Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max Review – Finally Something New This Time

Apple has just launched its latest iPhone 14 series around the globe which brings us the all-new iPhone 14 Pro Max. There’s a lot to talk about this phone and what all it brings to the table. Apple has once again created the fastest phone on the market with its A16 Bionic chipset, but it’s not about benchmarks.

Instead, it’s about what this processor can do, from the all-new always-on display to the stunning 48MP camera. Add in the extra-long battery life, and you’ve got the best iPhone money can buy.

However, not everything is new this time, there are a lot of similarities between last year’s iPhone and this year’s iPhone. Today we’ll discuss everything about the iPhone 14 Pro Max in this review and find out if it’s worth the hefty price tag.

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The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max comes available in four storage variants in India. The base variant comes at Rs. 1,39,900 for 128GB storage, Rs. 1,49,900 for 256GB storage, Rs. 1,69,900 for 512GB storage whereas the top variant goes as high as Rs. 1,89,900 for 1TB variant.

There are four different colour options available: Deep Purple, Gold, Silver and Space Black. You can buy the phone online directly from Apple’s official website or other e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart, as well as from premium Apple resellers.

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The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max packs the following items inside the box:

• Handset
• USB-C to Lightning Cable
• Documentation

Before we talk in detail about the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.7 inches OLED
• Chipset: Apple A16 Bionic
• RAM & ROM: 6GB RAM, 128GB/ 256GB/ 512GB/ 1TB Storage
• Software: iOS v16
• Rear camera: 48MP + 12MP + 12MP
• Selfie camera: 12MP
• Battery: 4323 mAh
• Weight: 240 grams
• Dimensions: 160.7 x 77.6 x 7.8 mm

Starting with the design, the latest Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max looks very similar to the last year’s iPhone. But wait, I said similar, not same. The magic happens when you see the front side where the traditional iPhone notch is now replaced with an all-new pill-shaped cutout. Apple calls it Dynamic Island; I know it’s not the best name but yep, it looks dope.

We’ll talk about what all it can do later in the review, but for now, let’s focus on the design. The new iPhones are a little bit thicker (around 0.20mm) than the previous generation. Not just that, the Pro Max model is heavy too, weighing about 240 grams.

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It’s just a massive brick in your hands, a powerful one. Taking a look at the back, you will notice that Apple has increased the size of camera lenses than the last year’s model. There are three chunky camera lenses on the squarish camera unit with an Apple logo in the middle.

I have the Deep Purple colour variant with me for the review which, if I forgot to mention, looks amazing. There are three more colour options available, including Gold, Silver and Space Black.

I love the standard glass back, which comes with a matte finish along with the flat edges made of stainless steel. The edges have a glossy finish and hence are fingerprint magnets.

Talking about the buttons placement and ports, the right side houses the power button while the left side comes with volume buttons, a mute switch and a single SIM card slot. The bottom packs a lighting port, microphone and a loudspeaker.

In addition to all that, the phone features IP68 water resistance which means it can survive light rain.

The camera is another department where Apple has made some major upgrades. The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max comes with a new triple camera setup on the back. This includes an all-new 48MP primary camera, a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 12MP telephoto lens. The front has a 12MP TrueDepth camera for taking selfies.

Starting with the new 48MP camera, it takes amazing photos with rich colours and a high dynamic range. The photos are packed with details and are quite sharp. I took some shots and the images were lifelike. The shutter speed is also quick.

Compared to the iPhone 13 Pro (review), the shots taken on the iPhone 14 Pro Max are not much different from one another. Of course, the images looked better on the 14 Pro Max, but not significantly.

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Low light environments are where the new lens shine. The images shot in the night-time are way better than last year’s iPhone. The colours look good while still retaining the details.

The other two lenses, a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 12MP telephoto lens are basically the same as last year with minor improvements.

Coming to the front, the 12MP TrueDepth camera gets an f1.9 aperture which helps to take better selfies in low light. For the first time, Apple has given autofocus on the front camera, which comes in handy while taking group selfies. The selfies in daylight were sharp and captured natural skin tones.

iPhone 14 Pro Max also gets the new Action mode that intelligently crops the video to deliver a super smooth result. Talking about the videos, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max can record 4K videos at 60fps from the main camera.

You can record videos in Cinematic mode at 4K/30 fps, while the Action mode can record only up to 2.8K/60fps.

The iPhone 14 Pro Max packs a 4,323mAh battery, as per some experts, which is slightly less than the 4,352mAh battery on the 13 Pro Max. Now even the smaller battery pack on the new iPhone Pro Max performs better than the last year’s model.

