Apple’s all new iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max adds Dynamic Island
By Shawn Chung - Singapore
The rumors that Apple would ditch the “notch” with the iPhone 14 Pro have proven untrue, as Apple has enhanced the notch functionality with the new Dynamic Island notification system.
Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, are the most advanced Pro lineup ever, featuring the Dynamic Island — a new design that introduces an intuitive way to experience iPhone — and the Always-On display. Powered by A16 Bionic, iPhone 14 Pro introduces a new class of pro camera system, with the first-ever 48MP Main camera on iPhone featuring a quad-pixel sensor, and Photonic Engine, an enhanced image pipeline that dramatically improves low-light photos, while Emergency SOS via satellite and Crash Detection keep ensure your get quick help in an emergency.
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will be available in four gorgeous new finishes: deep purple, silver, gold, and space black. Pre-orders begin Friday, September 9, with availability beginning Friday, September 16.
A Stunning Design and the Most Advanced Display on a Smartphone
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max feature a beautiful surgical-grade stainless steel and textured matte glass design in four stunning colors. Available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch sizes, both models include a new Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion that features the Always-On display for the first time ever on iPhone, enabled by a new 1Hz refresh rate and multiple power-efficient technologies. This makes the new Lock Screen even more useful, keeping the time, widgets, and Live Activities available at a glance. The advanced display also brings the same peak HDR brightness level as Pro Display XDR, and the highest outdoor peak brightness in a smartphone: up to 2000 nits, which is twice as bright as iPhone 13 Pro.
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max also continue to offer industry-leading durability features with the Ceramic Shield front cover — tougher than any smartphone glass — and are protected from common spills and accidents with water and dust resistance.2
Dynamic Island: An Interactive User Experience
The “notch” has always been a contentious feature of the iPhone since Apple introduced Face ID in the iPhone X, and while it is still very much present in the iPhone 14 Pro, Apple has created Dynamic Island ‘around it’ which is a new functionality to interact with iPhone, featuring a design that blends the line between hardware and software, adapting in real time to show important alerts, notifications, and activities. With the introduction of the Dynamic Island, the TrueDepth camera has been redesigned to take up less of the display area. Without impeding content on the screen, the Dynamic Island maintains an active state to allow users easier access to controls with a simple tap-and-hold. Ongoing background activities like Maps, Music, or a timer remain visible and interactive, and third-party apps in iOS 16 that provide information like sports scores and ride-sharing with Live Activities can take advantage of the Dynamic Island.
A New Class of Pro Camera System
The pro camera system on iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in a smartphone, empowering every user — casual or professional — to capture the best photos and video.
iPhone 14 Pro takes computational photography even further with Photonic Engine, offering a giant leap for mid- to low-light performance in photos across all cameras through a deep integration of hardware and software: up to 2x on the Main camera, up to 3x on the Ultra Wide camera, up to 2x on the Telephoto camera, and up to 2x on the TrueDepth camera. Photonic Engine enables this dramatic increase in quality by applying Deep Fusion earlier in the imaging process to deliver extraordinary detail, and preserve subtle textures, provide better color, and maintain more information in a photo.
For the first time ever, the Pro lineup features a new 48MP Main camera with a quad-pixel sensor that adapts to the photo being captured, and features second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization. For most photos, the quad-pixel sensor combines every four pixels into one large quad pixel equivalent to 2.44 µm, resulting in amazing low-light capture and keeping photo size at a practical 12MP. The quad-pixel sensor also enables a 2x Telephoto option that uses the middle 12 megapixels of the sensor for full-resolution photos and 4K videos with no digital zoom. This delivers optical quality at a familiar focal length, which is great for features like Portrait mode. The quad-pixel sensor also brings benefits to pro workflows, optimizing for detail in ProRAW. And with a new machine learning model designed specifically for the quad-pixel sensor, iPhone now shoots ProRAW at 48MP with an unprecedented level of detail, enabling new creative workflows for pro users.
Additional pro camera system upgrades and features include:
A new 12MP Ultra Wide camera with 1.4 µm pixels, which delivers sharper images with more detail, improving already powerful macro photography capabilities.
