iPhone 14 Pro ditches the notch for a giant hole in the display

The iPhone 14 Pro is here, and it’s one of Apple’s biggest upgrades in years. We’re used to seeing better camera and screen tech in Apple’s “Pro” line, but this time around it’s a drastic departure from the standard iPhone 14. For one, Apple has done away with the notch, which first arrived with the iPhone X in 2017. Instead, there’s a large cutout that Apple calls “the dynamic island,” which can be extended via software to include notifications and other app information. The result is a part of the screen that looks, well, very dynamic.

The iPhone 14 Pro features Apple’s new Super Retina XDR display, which can reach up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness outdoors. This new screen technology also allows the Pro’s 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch screens to stay on all the time, so you don’t have to tap your phone to see essential information. How is it possible? Apple has developed a new Low Power Mode, which allows displays to drop to an extremely low refresh rate of 1Hz.

As expected, there’s also a new mobile chip that powers all that magic, the A16 Bionic. It is a 6-core processor (2 high-performance and four high-efficiency cores) paired with a 5-core GPU. Apple claims the high-performance cores use 20% less power than the A15s and, unsurprisingly, they’re also faster. The A16 will be a big draw for the Pro line, as the standard iPhone 14 is stuck with last year’s (still very capable) A15 chip.

The iPhone 14 Pro’s more powerful processing power will come in handy for its new 48-megapixel main camera, a huge leap over the standard 12MP shooters that Apple has relied on for years. It sports a quad-pixel sensor, which allows it to easily upsample large photos to 12MP images. And if you really want a beefy 48MP photo, you can shoot it in ProRAW too. For on-the-go video shooters, a new Action Mode can also significantly lessen the shakes and shakes.

Apple’s Photonics Engine improves the low-light performance of all cameras in the iPhone 14 Pro, which it also shares with the standard model. There’s also a new telephoto lens offering 2x optical zoom (up from 3x with the iPhone 13 Pro), plus an updated 12MP ultrawide shooter. Even the flash has been updated, allowing twice the brightness thanks to an array of 9 LEDs.

You can also tap into Apple’s emergency SOS feature, which relies on satellites to send messages when you’re out of cellular range. It’s a nifty feature, but it will also be available on the non-Pro iPhone 14.

Overall, the iPhone 14 Pro looks like a bigger step up than last year’s model. Dynamic Island fundamentally reshapes the way notifications will work in iOS, and for many photographers the larger camera sensor has been a long time coming. The iPhone 14 Pro will start at $999, while the Pro Max will cost $1,099, just like last year. You can pre-order both models on September 9 and they will be available in stores on September 16.

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