Enhanced Health Tracking:

• Body Temperature Sensor: The most anticipated addition is the new body temperature sensor. This feature allows for continuous monitoring of your skin temperature, providing valuable insights into your overall health and potential early detection of fevers or other conditions.
• Advanced Sleep Tracking: Sleep tracking receives an upgrade with deeper insights into sleep stages and REM cycles, offering a more comprehensive picture of your sleep quality and potential areas for improvement.
• New Workout Metrics: The Series 9 introduces new workout metrics for activities like cycling and swimming, providing more detailed data to track your performance and progress.

Design Tweaks:

• Slightly larger display: The display sees a minor size increase, offering more screen real estate for notifications, workout data, and watch faces.
• New watch faces: Apple continues its tradition of refreshing the watch face collection, offering new options to personalize your watch.
• Durable materials: The Series 9 maintains its reputation for durability with a robust build quality and scratch-resistant materials.

New Features:

• Double-tap gesture: A new double-tap gesture on the side button allows for quick access to frequently used features, like workouts or music controls.
• Open Workout APIs: Developers now have access to open Workout APIs, paving the way for more diverse and personalized workout experiences through third-party apps.
• Apple Fitness+ enhancements: Apple Fitness+ subscribers gain access to custom training plans and new cycling metrics, further enriching their fitness journey.
• Mental health tools: The Series 9 integrates new mental health tools, including a mood logger and details about time spent in daylight, to promote well-being and mindfulness.

Battery Life:

The battery life remains similar to the Series 8, offering up to 18 hours in standard mode and up to 36 hours in low-power mode. While not a significant improvement, it’s sufficient for most daily use cases.

Conclusion:

The Apple Watch Series 9 offers a compelling upgrade for those seeking enhanced health tracking, subtle design tweaks, and exciting new features. While not a revolutionary overhaul, the improvements solidify its position as a leader in the smartwatch market, catering to both health-conscious individuals and everyday users alike. Whether you’re a fitness enthusiast or simply looking for a smarter way to stay connected and informed, the Series 9 is a worthy contender for your wrist.

Immersive Technologies Take Center Stage

One of the key highlights of tvOS 16 is its commitment to delivering immersive entertainment experiences. Apple has integrated advanced technologies, such as spatial audio and enhanced visual effects, to create a more engaging atmosphere for viewers. Spatial audio, in particular, allows users to experience sound in three-dimensional space, creating a sense of depth and realism that was previously unmatched in the television industry.

Moreover, the introduction of augmented reality (AR) features within tvOS 16 further elevates the immersive factor. With AR integration, users can now interact with their favorite shows and movies in ways previously thought impossible. Imagine characters from your favorite TV series stepping out of the screen and into your living room, or exploring virtual environments related to the content you’re watching – tvOS 16 makes this a reality.

Personalized User Experiences Redefined

Recognizing that every viewer is unique, tvOS 16 places a significant emphasis on personalization. The updated operating system employs advanced machine learning algorithms to understand user preferences and tailor content recommendations accordingly. Whether it’s suggesting new shows based on past viewing habits or creating custom playlists of favorite episodes, tvOS 16 ensures that each user’s experience is distinctly their own.

Additionally, Apple has revamped the user interface to make navigation more intuitive and user-friendly. The home screen now adapts dynamically, showcasing content recommendations based on the time of day, trending topics, and personalized interests. The enhanced Siri integration allows for seamless voice commands, making it easier than ever for users to find the content they love without lifting a finger.

Expanded App Ecosystem

tvOS 16 doesn’t just stop at enhancing the core television experience; it also expands the app ecosystem, offering users a broader range of entertainment options. The App Store has been revamped to feature a curated selection of apps, including those specifically designed to leverage the new immersive technologies of tvOS 16. From interactive gaming experiences to educational apps that utilize augmented reality for learning, the expanded app ecosystem brings versatility to the Apple TV platform.

Developer-friendly features have been introduced to encourage innovation within the app development community. This includes improved tools for creating immersive content, AR experiences, and enhanced integration with other Apple devices. As a result, users can expect a constant influx of fresh and innovative apps that capitalize on the capabilities of tvOS 16.