An improved Telephoto camera that offers 3x optical zoom.
A new front TrueDepth camera with an ƒ/1.9 aperture that enables better low-light performance for photos and video. Using autofocus for the first time, it can focus even faster in low light and capture group shots from farther away.
A new Adaptive True Tone flash that has been completely redesigned with an array of nine LEDs that change pattern based on the chosen focal length.
Powerful computational photography benefits like Night mode, Smart HDR 4, Portrait mode with Portrait Lighting, Night mode Portrait photos, Photographic Styles to personalize the look of every photo, and Apple ProRAW.
A new Action mode for incredibly smooth-looking video that adjusts to significant shakes, motion, and vibrations, even when video is being captured in the middle of the action.
Cinematic mode, now available in 4K at 30 fps and 4K at 24 fps.
Pro-level workflows for video, including ProRes3 and end-to-end Dolby Vision HDR.
Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via Satellite
The entire iPhone 14 lineup introduces groundbreaking safety capabilities that can provide emergency assistance when it matters most. With a new dual-core accelerometer capable of detecting G-force measurements of up to 256Gs and a new high dynamic range gyroscope, Crash Detection on iPhone can now detect a severe car crash and automatically dial emergency services when a user is unconscious or unable to reach their iPhone. These capabilities build on existing components, like the barometer, which can now detect cabin pressure changes, the GPS for additional input for speed changes, and the microphone,4 which can recognize loud noises typified by severe car crashes. Advanced Apple-designed motion algorithms trained with over a million hours of real-world driving and crash record data provide even better accuracy. When combined with Apple Watch, Crash Detection seamlessly leverages the unique strength of both devices to get users help efficiently. When a severe crash is detected, the emergency services call interface will appear on Apple Watch, as it is most likely to be in closer proximity to the user, while the call is placed through iPhone if it is in range for the best possible connection.
The iPhone 14 lineup also introduces Emergency SOS via satellite, which combines custom components deeply integrated with software to allow antennas to connect directly to a satellite, enabling messaging with emergency services when outside of cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. Satellites are moving targets with low bandwidth, and it can take minutes for messages to get through. Since every second counts, with Emergency SOS via satellite, iPhone front-loads a few vital questions to assess the user’s situation and shows them where to point their phone to connect to a satellite. The initial questionnaire and follow-up messages are then relayed to centers staffed by Apple‑trained specialists who can call for help on the user’s behalf. This breakthrough technology also allows users to manually share their location over satellite with Find My when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi connection, providing a sense of security when hiking or camping off the grid. Emergency SOS via satellite will be available to users in the US and Canada in November, and the service will be free for two years.
A16 Bionic: The Fastest Chip in a Smartphone
The A16 Bionic chip in iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max is generations ahead of the competition, and unlocks unparalleled experiences like the Dynamic Island, powers all-day battery life,7 and delivers impressive computational photography capabilities. With two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores, the new 6-core CPU is up to 40 percent faster than the competition and easily handles demanding workloads. A16 Bionic features an accelerated 5-core GPU with 50 percent more memory bandwidth — perfect for graphics-intensive games and apps — and a new 16-core Neural Engine capable of nearly 17 trillion operations per second. Using Apple’s best-in-class fusion architecture to combine performance and energy savings, the chip delivers more performance with a fraction of the power compared to the competition.
Fundamental to the pro camera system, A16 Bionic powers incredible computational photography features. The CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and image signal processor seamlessly work together to support the new camera hardware and perform up to 4 trillion operations per photo.
Powerful Cellular Capabilities and 5G
iPhone offers users super-fast downloads and uploads, better streaming, and real-time connectivity with 5G to help them stay in touch, share, and enjoy content.8 Support for 5G on iPhone now extends to over 250 carrier partners in over 70 markets around the world, with expanded support for standalone networks. eSIM allows users to easily connect or quickly transfer their existing plans digitally, is a more secure alternative to a physical SIM card, and allows for multiple cellular plans on a single device. iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max remove the SIM tray for US models, enabling users to more quickly and easily set up their device.
