The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max will always divide opinion. There will be plenty of people who love the big screen and the long-lasting battery; and there will be a significant proportion of iPhone fans who just don’t get on with that huge 6.7in display. They might prefer something more pocketable that’s easier to use with one hand instead.
This argument, like the iPhone 14 Pro Max, hasn’t changed much over the last 12 months. It’s still a gigantic, attractive slab of glass and polished stainless steel and it’s still the longest lasting iPhone, although the iPhone 14 Plus runs it close this year.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max review: What you need to know
So what, if anything, is new in 2022? In terms of the physical look of the thing – the size, weight, buttons and rear camera housing – not an awful lot. From a distance, if someone were to whip out the iPhone Pro Max from their pocket, you’d be hard pressed to tell whether it was a 13 or a 14 Pro Max, unless they’d bought the phone in the new purple colour, of course.
Once you start using the phone in earnest, however, you’ll discover that there are plenty of new features to play with this year. The new, high-resolution 48MP main camera that can produce stunning RAW images is the obvious highlight but there are also plenty of other exciting developments.
The new “Dynamic Island” front camera notch that incorporates a clever new notifications system is a major step forward. Then there’s the Always On Display that can show all sorts of information, including your photos, while the phone is on standby. Finally, you have the ability to detect car crashes thanks to an upgraded accelerometer and it can communicate via satellites, although only in the US and Canada at the time of writing.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max review: Price and competition
Being the largest of the Pro offerings this year, you can expect to pay a pretty penny for the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Even the lowliest offering with a mere 128GB of storage will set you back £1,199 SIM free and that price rises to £1,309 for the 256GB model, £1,529 for the 512GB model and £1,749 for the 1TB phone.
Essentially, this works out at £100 more expensive than the iPhone 14 Pro, £150 more than the iPhone 14 Plus and £250 more than the iPhone 14. It’s expensive but, as flagship smartphone prices go these days, it’s not particularly unusual.
Android handsets have been hitting similar heights in recent years although, as ever, those willing to make the jump away from iOS will get more for their money. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, for instance, starts at a £1,249 RRP, comes with double the storage of the iPhone 14 Pro Max and has fallen in price since release, currently standing at £957 at Amazon.
If you’re going to go down this path, the Google Pixel 7 Pro is well worth a look, too. It comes with an AMOLED screen of the same size, has three cameras – including a longer 5x telephoto than the iPhone Pro Max 14 – and costs £849.
You can even nab yourself a folding phone if you don’t mind a bit of extra thickness. The Galaxy Z Fold 4, for instance, has fallen in price dramatically since launch and can be bought for under £1,300 right now, and you can get a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 for even less at around £800.
If you’re adamant about sticking with Apple, though, and your iPhone has seen better days, you can still buy an iPhone 13 for £749 or an iPhone 12 for £649. Neither have the new features, the big screen or the camera quality of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but they’re far, far cheaper.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max review: Design and key features
If you’re happy with a large display and the pocket-stretching dimensions that go with it, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is a nicely designed example. With Ceramic Shield glass on the front and rear it’s about as scratch resistant as any phone on the market; having run an iPhone 13 Pro for a whole year there was barely a hairline on the front.
The polished stainless steel frame sets this off nicely, as does the fingerprint smudge resistant matte finish glass at the rear. All the usual Apple touches are present and correct, too. That includes IP68 dust and water-resistance (up to 6m depth for 30 minutes), Face ID for quick unlocking, payments and password entry, as well as wireless charging via Apple’s elegant MagSafe system.
I was sent the new Deep Purple colour for this review and it looks great, too, although I must admit having a soft spot for the rather more blingy Silver model.
I do have gripes. The camera housing protrudes even more than it did last year, so those who prefer to go no-case-commando will suffer from severe rocking when texting on a desk or table. Do yourself a favour – buy a case. And the phone is just too big for me but if you’re over the “how big is too big” debate and love a big ‘un, this will be just your cup of tea.
The only new features that will make a noticeable impact on how you use the phone day to day are the Dynamic Island – a notification system that surrounds the TrueDepth camera cutout at the top of the screen – and the Always On Display. Both are impressively elegant marriages of hardware and software design.
The Dynamic Island might sound weird but as soon as you hold it to expand your music controls or see the timer you just set show the remaining time right there, accessible with a quick tap, you’ll be sold. It’s a system that just works, to steal an Apple marketing line.
The Always On display, likewise, is a feature that comfortably sits in the “how did I ever live without this?” category. And Apple, of course, has taken it to the next level compared with most rivals. Rather than simply displaying the text of your clock, notifications and appointments, the iPhone can take over the whole screen and show your lockscreen photograph or even directions for your current Apple Maps navigation session. The latter is a bit of a power drain but you get the idea. It makes a big difference to the way you use the phone and it means you don’t have to pick up your phone just to check the time or who messaged.
The other new features are impressive but not things that will change the way you use the phone from day to day. I genuinely hope I never find out how effective the car crash detection is, although others have tested it and found it works reasonably well. And, while I love the outdoors, there aren’t many places remote enough in the UK and Europe to make the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature a game changer, even if it was available in the UK.
It is worth noting, however, that Apple has sneakily improved the GPS radio on the new iPhone, which now supports dual frequency GPS, just like the new Apple Watch Ultra.