Conclusion

In summary, tvOS 16 marks a significant leap forward in the realm of television entertainment. With a focus on immersive technologies, personalized user experiences, and an expanded app ecosystem, Apple continues to redefine the way we engage with our favorite content. Whether you’re a casual viewer, a gaming enthusiast, or someone passionate about cutting-edge technology, tvOS 16 offers something for everyone, making the Apple TV a must-have device for the modern entertainment connoisseur.

1. Intuitive User Interface (UI):

   One of the hallmarks of iOS has always been its user-friendly interface, and iOS 16 takes it a step further. The new UI is designed to be more intuitive, providing users with a seamless and immersive experience. Redesigned app icons, a cleaner control center, and improved navigation make interacting with your device a more enjoyable and efficient process.

2. Customization and Personalization:

   iOS 16 introduces a new level of customization, allowing users to tailor their devices to suit their preferences. From customizable widgets to personalized themes, users can make their iPhones and iPads truly their own. This not only enhances the aesthetic appeal but also enables a more personalized and user-centric mobile experience.

3. Enhanced Privacy Features:

   Recognizing the growing concerns around user privacy, iOS 16 doubles down on security features. The App Tracking Transparency feature, introduced in earlier versions, is now even more robust, giving users greater control over their data. Additionally, the Privacy Dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of how apps are accessing user data, empowering users to make informed decisions about their privacy settings.

4. Multi-Device Connectivity:

   iOS 16 brings a new level of synergy to Apple’s ecosystem with improved multi-device connectivity. Seamless integration between iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac allows for a more cohesive user experience. Features like Universal Clipboard and Handoff enable users to effortlessly switch between devices, enhancing productivity and convenience.

5. AI-driven Enhancements:

   Leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, iOS 16 introduces smart features that adapt to users’ behavior. The device learns from usage patterns to predict user needs, offering suggestions and automating tasks. This not only streamlines day-to-day activities but also enhances the overall efficiency of the device.

6. Revamped Siri Experience:

   Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, gets a significant upgrade in iOS 16. With improved natural language processing and context awareness, Siri becomes more conversational and capable. Users can now interact with Siri in a more natural way, making it an even more integral part of the iOS experience.

7. Advanced Augmented Reality (AR) Capabilities:

   Building on the foundation laid by previous versions, iOS 16 introduces advanced AR capabilities. From improved AR apps to more immersive experiences, users can expect a new level of interactivity and engagement. Developers are empowered with enhanced ARKit tools to create groundbreaking AR applications.

Conclusion:

iOS 16 represents a significant leap forward in the evolution of mobile computing. With a focus on enhanced usability, personalization, and security, Apple continues to set the standard for mobile operating systems. As users embrace the latest features, iOS 16 is poised to shape the future of mobile computing, offering a more intuitive, personalized, and secure digital experience. Whether you’re a longtime Apple enthusiast or a new user, iOS 16 promises to redefine the way we interact with our mobile devices.

A Design Refresh:

Say goodbye to the wedge-shaped design and hello to a more modern, streamlined look. The new MacBook Pro features thinner bezels around the display, creating a more immersive viewing experience. Rumors suggest a return to the MagSafe charging port for added convenience and security, while speculation also points to a wider range of color options, catering to diverse preferences.

Power Under the Hood:

The star of the show is undoubtedly the next generation of Apple silicon. The M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, building upon the success of their predecessors, promise significant performance gains. Expect faster rendering times, smoother multitasking, and effortless handling of demanding workloads, be it video editing, coding, or 3D design. Whispers also hint at an M3 Ultra chip for the highest-end models, pushing the boundaries of processing power for professionals.

Enhanced Features:

Apple is known for its focus on improving user experience, and the new MacBook Pro is no exception. The revamped keyboard could potentially address the butterfly keyboard issues of the past, while rumors suggest the return of a physical function row for increased convenience. Expect upgrades to the display, including mini-LED technology for even better contrast and brightness. Additional features like improved webcam quality and enhanced connectivity options are also anticipated.

Release Date and Price:

While Apple hasn’t officially confirmed the release date, rumors suggest a late 2024 launch window. Pricing remains a mystery, but expect a premium tag given the anticipated upgrades.

