“The iPhone 14 Pro Max is the finest iPhone — and one of the best smartphones — you can buy right now. From an interesting display, premium design, and great cameras, it’s all.”
Apple’s new 48MP camera, always-on screen, and Dynamic Island are Marvelous additions to the newest Pro iPhones. The iPhone 14 Pro Max holds on to all or any of the 14 Pro’s Brilliance while also going a step further, adding a more mesmerizing display and far longer battery life. Those things do come at a price, but if you’ll bear the higher price, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is the epitome of a flagship smartphone. It’s big, premium, powerful, and completely overkill altogether the best ways.
iPhone 14 Pro Max screen
There are two main benefits you get for putting up with the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s size, the primary of which is an extensive 6.7-inch display.
That display features a resolution of 2796 x 1290 — working out to the same 460ppi pixel Solidity of the smaller iPhone 14 Pro. Like the iPhone 14 Pro, the standard of the 14 Pro Max’s screen is excellent. The colors are vivid and beautiful, the text is straightforward to read, and therefore the screen is now brighter than ever. You can expect 1000 nits of typical max brightness, but in direct sunlight where more light is demanded, the iPhone 14 Pro Max can go all the high to 2000 nits of brightness. The iPhone 14 Pro Max also retains the 120Hz refresh rate Apple introduced on the iPhone 13 Pro lineup, giving you ultra-smooth animations whenever you’re interacting with the phone. Combined with the fluid nature of iOS 16, this creates one of the smoothest and snappiest phones I’ve used all year.
iPhone 14 Pro Max Dynamic Island
What’s also been used is Dynamic Island. Apple’s notch is Gone, and in its place may be a solid black bar at the top of the screen. Dynamic Island is one of the most thrilling iPhone features I’ve seen in years, and makes me thrilled about what Apple can do with it.
Listening to a song? Swipe up to go home, and your music app floats into Dynamic Island to point out the album artwork and a color-matching waveform of what’s playing. Start a timer, and Dynamic Island displays a live countdown so you’ll easily keep an eye on it. Dynamic Island also shows incoming calls and call controls, Face ID prompts device charging alerts, AirPods connection pop-ups, Apple Maps directions, and more.
iPhone 14 Pro Max cameras
Apple’s camera has been on point for the last few years, and therefore the iPhone 14 Pro Max upgrade things yet again. Apple’s being cursed with 12MP camera sensors since the iPhone 6s, but with the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, you get a fresh 48MP main camera with an f/1.78 aperture and sensor-shift optical image stabilization. Using the added resolution of the sensor, the 48MP main camera also can be used as a 2x optical zoom lens.
The main camera is joined by a 12MP telephoto camera capable of 3x zoom, additionally to a 12MP ultrawide camera with a 120-degree field-of-view. Also new is the 12MP front-facing camera, which is the first selfie camera on an iPhone with autofocus. The iPhone 14 Pro Max utilizes Apple’s new Photonic Engine image pipeline, offering “more lifelike colors and beautifully detailed textures in less light than ever,” consistent with Apple’s website.
iPhone 14 Pro Max iOS 16
The iPhone 14 Pro Max runs iOS 16, Apple’s latest tackle at iOS is largely a resemblance to iOS 15, though with some noteworthy changes. As we’ve talked about extensively, the most important change for this year’s update is the lock screen.
In iOS 16, Apple now gives you full control to edit your lock screen in some ways. You can change the time font, add widgets, and make multiple lock screens you can switch between at a moment’s notice. The interface for customizing this stuff could be enhanced, but the added functionality provided here is remarkable, and it all looks attractive when displayed on the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s always-on screen.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max is the iPhone at its best
There’s no doubt that 2022 is a thrilling year for Apple’s Pro lineup of iPhones. With the new always-on screen, Dynamic Island, appreciable camera upgrades, and A16 Bionic chipset, there’s plenty to sink into with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Given the choice between the two, however, I’d argue that the latter model is the one you should buy this year. You get everything that creates the iPhone 14 Pro so considerable, but the 14 Pro Max makes it better with a bigger screen and remarkably better battery life. It is a large phone and one that comes at an expensive price, but if you’ll get over those two likely roadblocks, the iPhone 14 Pro Max stands tall because of the best iPhone this year.
