iPhone 14 Pro Max: One Year Later Review

With the launch of the iPhone 15 lineup fast approaching, MacRumors video editor Dan Barbera thought he'd take a look back at his last year (almost) using the iPhone 14 Pro Max before it's time to move on to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

00:00 Introduction
00:38 Durability of Pro & Pro Max After One Year
01:19 Best Color iPhone 14 Pro
01:34 Dynamic Island Review
03:55 Always On Display Review
04:17 Battery Life is BAD!
05:48 Performance & Other Features
07:45 Camera Review
08:45 Final Thoughts

[sabeauty]

Tbh, if you work full time and you're actually working your phone isn't dying by 1pm lmaoo

[tromo]

iPhone 14 Pro Max Silver color user here. Upgraded from the X back in December. Obviously it was a huge upgrade. I absolutely love my 14 Pro Max. Still rocking 100% battery health 8 months in. I usually hang on to my phones for awhile, so I don’t think I’ll be upgrading again for the next several years.

[markslima]

Started with the iPhone 3g back in 2009 I believe.. had the 4, 6 plus, 8, 12 -- and now my iPhone 14 Pro MAX. This is finally it, everything I loved about the iPhone, past issues or flaws or limitations, it is all resolved and in a beautiful package of modern technology. Can't love this amazing device enough. Grew up in the analogue era, where cassette-tape answering machines were a cool new tech and I finally got a cordless phone. The latest iPhone really feels like I'm in the future haha

[Nathansmithphotography]

Agree. I have found that turning off “Show Wallpaper” in the always on display made a BIG DIFFERENCE in battery life, giving you the benefit of the clock, notifications, etc. with the always on display, but better battery life.

[nihilnobody]

The iPhone 14 Pro max has been the best overall iPhone I have had so far (starting from the 5).
I am at 97% capacity and manage to get 1.5 to 2 days of battery life. But I am not on social media and don’t get a thousand notifications a day. I do have AOD turned on since about a month, but if it has had an impact I haven’t noticed it.
I did have issues a couple of times with the phone freezing up completely - probably due to thermal management. I had the same issue with the 8 plus.
The cameras work well, but the processing could probably be turned down a notch. Maybe. Never used the 48mpix but I appreciate the binning: night mode turns on less often than expected.
The dynamic island is so good it is gone into the background when using the phone and it “shows up” when I need it. I don’t even remember how it was without having it, it is that good. I also travel with United, and their implementation of notifications with the island are great.
Will I move to the 15? It has to bring a very specific new feature that this 14 doesn’t have that I find useful. Otherwise the phone looks and feels like new and I’ll keep it, at the very least, another year.

[rcarr]

Coming from the android world to iOS has been awesome. I have the iPhone 14 pro max space black 512gb and I absolutely love it! iPhone just feels so much smoother and honestly the apple ecosystem is just better.

[stanleyomar]

I made decision a couple of years ago to basically "lease" the outgoing current-gen phone (standard or Pro) from my carrier and then upgrade every two years following that pattern, and seeing the rumours for the 15/15 Pro, I'm pretty happy with that decision. Just upgraded from the 12 to the 14 Pro, and while iOS consistency makes it hard to get that new phone feel these days, it was still a fairly decent improvement. The Dynamic Island and higher refresh rate are definitely the two most noticeable changes so far.

[LouManning]

I held off grabbing the 14 Pro Max when I heard there were battery concerns. I hope the 15 works out to be a better option since I'll be due for an upgrade.

[AmazedStoner]

My iPhone 12 Pro last month decided to forget got to connect to any network of any kind so I was forced to select an upgrade. I’ve been using the 14 pro max for a couple of weeks now and fully enjoy the phone. However I’m bummed about not getting to wait until the iPhone 15 to upgrade to a new iPhone

[waynehorne]

Do you use a screen protector and what side of the phone do you typically lay your phone down?

[jmRck_G]

Upgraded from the iPhone 11 to the 14 Pro Max. My first oled iPhone and I’ve been loving it! My battery life is awesome as well.

[familymukbangasmranddiarie]

The iPhone 14 Pro Max is my first experience with the iPhone and it was 17days ago, but since I started using it.. I always find missed calls because the phone doesn't make any sound until after i restart it, may I know what the problem is and what can I do?

[MrLuigi-oigm]

My 14 ProMax battery life has been great. Most days I have around 40% battery life when I go to bed. I do NOT participate in the Beta program. I DO use the always on display, but I use a pure black background.

[Kerleem]

+1 on poorer than expected battery life. I have the 14 pro max. Love the always on display (dimmed without wallpaper) but I also always run dual SIM on so I end the day around 30ish percent whereas my 12 pro max would be around 50 percent. It’s not the end of the world but I definitely plug in and top up more often than in the past.

[joshshell]

I’ve had the 14pro since late January and as a heavy user my battery life was on 92% and my phone kept overheating a lot before I got a new one for switching carriers

[wmaverick]

Dear Vlogger,
I really enjoyed the picture of the snowy mountain that you showed on your phone at 4:04 in your video. The scenery looks so beautiful and stunning! I wanted to kindly ask if you would be willing to share the original photo. It would be greatly appreciated if you could provide the original image. Thank you so much for sharing this. I wish you all the best!

[thrdeye]

I have the 12 pro max and, while the battery is not as good as day one, it still gets me comfortably through a full day. I don’t have to charge it until the following morning.

[cadenchurchill]

Regarding the Dynamic Island, I find it really useful for when I’m timing my breaks at work. Keeps the timer in a space that’s very quick and easy to access.

Also, somehow my iPhone 14 Pro still has 100% battery capacity. Got it later October and I’m not a super heavy user as most things I would normally do on my phone I tend to use my iPad or Mac for instead. Battery life for me has been pretty good, feels about the same as the iPhone 11 I upgraded from. I also use MagSafe exclusively for charging.

[owayneallen]

I recently bought the iPhone 14 Pro Max space black and I never thought I would love the color this much, initially I wanted silver but now I love the space black 😍

[thinne]

Do u have any little scratch on the camera border, for me it just likes automatically scratch for small dot without doing anything