iPhone 14 Professional
MSRP $999.00
“The iPhone 14 Professional’s excellent efficiency, easy and highly effective software program, versatile camera, and high-quality design make for a simple possession expertise.”
Execs
- Digital camera enhancements imply nice images
- At all times-on show appears to be like incredible
- Highly effective A16 Bionic processor
- Vibrant display and clear audio system
- Lengthy-term software program help
Cons
- One-day battery life
- Modest charging velocity
The whole lot concerning the iPhone 14 Professional feels completely easy. The design is expertly judged and fashionable, the software program is extremely easy to make use of, and the camera takes even higher images than its predecessor. However easy will be taken one other means, too, in that it’s not precisely essentially the most daring replace over its predecessor.
Let’s speak intimately about whether or not the iPhone 14 Professional is well worth the effort in your half to both make the leap into Apple possession or improve from an present iPhone. If you happen to’re searching for a cheaper choice, take a look at our iPhone 14 review. And in case you favor your iPhone to be greater and costlier, see our iPhone 14 Professional Max review.
iPhone 14 Professional design
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If you happen to’ve seen an iPhone 12 Professional or iPhone 13 Professional, the iPhone 14 Professional will likely be very acquainted. It has the identical flat, squared-off chassis that also feels barely too sharp in your hand, however is fantastically created from chrome steel. Apple’s Ceramic Defend is over the display and there’s toughened glass on the again. An IP68 water-resistance score provides confidence, because the telephone will keep away from harm from unintentional water spills. The amount controls and energy button are nonetheless in place on the facet, and in case you purchase an iPhone 14 within the U.S. you gained’t discover a SIM tray, as that is the primary iPhone to solely settle for an eSIM.
The 6.1-inch Professional is fantastically balanced in your hand, and it’s usable with one hand too. It’s no featherweight at 206 grams, nevertheless it by no means feels ungainly at 71mm large and seven.8mm thick, plus I’ve not had any fatigue from holding it for lengthy durations of time. It may be a slippery factor, although, and defending it with a case will assist hold it from making an undesirable break for freedom. There are a number of peculiar colours (black, silver, or gold), however go for the beautiful new Deep Purple and select a clear case. It appears to be like virtually black in some conditions, however get it in the correct gentle and the purple completely pops. Even the chassis has a purple hue. I believe it appears to be like wonderful.
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
On the again, the camera module is massive and makes a daring assertion when the iPhone 14 Professional isn’t in a case, however as a result of the three cameras protrude significantly, the telephone by no means lays flat on any floor. All of it provides as much as a smartphone that’s unmistakably an iPhone. This isn’t a groundbreaking design, there’s nothing particularly flashy about it, but it manages to be elegant and funky, becoming in with each scenario. It doesn’t demand consideration, however it’s going to nonetheless get admiring glances, significantly in case you select the purple one.
Would I’ve preferred to see a design that wasn’t virtually precisely the identical because the final two fashions? Sure, that will have been good. Does it strictly must look any completely different? No, by no means. Apple has obtained the Professional components proper — elegant appears to be like, simply the correct dimension and weight, high-quality supplies, and stellar construct high quality — so it may’t be blamed for not making dramatic modifications with the iPhone 14 Professional. The one factor I’d have preferred to see is extra shade choices, however I count on these will come later to maintain the vary recent.
iPhone 14 Professional always-on display
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
The brand new 6.1-inch Tremendous Retina XDR display, with its 2556 x 1179 decision and 460ppi pixel density, has some tips up its sleeve. Earlier than we get into the massive modifications, it’s price mentioning the brightness. It reaches 1600 nits usually, however can enhance to 2,000 outside in daylight, and the distinction is noticeable. There’s a “bump” when the additional kicks in, and the display actually does develop into brighter and simpler to learn when the solar is thrashing down.
Nonetheless, it’s the always-on show that’s the most important, most evident new display characteristic. Android telephones have had always-on screens for years, displaying the time, battery, and notification icons towards a black display. Apple’s always-on display is basically only a dimmed model of the lock display, in full shade, and with dynamic widgets and notification alerts. It’s the Apple Watch’s always-on display, simply in your telephone. It’s additionally a lot greater than we’ve seen on every other telephone, with the time and date highlighted in a brilliant white font over your selection of wallpaper, and notifications clearly displaying the icon and primary particulars about each.
Controls for music and audio apps additionally keep on-screen and a fast faucet wakes them up, able to pause or change tracks. I’ve discovered the entire lock display expertise to be sharper and sooner to react than earlier than. I take advantage of the telephone in my automobile for music, and the place earlier than it took a number of faucets to make something work, it’s a single faucet and an immediate response on the iPhone 14 Professional. The always-on display is gorgeous, helpful, and a step above implementations we’ve seen elsewhere when it comes to design. However it will not be serving to battery life, which we’ll come again to later.
At all times-on show on the iPhone 14 Professional Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Apple’s 120Hz ProMotion characteristic makes a return and needs to be thought-about a powerful motive to decide on the Professional mannequin over the usual iPhone 14. The upper refresh price offers smoother scrolling and less-jarring animations, and doesn’t trigger as a lot eye-strain. It rapidly turns into “invisible,” however you’ll completely discover its absence. Watching video on the iPhone 14 Professional, the display comes alive with gorgeous colours, deep blacks, and pitch-perfect distinction. Even the stereo audio system are among the greatest within the enterprise. There’s readability, energy, and precise presence to the sound, and I can fortunately watch movies and take heed to streaming music by way of them for lengthy durations of time.
The iPhone 14 Professional has a wonderful display, and it’s positive to be much more immersive and pleasurable to view on the larger 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Professional Max … in case you can naked the additional weight and value of the gadget.
iPhone 14 Professional iOS 16 and Dynamic Island
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Dynamic Island, Apple’s cringey identify for the expanded pill-shaped notch alternative on the prime of the display, is most positively a piece in progress. In the intervening time, it’s comparatively easy, displaying details about Bluetooth connections, display and voice recordings, face unlock alerts, and timers. Apple’s Reside Actions characteristic isn’t prepared but, and builders haven’t been given entry both. When these items occur within the close to future, Dynamic Island’s usefulness will skyrocket.
For now, what you see is potential. The Dynamic Island by no means feels intrusive, and the performance it does present is useful. Music controls are the very best instance, as a brief faucet takes you on to the app that’s enjoying, and an extended press reveals a set of fast controls. Though these options will be discovered elsewhere in iOS, it’s undeniably quick and intuitive to make use of the Dynamic Island, and it bodes nicely for the long run when extra apps make use of it. It’s additionally a seamless factor of magnificence, because the software program morphs and shifts across the {hardware} part so slickly that you simply actually can’t inform the place one begins and the opposite ends.
The iPhone 14 Professional comes with iOS 16 put in. Along with the brand new battery proportion show and the wonderful haptics, a lot has been made about customizing iOS 16’s lock display, and I stay unconvinced it’s obligatory or useful. Even the brand new Settings web page to vary the wallpaper and add widgets is needlessly sophisticated and slightly complicated. I’ve personally seen no on a regular basis profit to including extra muddle to the lock display, however perceive others might really feel in another way. The brand new A16 Bionic processor powers all this with aplomb, and whereas I’ve had no downside with efficiency at any time, I’m undecided I can see any actual distinction between it and the A15 Bionic within the iPhone 13 Professional.
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
The notification system in iOS has additionally been demonized for a while, nevertheless it’s a private factor. I’ve used iOS for years and have seen the system evolve into what it’s in the present day. No, it’s not excellent, nevertheless it’s higher than ever earlier than, and I don’t think about it the hateful factor some others do. Notifications sit on the backside of the lock display in a stack, which will be expanded when Face ID sees you. Some will be interacted with or additional considered, or tapped to open the corresponding app. To me, it does what I need, and is not at all higher or worse than most Android notification programs. Siri even (surprisingly competently) reads my messages after I’m utilizing my AirPods.
Negatives? Muscle reminiscence means I typically pull down on the left of the display when the telephone’s unlocked to higher see notifications I’ll have missed, however this once-helpful characteristic has been lowered to a replica of the lock display and does make notifications slower to view and work together with. I additionally dislike the Search widget being completely caught to the underside of every house display, which simply duplicates performance and causes visible muddle.