Apple Fitness+ for All iPhone Users
Later this fall, for the first time ever, Apple Fitness+ will be available for all iPhone users to subscribe to and enjoy in the 21 countries it is offered in, even if they don’t have an Apple Watch. iPhone users will have access to the entire service featuring over 3,000 studio-style workouts and meditations, all led by a diverse and inclusive team of trainers. Fitness+ users will see onscreen trainer guidance and interval timing, and estimated calories burned will be used to make progress on their Move ring. Fitness+ will be fully integrated with the Fitness app coming with iOS 16 and located in the middle tab, where users can stay motivated to close their Move ring through awards, activity sharing, and more. Users only need an iPhone to sign up, and can then experience Fitness+ on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.
Featuring iOS 16
Designed to take advantage of the new capabilities of iPhone 14 Pro, iOS 16 features a reimagined Lock Screen along with new communication, sharing, and intelligence features that together change the way users experience iPhone. The Lock Screen is more personal, beautiful, and helpful than ever with a multilayered effect that artfully sets subjects of photos in front of the time, and newly designed widgets that offer information at a glance. For Lock Screen inspiration, the wallpaper gallery offers a range of options, including Apple collections, a Weather wallpaper to see live weather conditions as they change throughout the day, an Astronomy wallpaper for views of the Earth, moon, and solar system, and many more. With Messages, users can now edit or recall recently sent messages, and mark conversations as unread to revisit them later. iCloud Shared Photo Library makes it even easier to share a collection of photos with family. Live Text gets more powerful with the ability to recognize text in video and quickly convert currency, translate text, and more, and Visual Look Up adds a new feature that allows users to tap and hold on the subject of an image to lift it from the background and place it in apps like Messages.
iPhone and the Environment
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are designed to minimize their impact on the environment, with 100 percent recycled rare earth elements used in all magnets, including those used in MagSafe, and 100 percent recycled tungsten in the Taptic Engine. Both models also include 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of multiple printed circuit boards, and 100 percent recycled gold in the plating of multiple printed circuit boards and in the wire of all cameras. Fiber-based packaging does not use outer plastic wrap, bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.
Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations, and by 2030, plans to be 100 percent carbon neutral across its entire manufacturing supply chain and all product life cycles. This means that every Apple device sold, from component manufacturing, assembly, transport, customer use, charging, all the way through recycling and material recovery, will have net-zero climate impact.
Pricing and Availability
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will be available in deep purple, silver, gold, and space black in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage capacities.
Customers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, the UAE, the UK, the US, and 30 other countries and regions will be able to pre-order iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max beginning at 5 a.m. PDT on Friday, September 9, with availability beginning Friday, September 16.
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will be available in Malaysia, Turkey, and 20 other countries and regions beginning Friday, September 23.
Emergency SOS via satellite will be available starting in the US and Canada in November, and the service will be included for free for two years with the activation of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Customers can get iPhone 14 Pro for $41.62 (US) a month for 24 months or $999 (US) before trade-in, and iPhone 14 Pro Max for $45.79 (US) a month for 24 months or $1,099 (US) before trade-in from apple.com/store, in the Apple Store app, and at Apple Store locations. iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are also available through Apple Authorized Resellers and select carriers.
Customers can save up to $1,000 (US) on iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max with trade-in directly from apple.com/store or at an Apple Store when they activate it with select US carriers. Terms apply. For eligibility requirements and more details, see apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/carrier-offers.
Customers in the US can get ready for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max pre-orders until 10 p.m. PDT on Thursday, September 8, by visiting apple.com/store or using the Apple Store app. They can choose to pay monthly or in full, add a trade-in credit toward their new product, or upgrade through the iPhone Upgrade Program.
iOS 16 will be available as a free software update on Monday, September 12.
Customers who purchase iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will receive three months of Apple Arcade with a new subscription.
Leather Wallet with MagSafe and iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max Leather Cases will be available in five new colors: midnight, forest green, ink, umber, and orange. iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max Clear Case and Silicone Cases will be available in midnight, storm blue, red, chalk pink, lilac, elderberry, succulent, and sunglow.