Video: iPhone 14 Pro Max Thoughts One Year After Launch

With the launch of the iPhone 15 lineup fast approaching, MacRumors video editor Dan Barbera thought he'd take a look back at his last year (almost) using the iPhone 14 Pro Max before it's time to move on to the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max.


The ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max introduced the Dynamic Island for the first time, and it's been a feature that Apple doesn't seem to have taken full advantage of yet. It also brought the higher-end 48-megapixel camera sensor and the Always-On display.

Dan goes into depth on how the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max (used caseless!) has held up over the course of the last 11 months, what battery life is like, and how the latest feature set has worked out for him. The video provides an thoughtful retrospective on a year with Apple's flagship ‌iPhone‌ as we head into ‌iPhone‌ launch season.

We're expecting the ‌iPhone 15‌ models to come out in September as usual. The standard models won't get much in the way of an upgrade aside from a transition to the ‌Dynamic Island‌ and a USB-C port, but we can expect slimmer bezels, faster chips, and a periscope telephoto lens for the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max that will replace the 14 Pro Max. More details on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models can be found in our roundups.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

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 ...
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...
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...
iOS 26 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
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 ...
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...
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...

Top Rated Comments

TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
24 months ago

Can we all agree saying dynamic island is cringe as #%}^?
I thought Dynamic Island was cool. ?️

Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mykbibby Avatar
24 months ago
I had instant regret buying the Max. It's way too freaking heavy. Definitely going smaller next time, even if the camera is lesser, but even that's not a perfect fix. I'm fine compromising on thinness these days, but I'm tired of compromising on lightness. There has to be a better way...
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tonie walker Avatar
24 months ago
its a heavy brick - fell in the bathroom and bounce (tile floor), survived without scratch!

but dynamic island will be the twin of 3D Touch/ forced touch, under utilised and one day Apple will just kill it.

If my iPhone 11 Pro Max wasn’t crippled by software updates, i would stick to it.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mlrproducts Avatar
24 months ago
“Dynamic Island” is just marketing spin for a notification UI that could have always existed but was brought forward to account for holes in the middle of a display lol.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tom_uk Avatar
24 months ago
14 Pro Max user. I bought it for the cameras - I ditched my DSLR and use the 14 PM instead. I almost always shoot ProRAW, export from Photos into Lightroom, edit there, and then - delete the ProRAW originals from Photos and re-import high-quality JPEGs back into Photos! - to save on storage. (I have so much more storage available on the iMac, both internal and external.) I have been delighted with this phone, and I can’t see myself upgrading to the 15 Pro Max, even with the periscope lens. Maybe the 16, when it appears.

I specifically chose the Pro Max over the Pro because, being bigger, it was easier to hold for photography, and I don’t regret doing so.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pdaholic Avatar
24 months ago
My iPhone 13 Pro Max battery life has been incredible. I heard 12 was poor, and now several people talking about 14. 13 FTW ?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)