Video Review: Three Months With the iPhone 14 Pro Max

Apple in September released the iPhone 14 models, so it's been three months since launch. MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera has been using the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max as his main phone since it came out, and he has some long term usage thoughts to share with those still undecided about upgrading.


In terms of durability, the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max is holding up well, even through several drops. There is a deep scratch on the display, but that tends to happen with no case. The stainless steel coating in black is prone to scratching, but it seems to be more durable than the coating on the 13 Pro Max.

Always on display and the Dynamic Island are nice features to have, especially with iOS 16.2 updates that let you hide wallpaper. ‌Dynamic Island‌ isn't being taken advantage of well as of yet, but Live Activities are still new and haven't been widely adopted by third-party apps.

The 48-megapixel upgrade to the Main camera on the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro models makes a major difference in quality, but it's not something that's for day to day use because of the file sizes. The sensor upgrade does bring improvements to all photos, and the new 4K 24fps option for Cinematic Mode results in great videos.

If you're still unsure about upgrading, it's well worth the purchase if you're coming from an ‌iPhone‌ 11 or older, but it's not really worth going for one of the standard 14 models over the Pro models just because of the huge number of features Apple made exclusive to the 14 Pro and Pro Max. To see all of Dan's thoughts on Apple's latest flagship, make sure to watch the video up above.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
m4 macbook air pink

Apple Now Selling Refurbished M4 MacBook Air Models

Friday June 13, 2025 3:34 pm PDT by
Apple today added M4 MacBook Air models to its refurbished store in the United States, making the latest MacBook Air devices available at a discounted price for the first time since they launched earlier this year. Both 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models are available, with Apple offering multiple capacities and configurations. The refurbished devices are discounted by approximately 15...

Top Rated Comments

TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
33 months ago
Honestly, it's the best iPhone Apple has ever worked on. I love my iPhone 14 Pro Max 1 TB in Deep Purple. It’s just incredible and the camera continues to amaze me daily.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jamezr Avatar
33 months ago
Personally I love my 14 pro Max.

But kinda at a loss how this review can be called "Long Term Review" whewn the phone has only been out for 2 months....
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M5RahuL Avatar
33 months ago

How much does your wrist hurt?

It’s h e a v y
Interesting definition of 'heavy' .. Been using iPhone max iterations for years and it ain't even close to being 'heavy'!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tomtad Avatar
33 months ago
How much does your wrist hurt?

It’s h e a v y
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M5RahuL Avatar
33 months ago
I kinda like the 14 PM.. but the forced e-sim ONLY ( US ) has me holding on to the 13PM...

Was looking to upgrade for additional storage and better camera, but there's no way I'm going e-sim only when I switch devices ( iOS <-> Android ) frequently!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lewchenko Avatar
33 months ago
Way , way too heavy. I got rid of my iPhone 11 Pro Max as that too was too heavy and the 14 Pro
Max is even heavier. A true Porker class phone !
Also, the screen scratch resistance of iPhones is dire. Really dire. Have now started using a screen protector on my 13 pro and that so far has yielded so few hairline scratches compared to the 11 Pro max I had prior with no screen protector.
Also… the cost increase in Europe. Not good. When you can get a Pixel 7 Pro for so much less I really have to question how much longer I will stick with Apple. Or will just keep my 13 Pro for a while longer yet I expect.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)