Conclusion:

The new MacBook Pro update is shaping up to be a significant step forward, offering a compelling combination of design, performance, and user-centric features. If you’re in the market for a powerful and versatile laptop, it’s definitely worth waiting for Apple’s official announcement to see if this iteration lives up to the hype.

Reports of the death of Twitter have so far been somewhat exaggerated. Musk may have made dumb decision after dumb decision, but each time either did a rapid U-turn shortly afterwards, or the sheer momentum of Twitter as the default social media app has carried it through.

But this time, Musk has not only achieved Michael Scott levels of ineptitude, but Meta has brought forward the launch of its Twitter rival Threads in order to take advantage of the chaos …

more…

The post The death of Twitter: Is it real this time, thanks to Threads? appeared first on 9to5Mac.

The other day, I was going through a bag full of old tech — I mean, really old tech — trying to convince myself to finally get rid of phones that I hadn’t used for 10 years or so when I came across a battery. One of the batteries that I used to carry around in case my phone ran out of juice.

You see, once upon a time, smartphones had replaceable batteries. Instead of having to carry around a portable charger or search desperately for a wall socket so you could charge up your failing phone (assuming you had a power cord with you), you could pull off the back of your phone, replace the out-of-power battery with a fully charged one, and proceed happily on your way.

However, at some point, manufacturers (and, perhaps, most consumers) decided that they wanted their smartphones as light and slim as possible — so slim that there was no room for a battery that wasn’t glued into place. They also wanted to add water and dust resistance, and that’s a lot harder to accomplish with a device that easily opens. So slowly but surely, the replaceable battery disappeared, and we all learned to carry around chargers or cords for just-in-case scenarios (especially if your phone’s battery was starting to age).

I have to admit that the first time I bought a phone without a replaceable battery, I felt a little peeved. It was probably akin to what a music enthusiast feels purchasing a phone with great audio but without an audio jack — you can adjust to the change, but you wish you didn’t have to.

Now, however, there’s a chance that one day, I may be able to adjust back. Back in 2020, there was a proposal by the European Parliament for new laws concerning the regulations of batteries, which included a clause that demanded “Portable batteries incorporated in appliances shall be readily removable and replaceable by the end-user or by independent operators during the lifetime of the appliance.” (Other regulations concerned batteries for various vehicles and industries.) In September 2022, the EU reached a provisional agreement to move forward with those laws. And on June 14th, 2023, the European Parliament approved it, sending out a press release explaining that portable batteries must be designed “in such a way that consumers can themselves easily remove and replace them” (emphasis theirs).

Huh.

A final vote is still upcoming, but considering that this month’s approval was passed with 587 votes in favor, nine against, and 20 abstentions, I would say that this is pretty much a done deal. The part about batteries being replaceable goes into force three and a half years after the final vote.

What this means is that, in a few short years, any phone sold in Europe will have to be designed so that its battery can be replaced by the person who owns it. And that any manufacturer who does business in Europe will have to decide whether they want to create completely different phone models to fit that market — or come up with phones that can be sold in other parts of the world as well. Like the US.

Since this news hit, there has been a lot of discussion about the exact interpretation of the phrase “readily removable and replaceable.” Kevin Purdy makes some good points in his Ars Technica article in which he notes that batteries are actually replaceable now if you have the know-how (and courage) to get through the adhesives holding your phone together and holding your battery into the phone. Of course, it’s a little hard to argue that this would qualify as “readily removable” by the typical user. But what does? Using specialized instruments to get at the battery — so that “replaceable” means putting in a new, semi-permanent battery? Simply unscrewing the back of the phone? Or going back to the way it was and just prying it out with your fingernail?

I have to admit that I’m very curious as to how this will pan out. Odds are, it will probably look different than the replaceable batteries we had 15 years ago. It’s more likely to be about extending the longevity of your device, not getting a few extra hours of use before needing to recharge. Still, I like to daydream about once again being able to shrug and swap a battery in under a minute when my phone is running low on power. I could get used to that again.

]]> https://www.latest-apple-news.com/2023/06/07/ios-17-beta-code-references-new-magsafe-battery-pack-and-charger/ Wed, 07 Jun 2023 13:01:35 +0000 https://www.macrumors.com/2023/06/07/ios-17-code-new-magsafe-battery-pack-charger/ The first developer beta of iOS 17 includes code-level references to a new MagSafe Battery Pack with model number A2781, and a new MagSafe Charger with model number A3088, according to tech enthusiast @aaronp613.

