Apple iPhone 14 Pro unboxing

2022-09-23

We"re now fully enveloped in iPhone season thanks to the arrival of the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and this, the iPhone 14 Pro in the office. It"s a great time, if a little busy but we"re checking off unboxings one by one. We"ve come, finally, to the iPhone 14 Pro.

Like every other iPhone since 2020, the iPhone 14 Pro ships with a single Lightning to USB-C cable.

Visually, the biggest update to the iPhone 14 Pro from the 13 Pro is the new Dynamic Island notch. Apple has seriously shrunk the physical cutout but the new notch sits a bit lower, effectively taking a bit of usable screen area that the tiny slit of screen above it doesn"t redeem. It looks better than the tired old notch, at least.

The Dynamic Island

Other than that, the iPhone 14 Pro brings a few notable upgrades over its predecessor. The display has gotten much brighter at a peak 2,000 nits and is now smart enough to be able to offer an always-on display option. It"s nothing like Android"s usual three lines of white text over a fully-dark screen, and it"s more of a dimmed-down variant of your iPhone"s homescreen. We"re eager to see how it impacts battery life.

The main and selfie cameras are better. The front-facing snapper finally has autofocus, while the wide camera finally breaches the 12MP resolution. It"s higher-res at 48MP but the sensor is also bigger at 1/1.28".

It combines four pixels into one 2.44μm big pixel and a resulting final image of 12MP. That translates to a narrower depth of field - more bokeh - more light - better night mode - better colors, and thanks to the new Photonic Engine, improved detail. You can even capture the full 48MP resolution through ProRaw.

New vs Old - iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro