are faster and more efficient. The A15 was already blazing fast so you might not see notable changes in day to day use, and on benchmarks, we can see differences in CPU and GPU performance, but it's not a drastic upgrade.

We weren't able to test Crash Detection or Emergency SOS via satellite in time for this video, but these are two safety features that make the iPhone more valuable than ever in an emergency situation, and we'll check them out in more detail at a later date.

Have you picked up an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max? Let us know what you think of it in the comments. Note that most of the features with the exception of Crash Detection and satellite connectivity are limited to the iPhone 14 Pro models and are not available on the iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Plus.

Article Link: Hands-On With the New iPhone 14 Pro
 
I received my 14 Pro Gold 3 hours ago. It’s a beautiful and fun device! Snappy for sure! Love dynamic island. Especially during calls. The promotion is clearly noticeable and I absolutely love it! Oh and the screen.. the screen is such an improvement from the 11 Pro. It’s gorgeous, man! Can’t wait to connect my pre-ordered AirPods Pro to this fine piece of engineering feat!
 
I received my 14 Pro Gold 3 hours ago. It’s a beautiful and fun device! Snappy for sure! Love dynamic island. Especially during calls. The promotion is clearly noticeable and I absolutely love it! Oh and the screen.. the screen is such an improvement from the 11 Pro. It’s gorgeous, man! Can’t wait to connect my pre-ordered AirPods Pro to this fine piece of engineering feat!
Can we refrain from using the word snappy on all the new iPhone iterations. It’s worn out it’s welcome imho.
 
The iPhone above has 3 widgets in a row on the left side of the home screen, cannot do that on my iPhone 12 Pro.
 
The real question is: can the 2000 nits display be used outdoor or will it just like the13Pro dim to 10% when it has been outside for 5 minutes due overheating issues? 🤡
That has been so incredibly annoying this past summer. Couldn’t believe how quickly my iPhone 13 Pro ran into issues when outside. It pretty much became unusable during a day at the beach.
 
7 hours ago, received a deep purple pro 512GB. I also updated ios to 16.0.1, but plan to stay put - in hopes of a jailbreak. Now sold 13 pro stayed at 15.0 until it was sold 2 weeks ago, as well. I did have 12 pro max ios 14.0 jailbroken, loved it.
 
My 14 Pro arrived today in purple. I already had a 12 Pro and wasn’t going to upgrade, but I dropped my 12 Pro and cracked the back glass and Apple wanted £640 to replace it!

I wasn’t expecting much of a difference, but the purple colour is really amazing and it definitely feels like a really worthy upgrade so I am more than happy with my purchase, considering I wasn’t expecting too much from it. The screen itself seems like a big upgrade from my 12 Pro and I’m loving dynamic island and the camera. Overall, I’m really pleased I decided on an upgrade.
 
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I intended to turn off the AOD to save power until I read it actually goes dark when face down on a surface or in your pocket. Now reconsidering.
 
I received my 14 Pro Gold 3 hours ago. It’s a beautiful and fun device! Snappy for sure! Love dynamic island. Especially during calls. The promotion is clearly noticeable and I absolutely love it! Oh and the screen.. the screen is such an improvement from the 11 Pro. It’s gorgeous, man! Can’t wait to connect my pre-ordered AirPods Pro to this fine piece of engineering feat!
How is the weight compared to your previous 11 Pro?
 
My 14 Pro arrived today in purple. I already had a 12 Pro and wasn’t going to upgrade, but I dropped my 12 Pro and cracked the back glass and Apple wanted £640 to replace it!

I wasn’t expecting much of a difference, but the purple colour is really amazing and it definitely feels like a really worthy upgrade so I am more than happy with my purchase, considering I wasn’t expecting too much from it. The screen itself seems like a big upgrade from my 12 Pro and I’m loving dynamic island and the camera. Overall, I’m really pleased I decided on an upgrade.
I’m think about upgrading from my 12 Pro and deep purple is probably the color I would get. How is the weight difference? How’s the color, purple under some light conditions?
 
Apple went a little bit too extreme on the AOD. Even though it’s fancier then Androids and a bit too much.

Just a black screen with time, date and notification is fine.

Just my 2 cent .
This. I hope it's configurable to just those 3 things in a future update. Makes for a cleaner look IMHO
 
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got a 14 pro yesterday so have had time to settle in with it. coming from a 12 standard.

Camera system is superb.
screen very clear and punchy
its noticeably faster
camera lenses make the phone top heavy which is a little unnerving.

AOD - nice to be able to see the time at a glance
island - works well so far, but also is much less in your face than the notch, so I think it is a great addition.

new black - vastly better than the 13 in my eyes. The sides dont feel as glossy.

Overall I am happy but at the same time, if you dont need the cameras, I wouldn't bother upgrading.
 
Thanks to a day one OS update to 16.0.1. I happened to look at the display on an angle while it was blacked out during the OS install. There is actually two cut outs on the display. One for the front facing camera and one for the Face ID sensor array. Looks like the dynamic island was put in later in the development process. Wonder if the next iPhones will just have one cut out moving forward.
 
Apple went a little bit too extreme on the AOD. Even though it’s fancier then Androids and a bit too much.

Just a black screen with time, date and notification is fine.

Just my 2 cent .
That’s the only tech innovation they have up the sleeve. Just like crash detection as a feature. Satellite blah … scratching my head that those are nice features but forcing upon to everyone?
 
I received my 14 Pro Gold 3 hours ago. It’s a beautiful and fun device! Snappy for sure! Love dynamic island. Especially during calls. The promotion is clearly noticeable and I absolutely love it! Oh and the screen.. the screen is such an improvement from the 11 Pro. It’s gorgeous, man! Can’t wait to connect my pre-ordered AirPods Pro to this fine piece of engineering feat!
I got my 14 pro earlier today and I have never had such an easy transition from my old phone to the new one! Even switching over my Apple Watch with Cellular was so easy!! Love the always on display as I don’t have a clock in my bedroom..but I do now!! Also, love the ”dynamic island”! Can’t wait to see what developers have planned for it. Bravo Apple!!!
 
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