No further details are known about the accessories at this time. Last year, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the MagSafe Battery Pack would be updated with a USB-C port for charging in the foreseeable future, alongside the iPhone 15 series moving to USB-C. The current MagSafe Battery Pack has a Lightning port.

As for the MagSafe Charger, one potential improvement could be Qi2 support, which could allow for up to 15W charging of non-Apple devices instead of the current 7.5W limit. The first Qi2-certified chargers are expected to launch later this year. It’s unclear if the MagSafe Duo Charger with an Apple Watch charging puck would also be updated.

Apple released the MagSafe Battery Pack in 2021, while the MagSafe Charger has been available since 2020. The accessories have not been updated since then, but they have received several firmware updates with optimizations over the years. Last month, it was discovered that Apple prototyped the MagSafe Charger in several different colors, but it’s unclear if the additional colors would ever be made available to the public.

This article, "iOS 17 Beta Code References New MagSafe Battery Pack and Charger" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Despite now being similar in appearance, the ‌MacBook Air‌ and the MacBook Pro are very different machines, so should you consider purchasing the 13- or 15-inch ‌MacBook Air‌, which start at $1,099, to save money, or do you need one of the higher-end 14- or 16-inch MacBook Pro models, which cost at least $900 more? Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two popular Apple silicon machines is best for you.

This guide focuses on the high-end, 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max chips rather than the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the ‌M2‌ chip. See our other buyer’s guide to understand the differences between the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the 14- and 16-inch models.

Key Differences Overview

Design

Both the ‌MacBook Air‌ and MacBook Pro share the same basic design with a flat top and rounded edges on the bottom, but they do have several minor details that differ. For example, while both MacBooks have displays with a “notch” at the top to facilitate the built-in webcam, the MacBook Pro’s bezels are noticeably slimmer. The keyboard area of the high-end MacBook Pro is also all-black.

The ‌MacBook Air‌ and MacBook Pro are available in Silver and Space Gray, but the ‌MacBook Air‌ is also offered in Starlight and Midnight color options, so if you are looking for a particular aesthetic with one of these finishes, you will need to get the ‌MacBook Air‌.

Dimensions are also a key area of difference between the ‌MacBook Air‌ and MacBook Pro. The 16-inch MacBook Pro is considerably larger and heavier than the 15-inch ‌MacBook Air‌, but it is important to not understate the difference between the 14-inch MacBook Pro and the 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌. While the 14-inch MacBook Pro offers a larger display than the ‌MacBook Air‌, its marginally larger footprint, added thickness, and an additional 0.8 pounds of weight do make for a noticeably less portable machine if you prefer to travel light.

Even so, the 14-inch MacBook Pro offers a very good balance of portability and performance, so if you need its added capabilities, its size and weight should not hold you back. The 15-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ should offer a good balance of portability and display area, but users weary of its size should opt for the 13-inch model.

Ports and Connectivity

The selection of ports is an area of major difference between the two machines. The ‌MacBook Air‌ features just two Thunderbolt 4 ports. The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, on the other hand, have three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and an SDXC card slot. Both machines feature a 3.5mm headphone jack with support for high-impedance headphones, but the 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ can support only one external display, while the high-end MacBook Pro model can support up to four displays in total with the ‌M2‌ Max chip.

All in all, the MacBook Pro is much more versatile in terms of connectivity, even possessing newer Bluetooth and Wi-Fi specifications, offering useful features for professionals who use SDXC cards from digital cameras, multiple external displays, or even simply more USB peripherals.

Display Size

The smaller ‌MacBook Air‌’s display is 13.6 inches in size, which is a little smaller than the 14.2-inch MacBook Pro, and markedly smaller than the 16.2-inch MacBook Pro. 13.6 inches is still bigger than the largest iPad Pro model, which comes in at 12.9 inches, and even all of the previous ‌MacBook Air‌ and smaller MacBook Pro models, meaning that it should be adequate for most users. The 14.2-inch MacBook Pro simply offers a little bit more screen real estate to those who need high-end capabilities.

