iPhone 14 Pro Long Term Review

Tom's Guide

We're going in deep on all the pros and cons of the iPhone 14 Pro in this long term review, more than 6 months after it's launch.

Transcript

00:00 I've been using the iPhone 14 Pro as my main phone

00:03 for the past six months.

00:04 And regardless of how many shiny new foldable phones

00:07 that I end up switching it out for for review,

00:09 I still always find myself coming back to this.

00:12 And yes, part of that is because Apple has an ecosystem

00:15 stranglehold on me, but I also love the simplicity

00:19 and reliability of the iPhone 14 Pro.

00:22 I love that in most situations,

00:24 pointing and shooting the camera

00:25 is gonna give me absolutely fantastic results.

00:28 And the built-in stabilization makes it the best choice

00:31 for a quick bit of video on the go.

00:33 I love that it never struggles when playing games

00:35 or flipping between multiple apps.

00:37 And I simply don't have to worry

00:39 about the battery dying on me,

00:40 even on a day of heavy usage.

00:42 But with the iPhone 15 series just six months away,

00:45 and flagship competitors like the S23 Ultra

00:48 having launched more recently,

00:50 is now the right time to be buying an iPhone 14 Pro?

00:53 Are there better phones that you should consider instead?

00:56 Or should you just save your money for now?

00:58 And wait for the iPhone 15 Pro to come in the fall?

01:01 Let's figure out the best move for you.

01:03 (upbeat music)

01:06 Look, let's get this out of the way quickly.

01:08 Yes, the camera module on the 14 Pro

01:10 picks up a lot of dust.

01:12 And yes, I did try to clean it

01:14 before I shot all this B-roll that you're seeing.

01:16 Obviously, it looks way worse under the macro lens

01:19 of my camera than it does in real life.

01:21 But these shots are a little bit gross,

01:23 and we're just gonna have to work together to get over it.

01:25 As far as the actual quality of the photos

01:27 that the phone produces, it's hard to beat the iPhone.

01:30 Hard, but not impossible.

01:32 The S23 Ultra is the ultimate camera phone

01:35 that you can buy right now.

01:36 With its better zoom features and higher megapixel count,

01:39 offering more detail in shots

01:41 and more versatility in editing.

01:43 The iPhone still takes the crown when it comes to video,

01:46 and that's personally what I care more about.

01:49 But honestly, the differences are marginal,

01:51 and most users will be disappointed with either handset

01:54 when it comes to taking photos or video.

01:56 If you're still rocking a phone from 2020 or even 2021,

02:00 then you're going to see massive upgrades

02:02 to your camera quality by upgrading to an iPhone 14 Pro.

02:06 But if you're happy enough using an older handset

02:09 for another six months,

02:10 then it could be worth holding fire.

02:12 The iPhone 15 Pro will launch in the fall

02:15 and will definitely come with a bunch

02:16 of new cool camera features.

02:18 It's unclear what those upgrades

02:20 and new features will likely be,

02:22 but you can be sure that we will get

02:23 even better low light performance

02:25 and possibly a periscope telephoto lens

02:28 that will make the zoom capabilities

02:29 of the new iPhone more comparable with the S23 Ultra.

02:33 All of that will also surely come

02:35 with better AI image processing,

02:37 thanks to Apple's next generation silicon,

02:39 the A17 bionic chip.

02:41 The A16 bionic chip that powers the 14 Pro is phenomenal

02:45 and delivers the fastest performance in any phone,

02:47 beating even the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered S23 Ultra

02:51 on key tests like Geekbench

02:53 and our own video transcoding tests.

02:56 In normal everyday use,

02:57 I can't imagine what you'd be able to throw at this phone

03:00 that would cause it to struggle.

03:01 However, the iPhone 15 Pro will obviously feature

03:04 the next generation of Apple silicon.

03:06 And I'm sure we'll be hearing plenty

03:08 of impressive sounding stats

03:09 about how much faster the A17 is than the A16.

03:13 But the truth is that the A16 is plenty fast enough

03:16 for any user.

03:17 And the 14 Pro will receive the same iOS updates

03:20 that the 15 Pro will.

03:21 So while I'm sure that the 15 Pro will likely score higher

03:24 in Geekbench, it likely won't mean much to you

03:27 and it shouldn't really inform your purchasing decision.

03:29 Unless of course the A17 bionic chip set allows

03:32 for a much more power efficient phone in general,

03:35 helping improve the battery life.

03:37 Apple will definitely claim that that is the case

03:40 when they announced the 15 Pro series,

03:42 but we'll have to wait until we get it into our lab

03:44 and test it before we can say for sure.

03:47 Having said all of that,

03:48 the iPhone 14 Pro's battery is brilliant.

03:50 And in the past six months,

03:51 I've only had it die on me during the day once.

03:54 And that was when I was traveling

03:55 and basically using it nonstop to watch movies

03:57 and play games.

