Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro & 14 Pro Max Debut With A ‘Dynamic Island’

It’s official, the Apple event has come and gone but certainly left gadget enthusiasts with so much excitement as Apple unveils the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Both devices now have a new pill-shaped cutout that can adapt dynamically and replaces the notch as part of the first significant display update since Apple unveiled the iPhone X in 2017. Both devices also include an always-on display and a faster A16 Bionic chip. The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, are the “most innovative” pro range yet.  

The display on the iPhone 14 Pro versions is the first obvious visual change users will notice in the device. Apple is replacing the notch with a pill-shaped cutout that will house the Face ID components and a second circular cutout for the front-facing camera, though it will still offer the standard 6.1- and 6.7-inch models.

As for the proximity sensor behind the screen, Apple has relocated it and notifications will now animatedly come from the notch. Apple refers to this system as the Dynamic Island. Apple is really leaning into how it animates and uses the system for new notifications. Alerts and notifications will adjust and move around the pill-shaped notch.

The company showed off a variety of animations and functionality for the Dynamic Island, including live activity widgets springing to life and music controls and animations. Background activities like music playback will migrate to the island when you swipe to go home.

Interestingly, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max both come with an always-on display that is compatible with iOS 16’s new lock screen widget feature. Without requiring the iPhone to wake up, it will provide information like reminders, calendar events, and weather. Even iOS 16 wallpapers have a sleep mode that makes them darker to conserve battery life.

As already mentioned the iPhone 14 Pro models come with Apple’s A16 Bionic chip. With its new CPU, Apple has prioritized battery efficiency, display, and camera. The six-core CPU has four efficiency cores that utilize a third of the power of competing CPUs and two high-performance cores that require 20% less power.

The Dynamic Island feature’s fluid animations are made possible thanks to the new A16 chip, which will also power Apple’s new camera system. The iPhone model for the first time is switching from a 12-megapixel sensor to a 48-megapixel one. The redesigned main camera has a quad-pixel sensor with an f/1.78 aperture and a 24mm focal length to boost low-light photography.

In order to maximize the light capturing abilities as much as possible, the sensor will often take 12-megapixel binned photos. This enables Apple to achieve genuine 2x zoom at a 48mm focal length by cropping the sensor in various ways. The new sensor even enhances details in Apple’s ProRAW format, which should produce nothing short of stunning photos.

Additionally, the new ultrawide camera offers a 3x boost in low light and enhancements to macro photography. The flash on the iPhone 14 camera system has also received an improvement from Apple, making it twice as bright and responsive to the focal length of photos. The iPhone 14 Pro model should be your go-to if you’re interested in recording videos, its 4K resolution may be shot in both 24 and 30 frames per second in cinematic mode.

Overall, comparing the new iPhone modes with last year’s iPhone 13 Pro models, which switched to a 120Hz ProMotion high refresh rate display and three brand-new cameras, no doubt the iPhone 14 Pro raises the bar by providing a lot more this year. On the Android side, Samsung offers the foldable Galaxy Flip 4 and the Galaxy Fold 4, which combine a tablet and a phone experience into one gadget.

The iPhone 14 Pro will be costing $999, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max will cost $1,099 at launch. Preorders for both start September 9th, and on September 16th, they both will be available in stores.