The 15.3-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ and 16.2-inch MacBook Pro’s displays will be better replacements for a desktop machine and provide much more screen space to arrange multiple windows and use professional applications that benefit from additional display area.

Display Technology

The display technologies of both machines are significantly different. Like most MacBooks in recent years, the ‌MacBook Air‌ has an LCD panel, but owing to its slim bezels and rounded corners, Apple calls it a Liquid Retina display. The 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models feature Apple’s more advanced mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR technology for deeper blacks, better dynamic range, and improved color accuracy.

The XDR display can get much brighter, reaching as high as 1,600 nits of brightness at its peak when showing HDR content. The 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models also have ProMotion displays, allowing them to vary their refresh rate up to 120Hz. The ‌MacBook Air‌ does not have a display with a variable refresh rate.

It will be worth getting the high-end MacBook Pro models for viewing and editing HDR content, as well as watching high-framerate video such as sports. The display of the ‌MacBook Air‌ is sufficient for most users and some may not even notice a drastic difference. The MacBook Pro’s deeper blacks and smoother on-screen motion simply offer a slightly better experience.

Chips

The ‌MacBook Air‌ contains the ‌M2‌ chip, while MacBook Pro customers can choose between the ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max chips. The ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max are scaled-up versions of the ‌M2‌ chip that offer additional CPU and GPU cores. See the ‌M2‌, ‌M2‌ Pro, and ‌M2‌ Max’s Geekbench 5 scores below:

The ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max provide CPUs with up to four additional cores and GPUs with up to 28 additional cores. The ‌M2‌ chip in the ‌MacBook Air‌ is just as powerful as the ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max in single-core tasks, but the ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max are considerably better in multi-core and graphics tasks.

With significantly more transistors, performance CPU cores, and GPU cores, the ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max are powerful chips designed for professionals with demanding workflows. The ‌M2‌, on the other hand, is more of a consumer-oriented chip focused on delivering surprisingly impressive performance and excellent efficiency to keep temperatures down and prolong battery life.

It is also worth noting that the ‌MacBook Air‌ is passively cooled and contains no fan, which can slightly constrain peak performance compared to the MacBook Pro, since the high-end machines have large fans to actively cool the system and push the chips harder.

Memory and Storage

The ‌MacBook Air‌ can be configured with up to 24GB of unified memory and up to 2TB of storage, which should be more than enough for the vast majority of users. For those who need even more memory and storage, the MacBook Pro can be configured with 72GB more memory and 6TB more storage than the top-spec ‌MacBook Air‌.

The ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max chips in the MacBook Pro also provide 200GB/s and 400GB/s memory bandwidth respectively – an enormous increase over the 100GB/s memory bandwidth with the ‌M2‌ chip in the ‌MacBook Air‌.

Buyers should also be aware that the 256GB ‌MacBook Air‌ and 512GB MacBook Pro base models have up to 50 percent slower SSDs than configurations with more storage. This is because the base models only have a single SSD module inside, whereas models with larger amounts of storage have two SSD chips, significantly increasing the overall speed of the machine’s storage.

Speakers and Microphones

The ‌MacBook Air‌ has a four-speaker sound system that is surprisingly full and balanced for such a small, slim device. The MacBook Pro takes things to the next level with a high-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers for dramatically bigger and deeper audio – something that may be invaluable to users who work in professional audio production or simply listen to a lot of music out-loud.

The ‌MacBook Air‌ has a three-mic array with directional beamforming that is perfect for activities like video calls and voice notes. The MacBook Pro has what Apple calls a “studio-quality” three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming. While they are not as good as a dedicated microphone, the MacBook Pro’s microphones are impressive and, at a push, are suitable for production purposes like podcasting.

Battery Life

The ‌MacBook Air‌ has an 18-hour battery life, offering the same battery life as the 14-inch MacBook Pro and four hours less than the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Other MacBook Options

If you are looking for a more affordable Apple silicon MacBook, there is the M1 ‌MacBook Air‌, which sports a 13.3-inch Retina display, Touch ID, two Thunderbolt ports, and more, for prices starting at $999. For users on a strict budget, the ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ is still a good option.

