My FIRST Pro Max iPhone - iPhone 14 Pro Max 6 months later

This is the first time I upgraded to the Pro Max size (I did have the iPhone 6 Plus, does that count?) rather than the mainstream Pro or the more comfortable mini (man, I miss the mini). After about six months, here’s the experience: the larger model, the new 14 Pro features, some issues, and whether I recommend it.

Size

Coming from the regular Pro took some adjustment, and after a few days I was mostly used to it, but I still think about the size frequently. I’m not tall and my hands aren’t big, so I feel the size and weight every time I pick it up. If it were the only size, I’d be fine, but I find myself wanting to go back to the 14 Pro or even the 13 mini from time to time, until I think about the battery.

Battery

The battery is everything I wanted, and the main reason I switched from the 14 Pro shortly after release. I have an irrational battery anxiety: I work from home more than 90% of the time, I’m near a charger anywhere in my house, and I have MagSafe chargers in our vehicles. But the battery is insane: I average well over 5 hours of screen-on time a day (super unhealthy, I know, with Macs and iPads on top), mostly Safari, video, Twitter, email, Teams and Messages, and still go to bed with 20–40% left without charging during the day. Battery health still shows 100%, with MagSafe or wireless charging only, using a Belkin stand by my bed. If there’s one reason to keep using it, it’s that.

Design

Similar to the 12 and 13 line: flat edges and flat glass with a big camera bump. The big color was Deep Purple; much of the time I don’t notice it, because in a lot of light it just looks gray. The bump is huge and getting comical, and there’s constant dust around the lenses that’s hard to remove. I still think it’s one of the best iPhone designs ever and matches the iPads.

I prefer the flat edges: I get a better grip, whereas older rounded edges gave less surface area and felt more slippery. Hopefully with the rumored rounded 15, we’ll still have flat sides for grip, or you can use a case like the Casekoo Magic Stand, which sponsored this video.

The Dynamic Island

It turns the notch into a pill that changes for incoming calls, timers, music controls, sports scores and more. I like it as a way to enhance the phone when dealing with cutouts, and it still delights me with small animations, like with Apple Pay or the audio graphic during a call. After six months, it’s nothing revolutionary, and given the choice I’d choose no island, but since there have to be holes in the display, it’s nice to get a feature out of it. It’s in the way sometimes when watching video or playing games, and it’s less easy to ignore than the notch, though I don’t hate it.

Display

Brighter: up to 1,600 nits for HDR and 2,000 in direct sunlight. It’s a real improvement to pull your phone out outdoors and see the display, good for quick notification checks or an article, but it heats up at that brightness and dims after a couple of minutes.

The always-on display was only on or off at first: on just dimmed the display and muted colors, which I found distracting (it always looked like a notification came in), so I turned it off. Two options were added to disable the wallpaper and notifications. Others say that makes it the right mix, but then it’s just a clock, and I have an Apple Watch and other devices for that, so mine stays off.

Cameras

As every year, decent changes, but my overall experience hasn’t changed much in a couple of years. I upgrade for better cameras each year, because they give me slightly better photos of the things I want to remember. There’s been a lot of iPhone camera bashing (over-smoothing, unnatural color balance), but for me the photos have been pretty good.

Side by side in regular mode, I can’t see much difference between the 14 and 13. But with the new 48 MP main sensor shooting RAW, you can absolutely see a big difference: the RAW images have much more detail. That’s a nice upgrade if you’re a pro, prosumer or aspiring photographer using Lightroom, but for point-and-shoot photos of my kid, the huge files and editing aren’t worth it.
I love the new 2× zoom, a crop of the big main sensor: the quality is much better than the “real” 3× lens, and I wonder why Apple even includes it.
Action mode is super great video stabilization: I ran full boar on a trail with the camera watching my shadow, one hand holding it, bouncing all over, and the video looks like it was shot by someone else, or a drone. I’ve played with it more than Cinematic mode last year, which now does 24 fps in 4K.

Performance

The A16 is about 10–15% faster than the A15, already faster than anything else out there. Everyday activities are smooth, games load and play smoothly, and no apps bring it to its knees. But that was the same story last year and the year before: for most people and most tasks you won’t see an improvement over the last generation or two, which means performance won’t hold your phone back for years.

What bugs me

No physical SIM in the US. I used to switch phones almost monthly, and the possible failure or needing to call my carrier makes me reconsider. I’ve switched twice without issue, but I don’t like that it’s not as easy as popping out a card.
The stainless steel is nice but makes the phone annoyingly heavy, and the band colors are bland next to the aluminum options. Colored bands hold up well, but I specifically haven’t gotten the silver, because those bands start scratching instantly. I’m curious about a materials change for the 15 Pro.
Touch issues: since release, the screen sometimes doesn’t respond to touch (swiping to unlock doesn’t register, and I have to press sleep/wake and try again). Apple released an update that hasn’t fully fixed it for me. Swiping down from the top for Notification Center can take multiple tries, annoying one-handed on the Max. I don’t think I’ve had this on other iPhones.
Bluetooth and AirPlay: sometimes it’s like magic, sometimes not: I open the AirPods case and the phone doesn’t see them, so I put them back and try again, and AirPlay sometimes doesn’t see all my devices. What if the slogan back in the day had been “it just works… sometimes”?

Verdict

Yes, I like the 14 Pro Max and recommend it after six months. It’s the best iPhone Apple has made, with the best battery. I still find myself wanting the regular Pro (or the mini) for the hand feel. What I really want is an iPhone mini with a larger, easier-to-see display and an all-day battery. A guy can dream.

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