There’s one key software program benefit over many different telephones that makes the iPhone such a pleasure to stay with, and that’s software program updates. Though Apple doesn’t put a timeframe on how lengthy it formally helps its smartphones with main updates to iOS, the latest iOS 16 software program works way back to the iPhone 8, launched on the finish of 2017. It’s cheap to count on the iPhone 14 Professional to proceed getting updates for one more 5 years.
iPhone 14 Professional camera
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Sure, the iPhone 14 Professional’s camera is an enchancment over the iPhone 13 Professional’s camera. It’s not by a lot, however the enhancements do make a distinction. The principle camera has 48 megapixels, whereas the wide-angle and telephoto cameras have 12 megapixels. We now have in contrast the iPhone 14 Professional to the iPhone 13 Professional and to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 already, offering a deep dive into its skills in numerous environments, and the way the brand new Photonic Engine improves lowlight zoom photos.
What concerning the app and the photographic expertise? The iPhone 14 Professional can take 2x or 3x optical zoom pictures, or develop to a 0.5x wide-angle photograph; for video, it may report as much as 4K decision at 60 frames per second (fps). It’s versatile and satisfying, and whereas some might wish to see a larger optical zoom, the 3x setting will get you in fairly shut. Because of this, I’ve discovered the brand new 2x zoom extra helpful than if Apple had added a 5x zoom.
Face recognition is near-instant when utilizing the rear camera, the app instantly acknowledges and completely isolates textual content to copy-and-paste into different apps or messages, plus Siri Information is nice at recognizing vegetation and animals. The image-editing suite is highly effective however confusingly laid out and never significantly quick to make use of, and I discover that the premade filters not often improve my photos. Samsung does a greater job with its filters, however its enhancing suite is even much less intuitive, and I typically nonetheless flip to apps like Snapseed to provide images a lift.
Stills will be shot in Apple’s ProRaw mode, offering extra potential for enhancing by those that know the way to get the very best from the format. However beware, as ProRaw images take up lots of area, with single photos coming in at round 60MB or extra. It will get even worse if you wish to experiment with the ProRes characteristic for video, as Apple estimates a single minute of ProRes video will take up an enormous 1.7GB of cupboard space,. It additionally estimates that the 100GB remaining on my 256GB iPhone 14 Professional will let me report ProRes for simply 19 minutes.
ProRes and ProRaw are area of interest options that most individuals gained’t really feel the necessity to experiment with, and it feels comparable for the returning Cinematic Mode (which now shoots in 4K decision at 24fps or 30fps) and the brand new Motion Mode. This provides a gimbal-like stage of stabilization to movies the place you and the goal are transferring round. The iPhone 13 Professional already had nice stabilization for video (see the comparability with the gimbal-equipped Asus Zenfone 9 for proof), and it’s nice on the iPhone 14 Professional too, plus the smoother transition between zoom ranges may be very welcome.
Sure, the iPhone 14 Professional’s camera is an enchancment over the iPhone 13 Professional’s camera.
Capturing images and video within the regular modes at an inexpensive decision, and with the inventory stabilization, will seemingly be sufficient for most individuals in most conditions. The extra pro-style options might not get used fairly often, and definitely not by everybody who buys an iPhone 14 Professional, however they’re carried out nicely, and may you’ve gotten the information and proper further software program to correctly attempt them out, they’re undoubtedly highly effective.
The iPhone 14 Professional’s camera is incredible. It takes thrilling and vibrant images within the solar, detailed and balanced images at the hours of darkness, and has greater than sufficient versatility for me to experiment. There’s extra technical experience hidden inside than ever earlier than and options which might be past me proper now, however may show helpful and pleasing sooner or later.
iPhone 14 Professional battery and charging
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
The iPhone 14 Professional’s battery efficiency hasn’t been nice, however there are indicators of enchancment. Initially, the battery was by no means going to final greater than a day, and with reasonably exhausting use (round three to 4 hours of display time), it might be right down to lower than 30% by early night — and that noticed some nervousness begin to creep in. Heavy use and a visit to the charger had been obligatory by this level. This was additionally principally related to Wi-Fi, and typically with no gaming — simply GPS, camera, apps, a brief quantity of video, and some hours of streaming music.
The battery life and charging technology are the least spectacular points of the iPhone 14 Professional.
Since these darkish, early days, the iPhone 14 Professional appears to have settled down into my very own use patterns. Whereas the battery isn’t going to all of the sudden final for 2 days, it has positively improved. The arrival of iOS 16.0.2 may additionally have helped optimize the system. Though it’s not talked about particularly as a profit, the very first model of iOS 16 additionally dramatically lower the battery life on my iPhone 13 Professional — suggesting software program could also be an element within the comparatively poor battery efficiency.
Andrew Martonik / Digital Traits
Apple doesn’t provide a charger with the iPhone 14 Professional, nevertheless it does put a USB Kind-C to Lightning cable within the field. If you happen to personal Apple’s 20-watt charging block, count on the battery to cost to 50% in about half-hour. I take advantage of Apple’s 29W charging block, and this takes it to full in simply over an hour. It’s acceptable efficiency, however can’t match the quick charging instances offered by the OnePlus 10T, or many telephones from Oppo or Xiaomi. It’s in keeping with Samsung’s telephones, although.
The battery life and charging technology are the least spectacular points of the iPhone 14 Professional. Different manufacturers, significantly a few of these not offered within the U.S., have made important developments in fast-charging technology, and it’s cheap to count on nearly all of Android telephones to final two days on a single cost with regular use. Apple falls behind this, and in case you demand lots out of your telephone, then be ready to hold a battery pack or make emergency charging stops through the day to keep away from any nervousness.
There’s some anecdotal proof from individuals testing beta variations of iOS that battery life has been additional prolonged, and it’s one thing we are going to proceed to watch on the iPhone 14 Professional.
iPhone 14 Professional value and availability
The essential iPhone 14 Professional with 128GB cupboard space prices $999, or 1,099 British kilos within the U.Ok. The value will increase each time you add extra cupboard space, proper as much as $1,499 or 1,429 kilos for the highest 1TB model. All iPhone 14 Professional fashions are in the stores now by way of Apple’s on-line retailer and most networks within the U.S.
The little issues make a giant distinction with the iPhone 14 Professional
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
Certainly one of my favourite issues concerning the iPhone 14 Professional is how simple it’s to stay with, and this begins from the second you get it out of the field. It doesn’t take lengthy to set the telephone up, and in case you’re coming from one other iPhone, Apple offers the whole lot from additional non permanent iCloud storage and quick account switch to make it actually easy. If you happen to’re buying and selling in your previous iPhone, a bit notification pops up that primarily automates the method required to get it able to be despatched again. It’s easy and an important introduction to your new, costly telephone.
It goes far past these first moments. I take advantage of each AirPods Professional and AirPods Max, which join immediately and have incredible Bluetooth vary, plus I can swap between completely different gadgets with none of them getting confused. I additionally usually use Sony’s WH-1000XM3 headphones with the iPhone, and the accompanying app makes conserving it updated easy, and the Bluetooth connection is equally as secure.
I’ve related the Apple Watch SE 2 and the Apple Watch Extremely to the iPhone 14 Professional, and once more, it’s very simple, and the connection completely flawless. My Oura Ring additionally connects with out concern, and the app works very nicely. My podcasts obtain after I need them, Apple Pay is accepted in all places, the selection of circumstances to guard the telephone is gigantic, and even resale worth is usually stronger than every other gadget. There are additionally two new security options: a automobile crash detection system that I’ve no intention of testing, and an emergency satellite tv for pc calling characteristic that I can’t take a look at as a result of it’s not out till November. I hope to by no means want it.
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
I don’t need the telephone I personal and use daily to be an effort. It’s one of many causes needy software program like Oppo’s ColorOS and OnePlus’s OxygenOS frustrates. The iPhone 14 Professional works with me, offering all of the performance and high quality I count on from a telephone that prices $1,000, plus a wealth of options that cover from view but improve my possession, whether or not that’s the 120Hz ProMotion display or crash detection.
That is what I need, much more so than any visible change for change’s sake, and the iPhone 14 Professional delivers it. Purchase with confidence, and luxuriate in the perfect smartphone possession expertise you possibly can have. Nonetheless, you probably have an iPhone 13 Professional already, then there’s not a lot new right here except you’re actually taken by the always-on display and Dynamic Island, and it’s actually the identical story for anybody with an iPhone 12 Professional too. Anybody with an iPhone earlier than the 12 will discover it a substantial and worthwhile improve.
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