• M2 MacBook Pro vs. 14- and 16-Inch MacBook Pro Buyer’s Guide

For $200 more than the base model ‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌, there is the ‌M2‌ MacBook Pro – an entry-level MacBook Pro model that has a 13.3-inch display and uses the same design that dominated all of Apple’s MacBook Pro models from 2016 to 2021. It has the same chip as the ‌MacBook Air‌ but can push it slightly harder due to having a fan for active cooling, and offers a brighter display, the Touch Bar, better microphone and speaker quality, and two extra hours of battery life. If you cannot afford the 14-inch MacBook Pro’s $1,999 price tag, but you think you will need slightly more than what the ‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ has to offer, the ‌M2‌ MacBook Pro offers a good middle-ground option for some.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the ‌MacBook Air‌ is the best option for most users, offering an excellent balance of features and performance in a highly portable design. The ‌MacBook Air‌’s $1,099 starting price is much affordable compared to the MacBook Pro, and with an education discount or an offer from our Apple Deals Roundup, it is possible to get that price down by at least $100. The additional $900 to get the MacBook Pro likely is not worth it for most users, and on the contrary, many will prefer the slimmer, lighter design of the ‌MacBook Air‌ and perhaps even its additional color options.

Professionals who require larger and more accurate displays, additional ports, more memory and storage, and a very high level of performance should look to the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, and the $1,999 and $2,499 price points of these machines reflects this. These high-end MacBook Pros are not targeted at everyday consumers, being clearly tailored to creatives and professionals who rely heavily on the capabilities of their machines. As such, the MacBook Pro should only be a go-to option if you are a power-user or professional who can make use of its advanced features.

• 13-Inch vs. 15-Inch M2 MacBook Air Buyer’s Guide
• 14-Inch vs. 16-Inch MacBook Pro Buyer’s Guide

Alternatively, if you are a tech enthusiast who can afford to pay a lot more to get the MacBook Pro, aspects like its larger Liquid Retina XDR display with ProMotion can be enjoyed by almost any user. If you simply want the best possible performance, connectivity, display technology, and speakers, the high-end MacBook Pro is the best option. The 16-inch MacBook Pro, in particular, is also potentially a good desktop replacement machine due to its large display.

If you configure the 15-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage to build a configuration that is closer to the 14-inch MacBook Pro, it costs $1,699 – $300 less than the MacBook Pro. At this point, it may be worth paying the extra cash to get the 14-inch MacBook Pro, since that machine’s added performance, larger mini-LED display with ProMotion, additional ports and memory bandwidth, and better speakers and microphone deliver a big upgrade.
This article, "MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro Buyer's Guide" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple pulled off some unexpected surprises with the iPhone 14 Pro: there had been lots of solid rumors about the company switching from putting the front-facing camera and Face ID system in a pill-shaped cutout instead of the familiar notch, but the new “Dynamic Island” alert system came out of nowhere. And while it was getting clearer that Apple would have to follow the industry in using bigger camera sensors eventually, Apple went even further and rebooted its entire computational photography system as the Photonic Engine.

There’s a lot of that sort of thing in the iPhone 14 Pro, whose prices in the United States still start at $999 and go up. Apple’s late to having an always-on display, but it’s much more vibrant than other always-on displays. In the United States, Apple’s going all in on eSIM, which no one else is really doing. There’s a basic satellite connectivity system that isn’t quite like anything else we’ve heard about, but Apple is going to ship millions of these phones with the service coming online later this year. All in all, there are more beginnings of big ideas in the new iPhone 14 Pro than we’ve seen in an iPhone for a long time.

That’s the easiest way to think about the iPhone 14 Pro — it feels like the first step toward a lot of new things for Apple and the iPhone and maybe the first glimpse of an entirely new kind of iPhone. But that doesn’t mean all these things are perfect yet.

I will admit to having come around to the name “Dynamic Island” — after all, it’s made everyone talk about it, which isn’t normal for a smartphone status indicator system. If Apple wants to make everyone deeply consider ancillary smartphone interface ideas, I am here for it.

The island replaces Apple’s familiar and oft-reviled notch; it’s where the front camera and the Face ID system live since they’ve got to take up some space on the front of the display. Here’s the thing about the notch, though: after a few minutes of using it, it all but disappears.

The island is different: you are supposed to notice it. It’s located lower on the screen than the notch, and it’s a high-contrast interface element if you run your phone in light mode: a black pill shape in the middle of a white screen. You’re going to see it, especially since it’s animating and moving all the time. It blends in better in dark mode — in fact, I would go so far as to say this is the first iPhone that feels like it’s better in dark mode because of it.

So why did Apple turn the discreet notch into a somewhat more obvious island? Over the years, there have been several different status indicator systems added on to iOS. Plugging in a charger or flipping the mute switch brings up an overlay. Having a call in the background puts a green pill in the corner; an app that’s using location is a blue pill. Screen recording and personal hotspot have pill indicators on the other side. Connecting AirPods is another overlay. And some things, like timers and music playing in the background, haven’t really had useful status indicators at all.

The island is Apple’s way of replacing and unifying all those older status systems with a new home for system alerts and making it work for things like music and the new live activities API that’s coming to iOS 16 later this year, which will allow apps to share even more background info for things like your flight status or a sports score. It is not a replacement for notifications — all of those still appear in the notification center and look pretty much the same.

The simplest way of understanding the island is that it’s basically a new widget system built on that live activities API, and the widgets can have three views: the main view in the island, an expanded view, and an ultra-minimal icon when you’ve got two things going at once. If you have more than two things going, Apple has an internal priority list to put the two most important things in the island.

It’s a neat concept, but like all first versions of anything, Apple’s made some choices that really work and some others that… well, it’s the first version.

A big choice that works is Apple overdoing things in classic Apple fashion: the island is meant to feel more like hardware than software — almost like a secondary display that can get bigger or smaller. To get this to feel right, Apple’s built a new dynamic subpixel antialiasing system that makes the edges of the island up to three times crisper than all the other animations in iOS, which antialias at the pixel level. In normal room lighting, this really works: it feels like the cutout on the display is getting bigger and smaller, and the animations are really fun. (In sunlight or brighter light, you can see the camera sensors, and the illusion goes away, but it’s still cool.)

The other big thing that works is that moving all those disparate status indicators to the island and making them worth paying attention to is actually pretty great. It’s nice having call info right on the screen. It’s genuinely useful having your timers right there. Making things like AirDrop and Face ID all show up in consistent ways in the same place makes those things easier to understand, which is a win.

Here’s where I think Apple missed the mark a little: in the keynote and all the ads, the island is shown as a thing that’s worth interacting with — it’s always moving around and going back and forth between the main view and the expanded view. In reality, well, it’s not like that at all.

The island isn’t a primary interface element; it sits over whatever app you’re actually using, and apps are still the main point of the iPhone. In fact, tapping on the island doesn’t open that expanded widget view; it just switches you back to whatever app that controls the widget. To get the expanded widget that’s shown in all the ads, you have to tap and hold. This feels exactly backwards to me. I think a tap should pop open the widget, and I also think you should at least be able to choose between the two behaviors.

This is the central tension of the island: it’s much more noticeable and useful than the notch, but you’re not really supposed to interact with this thing — it’s background information. Your music is playing, your personal hotspot is active, you plugged in a charger — all stuff you don’t really need to mess with. I got a lot of questions about whether fingerprints will interfere with the selfie camera, and while it doesn’t seem to be a problem, it’s even less of a problem because, as it stands, you don’t touch this thing very much at all.

But because the island is so much more prominently highlighted by the animations, you’re still looking at it all the time. In apps that haven’t been updated, it can cover up some content because it sits lower on the display. So right at this second, the tradeoff between how noticeable the island is and how useful it is is a little imbalanced — it doesn’t quite do enough to always be in the way.

All that said, that tradeoff might totally change when the live activities API rolls out later this year. That’s the other big thing Apple did right: it built the hooks to make this whole thing available to third-party developers, and some of the concepts we’ve seen from Lyft and Flighty and others are really exciting. But right now, the Dynamic Island feels like one of those things that need a year of refinement and developer attention before we really know how important it is.