The new chipset is somewhat more power efficient and I could clearly see that in my day-to-day use. I got an amazing battery backup, even with the always-on display. I could still see the battery percentage standing at about 30 per cent after a full day of use, which is really good, for me at least.

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Now, you can also turn off the always-on display to get some more juice but it’s not a major difference. The only letdown here is seeing the same old 20W fast charging support, which is not really fast.

The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max reaches around 45 per cent in 30 minutes of charging. The 20W charger takes about an hour and a half to fully charge the phone from 0 to 100 per cent. You can also wirelessly charge the iPhone 14 Pro Max with MagSafe or supported Qi chargers, but it’s even slower.

The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max features a huge 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR panel which is the same size as seen on iPhone 13 Pro Max. It’s an AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 2000nits along with support for refresh rates of up to 120Hz. These were the specs, but how good does it look in real-life usage?

The scrolling and navigating through the UI is buttery smooth, thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate, which can go down as low as 1Hz, saving you some battery. It is very subtle yet noticeable. The display is bright enough for both indoor and outdoor use, even in direct sunlight.

Talking about picture quality, iPhones have always been good in this department, and the same goes for the iPhone 14 Pro Max. The colours looked punchy and vibrant whether I played games or scrolled through some Instagram reels. I also watched some HDR videos on YouTube, and my experience was damn good.

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Say goodbye to the old notch and welcome the new Dynamic Island. I’m surprised at how much I like Dynamic Island. Initially, I was a little dubious and believed it to be gimmicky, but it’s actually really fantastic. In fact, the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro Max offers some multitasking functionality which we’ll discuss later in the review.

That’s not all, Apple has finally added an always-on display feature in the latest iPhone 14 Pro series; however, it’s not customisable yet. The front of the phone is protected by Ceramic Shield, which is pretty tough and scratch resistant. Now I can confidently say that iPhones carry the best-in-class display in the market.

While the base iPhone 14 models get the old Apple A15 Bionic chipset, we get to see something new in the Pro models. The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max comes with an A16 Bionic chipset which is paired with 6GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage.

As expected, the phone is a total powerhouse and doesn’t break a sweat no matter what you throw at it. I could easily run through my daily tasks without any issues. The apps open up quickly and stay in the background for a long time. We all know about RAM management in iPhones, so there is nothing to worry about here.

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The 120Hz refresh rate makes everything even more smoother, especially the scrolling experience. The new A16 Bionic chip is not a huge improvement compared to the A15 Bionic chip, with only about 10 per cent improvement in performance. Still, it leaves behind any other Android phone in the market in terms of sole performance.

Just to push it further, I tried a couple of graphic-intensive games like Call of Duty Mobile, Apex Legends Mobile and Asphalt 9. All the games ran smoothly at their max settings with no issues. I did not notice any kind of lag or shutter during the gameplay.

The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max runs on iOS 16, which brings a bunch of new features and customisation options like an always-on display, a battery percentage indicator, a new health app and more.

Let’s start with the always-on display mode. It shows the time, date and notifications like any other phone but with a dimmed-off version of your lock screen wallpaper.

There’s not much you can do with the always-on display settings currently apart from just trying it off/on. Next is Dynamic Island, an absolutely amazing combination of software and functionality. It is more than just cosmetic change. Apple has really put a lot of brains into developing something like this, which I love personally.

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For instance, you don’t need to access your lockscreen to see a timer. Nothing groundbreaking or mind-blowing, but it’s an intelligent touch that raises the multitasking functionality. Currently, it supports very limited apps, but it will increase with the coming updates.

The new iPhones also come with two new safety features that I hope you never need to use. First is the Crash Detection feature, which you can tell by the name, detects when you get into a car crash and automatically informs the concerned authorities.

The second one is Emergency SOS which will let the users connect to a satellite to send an emergency message when there is no cellular network. All you would need to do is point the phone towards the sky and follow the instructions to find a satellite.

The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max comes with a stereo speaker setup, one located at the bottom while the other on the top. I’ll be honest here, these speakers hit hard. The audio quality is really good, with clear and loud output. The bass is also decent.

Talking about connectivity, the iPhone 14 Pro Max comes with 5G connectivity with support for 22 5G bands. These include n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n25, n26, n28, n30, n38, n40, n41, n48, n53, n66, n70, n77, n78, and n79. Other connectivity options are Wi‑Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC and GPS.

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The Dynamic Island on the front also houses the Face ID setup for biometric security along with the selfie camera. It works as expected and quickly unlocks the phone in a single glance.