Reviews for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max have been published, offering a more detailed look at Apple's new high-end phones and all they have to offer, including an always-on display.
One detail confirmed today by the reviews is that the always-on display features no customization features, as it only displays a tinted version of a user's iOS 16 Lock Screen wallpaper, widgets, and Live Activities, if any are actively running. Users can't customize the always-on display, such as what information it chooses or whether it shows a darkened wallpaper or a black background.
Users can, however, disable the always-on display entirely from within the Display and Brightness section of Settings. Reviewers noted that it's too early to tell whether or not the always-on display has a material impact on battery life, so we'll have to wait a few weeks before we know its effect.
The new iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max feature more power-efficient OLED displays with a variable refresh rate as low as 1Hz. This is just one of several power-saving features that the iPhone 14 Pro has for the always-on display. Today we learned from Engadget that in order to limit the impact of the always-on display on battery life, the iPhone 14 Pro prerenders individual frames for elements that predictably change, such as the time, and feeds them to the always-on display when appropriate.
As reported earlier this week, the iPhone 14 Pro intelligently detects if a user who's wearing an Apple Watch paired with the iPhone leaves the room, and when they do, it will disable the always-on display.
By disabling the always-on display when a user leaves the room, the iPhone 14 Pro saves battery life and helps safeguard privacy as the display doesn't show a user's wallpaper and widgets when they're not present.
Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
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Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
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The very first review I watched (MKBHD) says he turned off always on display specifically because he noticed an impact on battery life. So I don't think it is "too early to tell".
This is not the right way to do always on display. It is too bright and includes too much.
I would love a very dim view of clock + widgets + some kind of notification indicator on a BLACK BACKGROUND.
Android has done this right forever. There is no excuse for Apple to be messing this up when it took so long to come to the iPhone in the first place.
The very first review I watched (MKBHD) says he turned off always on display specifically because he noticed an impact on battery life. So I don't think it is "too early to tell".
This is not the right way to do always on display. It is too bright and includes too much.
I would love a very dim view of clock + widgets + some kind of notification indicator on a BLACK BACKGROUND.
Android has done this right forever. There is no excuse for Apple to be messing this up when it took so long to come to the iPhone in the first place.
But Sara Dietschy says that she left it on for 12 hours untouched and the battery remained at 100%. Then again for another 12 hours and with a bunch of notifications coming in during the day hours and it went to 95%.
So indeed it's not too early to tell. We can possibly conclude that it does not negatively affect battery life. MKBHD probably used the phone as usual so he could not isolate how AOD affected the battery life.