03:58 After six months of use,

03:59 the battery health section of the settings menu

04:02 still reads at a hundred percent,

04:03 which is pretty impressive and better than I expected.

04:06 When the phone launched,

04:07 there were two major complaints when it came to the battery.

04:09 And one of them has kind of been solved.

04:12 The first unsolved issue is the 20 watt charging speed.

04:15 Apple is way behind the competition in this space.

04:18 And thanks to some regulation

04:19 that was recently passed by the EU,

04:21 it looks like it could be forced to improve this

04:23 in the 15 series.

04:24 Maybe.

04:25 The iPhone 15 should be ditching the lightning port

04:28 in favor of the industry standard USB-C.

04:31 And that could result in faster charging speeds

04:33 and data transfer.

04:34 That alone could be a solid reason for a lot of users

04:38 to wait until the iPhone 15 is announced

04:40 before making their next smartphone purchase.

04:42 However, if you're still using an older iPhone

04:45 and have a bunch of lightning port accessories

04:47 like speakers and charging docks lying around the house,

04:49 then the iPhone 14 Pro could still

04:52 be the right choice for you.

04:53 The other issues that Apple had at launch

04:55 was with the always on display,

04:57 a big new feature that Apple was keen to show off.

05:00 Although reviewers had mixed opinions.

05:03 Okay.

05:03 Those opinions were less mixed and more negative.

05:06 And to be honest, I agreed.

05:07 The always on display was way too bright and distracting

05:10 when the phone was supposed to be sleeping.

05:11 And according to some tests,

05:13 the up to 20% negative impact

05:16 that had on your battery life

05:17 simply wasn't worth it to me.

05:19 Uncharacteristically, Apple actually listened to its users

05:22 in regards to this and relatively quickly

05:25 released an update that allowed you to disable the wallpaper

05:28 or disable the always on display altogether.

05:31 I've opted to disable the wallpaper

05:32 and just stick with the time and date showing,

05:34 which mirrors what most Android phones

05:36 have been doing for years.

05:38 In the upcoming iOS 16.4 update,

05:40 Apple will reportedly add an option in the battery settings

05:43 to be able to see how much your always on display

05:46 will drain your battery.

05:47 So you'll be able to make that informed decision

05:49 for yourself.

05:50 Ultimately for me, the two big new features in the 14 Pro,

05:53 the always on display and the dynamic island

05:55 are not reasons to upgrade from older iPhones.

05:58 They're neat features that look great in marketing,

06:01 but aren't going to drastically improve

06:03 your smartphone experience.

06:04 So they shouldn't factor into your purchasing decision.

06:07 The iPhone 14 Pro's design is solid

06:09 and we don't expect too much to change

06:11 when the 15 is announced later this year.

06:13 The flat stainless steel edges and rounded corners

06:15 make for a premium feeling and looking device.

06:18 I'm happy to sacrifice the larger screen of the Pro Max

06:21 for a display that I can reach across with one hand.

06:24 And that display is stunning.

06:27 The 120 Hertz ProMotion display

06:29 continues to wow me six months on.

06:31 Whether I'm streaming movies

06:33 or just checking out some photos and videos

06:35 that I've taken on the phone itself.

06:36 It's a canvas that I just never get tired of using.

06:40 But it is worth noting that these improvements

06:42 are mostly marginal in comparison to the iPhone 13 Pro

06:45 and Samsung competition.

06:46 So if you're upgrading from an older phone,

06:48 you're gonna see a huge improvement,

06:50 whichever direction you decide to go.

06:52 But I'd also expect the improvements on the 15 Pro

06:55 to be just as marginal.

06:56 So I wouldn't use the design or display specs

06:59 as an excuse to wait another six months

07:01 if you're desperate for an upgrade.

07:03 All in all, the iPhone 14 Pro is a top end device

07:05 that holds its own against the more recently released

07:08 premium Android handsets

07:09 and sees improvements across the board

07:11 when compared to Apple's previous iPhone generations.

07:14 If you're currently an Android user

07:16 looking to make the jump to iOS

07:18 and you have a load of USB-C accessories around the home,

07:21 then I'd suggest holding off on buying a new iPhone

07:23 until the 15 series launches this fall.

07:25 But if you're looking for better cameras,

07:27 battery life and processing power

07:29 in a one hand friendly form factor,

07:31 then you won't be disappointed

07:32 if you opt to pick up the iPhone 14 Pro right now.

07:35 Let me know down in the comments below

07:37 if you bought an iPhone 14 Pro at launch

07:39 and if you experienced any issues with it that I haven't.

07:42 If you're interested in making your next phone a foldable,

07:45 then you should check out a video I did

07:46 on the Honor Magic VS right now

07:48 on the Tom's Guide YouTube channel.

07:50 I'm Matt Phillips, be sure to subscribe

07:52 and I'll see you on the next one.

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