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Space Black vs Midnight

7:11 video

This year, for the iPhone 14 Pro, I decided to go with Space Black and forgo the trendy new purple. (Shaker & Spoon sponsored this video.) Deep Purple looks pretty good in the videos I’ve seen, but it seems to shape-shift with the lighting. I also picked up a regular iPhone 14 in Midnight for comparisons, again skipping purple and (PRODUCT)RED.

The colors

  • Space Black is not exactly black on the back: more like an older Space Gray, maybe the iPhone 5. The side bands, though, are super black, blacked out, and look awesome, until you get fingerprints on them. It’s new this year; last year’s 13 Pro had Graphite, which wasn’t black at all, a lot like my graphite stainless steel Apple Watch, which also isn’t black.
  • Midnight looks just black at first glance, with a little blue tint as you move it, and really dark on first opening. Under the studio lighting I had a hard time picking up the pigment; the side bands look matte black, with maybe the slightest hint of blue. With a light directly on it against a white shopping bag, there’s more blue; the sides still look very dark, with just a hint of dark blue. In another room and outdoors, I could see the hint of blue, but in most lighting it almost looks black.

Other differences

  • The iPhone 14 uses last year’s 13 Pro chip, the A15 with a 5-core GPU; the 14 Pro has the new A16. Screen, speakers, materials and other differences will come in another video.
  • The 14 has a matte finish with aluminum sides; the 14 Pro has a shiny stainless steel edge. There’s a weight difference, and the stainless steel gets fingerprints instantly, while the aluminum doesn’t show them, though it’s more slippery to hold.
  • The 14’s back glass isn’t the frosted glass of the Pro, so you get fingerprints on the back of the 14 instead of the band.
  • The 14 Pro has a darker Apple logo, while the 14’s logo is lightened up. The camera module is matte on the 14 and glossy on the Pro.

Cases

I got the orange leather case for the 14 Pro, and I like the black and orange together; I was worried about finding a case for the purple that I’d like. For the 14, I got the Midnight silicone case, where the blue is much easier to see than on the phone, and it already shows fingerprints, which is why they make cases.

Verdict

I’m happy with both: they’re really nice, unique and sharp. If you’re choosing your phone based on color alone, you should probably rethink it, but either one will look awesome.

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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