iPhone 14 Pro vs Pro Max: Which one is better in 2023?

Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are among the most powerful phones on the market. Picking up one of these two flagships can leave you scratching your head, so we go through everything you need to know. 

Even after the arrival of the iPhone 15 lineup from Apple, the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are among the most powerful phones that you can buy.

These flagship phones might look similar on paper; however, they are tailor-made for an audience with a use case for each. The two phones have a mighty CPU at their core, a camera setup that can capture brilliant stills and videos without breaking a sweat, and a gorgeous display to consume content.

While the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a larger 6.7-inch display and a bigger battery life, the iPhone 14 Pro is more compact and has a 6.1-inch display. On the other hand, the iPhone 14 Pro is more affordable compared to its bigger sibling.

Apple has discontinued the two iPhone 14 Pro phones and has removed them from the official website. But, if any retailer has some leftover stock, you’re in luck.

Design

Apple

Roughly speaking, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max largely share the same aesthetic design. You get swanky stainless steel rails along the side, with a matte finish on the back, along with a lovely Dynamic Island, which is only on the Pro models of this year’s iPhones, for now.

The iPhone 14 Pro has a 6.1-inch display, while the 14 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch screen. Both displays have Super Retina Pro XDR displays, to boot. But, there are also a couple of other nuances to the screens. The Pro Max can occasionally get brighter, but we hardly noticed the difference when using our bog-standard iPhone 14 Pro.

Both displays also feature the dynamic island, a context-aware cutout at the top of your screen that can show off notifications and other activities through dynamic scaling.

The 6.7-inch display of the iPhone 14 Pro Max might be a little too big for one-handed use, but the beautiful screen looks absolutely fantastic, especially with that ProMotion tech powering it. This makes it fantastic for those who want to indulge in Apple Arcade, or watch a lot of content on their phone.

While, the iPhone 14 Pro still has a respectable display, and will be much more usable with one hand than its bigger brother, while still retaining all of those key features. For us, the ease-of-use of the iPhone 14 Pro outweighs the benefits of size from the iPhone 14 Pro Max by quite a large margin.

Cameras

Apple

The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are kitted out with the exact same camera systems. Around the back you get a huge 48MP sensor, which uses some under-the-hood trickery to deliver 12MP photos with stunning quality, and you can also take ProRAW images in the full-fat 48MP format, too.

You also get a 12MP ultrawide sensor, and a 3x optical zoom telephoto lens, which all take pretty stunning images, given the sizes of the sensor itself.

There’s no difference between the back shooters, or the slightly upgraded selfie campera, which has autofocus and lets a little more light in for taking the perfect shots.

It’s really a question of display size and battery life.

Battery life

The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max both have exceptional battery life, however, the Pro Max utilizes its bigger internal real-estate to house a larger battery.

The standard iPhone 14 Pro has a 3200mAh battery, while the Pro Max boasts a whopping 4323mAh, resulting in a significantly longer screen-on time than its younger sibling.

This means that although you might be powering a larger screen, the battery size of the iPhone 14 Pro Max simply runs away with how great its battery life is. So, for power users who are tinkering around on their phones all day, you could get much more use out of your device if you are using the bigger model, versus the comparatively smaller iPhone 14 Pro.

Size

There is no prize in guessing that the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s size can be a deal breaker for many. While the phone ships with a massive display and a massive battery, it could be too big if you have smaller hands.

The iPhone 14 Pro measures 6.1 inches, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max is taller at 6.7 inches. This larger and brilliant display is fantastic for playing games, content consumption, and more. However, it does add to the overall weight of the phone.

Given that both phones have an equally powerful chipset at their core, you can go with the iPhone 14 Pro if a larger display isn’t your top priority.

Specifications

Specs	iPhone 14 Pro	iPhone 14 Pro Max
Weight	204g	240g
Screen size	6.1-inches	6.7-inches
Processor	Apple A16 Bionic	Apple A16 Bionic
RAM	6GB LPDDR5	6GB LPDDR5
Battery	3200mAh	4323mAh
Price	Starting at $999	Starting at $1099

The specifications of both models house the same powerful A16 Bionic chip, with the same RAM, so you can expect almost identical performance out of both phones.

The real differences are in the screen size, battery life and price. For just $100 more, the Pro Max is a great deal, but you will also have to contend with the device’s somewhat unwieldy dispositions, too.

Which one is better?

Apple

The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are both incredibly good phones, but the real thing it comes down to is how much you are staring at your phone. If you are a power user who wants the most out of your device, then the iPhone 14 Pro Max is the one to go for. However, if you’re looking for a very good phone that you want to easily use with one hand while out and about, while still boasting a premium feature set, then the iPhone 14 Pro should be your first port of call.

It all ultimately depends on your use case, as we don’t think that the $100 excess for the Pro Max is too eye-watering, either.

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