The big feature of the iPhone 14 Pro camera system is the new 48-megapixel main camera sensor. Apple’s a few years late to this trend; Samsung has used 108-megapixel sensors since 2020’s S20 Ultra, and Google added a 50-megapixel sensor to the Pixel 6 Pro last year. Apple’s also updated the ultrawide and 3x telephoto cameras, but they remain the standard 12 megapixels, and the star of the show is certainly the new main sensor.

The basic idea is the same all around: to take better photos, you need to collect as much light as possible, and to do that, you need bigger pixels. But at some point, making the pixels physically bigger is challenging, so instead, you add a lot more physical pixels on a huge sensor and use software to group them into giant virtual pixels. The concept is called pixel binning, and the math on Apple’s binning is straightforward: it uses four pixels to create a single virtual pixel, which means the 14 Pro’s 48-megapixel sensor generally shoots 12-megapixel photos.

The other big change to the camera system is that Apple’s running its Deep Fusion processing for mid- and low-light photos earlier in the process on uncompressed image data, which is supposed to improve low-light performance by two to three times depending on the camera you’re shooting with. That’s the change that led to the entire image processing pipeline being rebranded to the “Photonic Engine”; Apple is still doing Smart HDR and all of its other familiar processing, but now there’s a fancy name.

We’ve always called Deep Fusion “sweater mode” because Apple loves to show it off with moody photos of people wearing sweaters in dim lighting, but the effects have always been extremely subtle. And, well, the same is true on the iPhone 14 Pro. Sweater mode on uncompressed data is still sweater mode it seems.

In general, the 14 Pro and 13 Pro take really similar photos. The 14 Pro is a little cooler and captures a tiny bit more detail at 100 percent in dim lighting, but you really have to go looking for it. That’s true of the main camera as well as the ultrawide, which has a bigger sensor this year and also benefits from Photonic Engine. In very dim light at 100 percent, details from the ultrawide look a bit better compared to the 13 Pro, but you have to look very closely.

It’s the same in bright light: these photos of Verge senior video producer Mariya Abdulkaf outside look pretty much the same, but if you zoom in to 100 percent, you can see the iPhone 14 Pro is getting a bit more detail and has a nicer background blur because of the substantially larger sensor. It’s really nice — but at Instagram sizes, it’s not particularly noticeable. The Pixel 6 Pro captures even more detail with its pixel-binned 50-megapixel sensor, along with a wider range of colors.

This is about as different as the Pixel and the iPhone have been in a few years. Both phones grab a lot of detail and have great low-light performance, but the Pixel 6 Pro makes very different choices about highlights and shadows while the iPhone 14 Pro is way more willing to let highlights blow out and even more willing to let some vignetting creep in. I really can’t tell you which is “better.” Both of these night mode photos are terrific, and which one you prefer is entirely down to subjective preference.

Where the iPhone 14 Pro falls down in these comparisons is really in the details of the processing: Apple’s been ramping up the amount of noise reduction and sharpening it does over the years, and the 14 Pro has the most aggressive sharpening and noise reduction yet. Sometimes it just looks bad: this night skyline shot is an overprocessed mess compared to the Pixel.

Compared to the Samsung S22 Ultra, the iPhone is less predictable. The S22 Ultra consistently holds on to more color detail in low light, and it’s not as heavy-handed with noise reduction and sharpening. In bright light, the differences between the 14 Pro and the S22 Ultra are more subtle, but Samsung still does a better job with detail. In true Samsung fashion, you get much punchier and warmer colors compared to the more natural look of the iPhone; Samsung’s color ideas are sometimes from a different planet entirely. But photo for photo, the S22 Ultra is more consistent with better fine detail.

Having a big sensor with a lot of pixels opens up other possibilities: in addition to pixel binning, Apple’s also cropping it to generate what it claims is an “optical quality” 2x zoom. Basically, it’s just taking the middle 12 megapixels from that 48-megapixel sensor; if you shoot in ProRAW mode at the full 48 megapixels and just cut out the center of the image, you’ll get the same photo. Hardware-wise, this is still a leap over the 2x telephoto lens of the iPhone 12 Pro from two years ago, but since you don’t get the benefit of pixel binning, it gets into a little trouble in lower-light situations. But it’s nice to have and a nice middle ground between the standard wide and 3x telephoto.

That 2x crop is also the default for portrait mode, which doesn’t seem to have improved all that much. Both the S22 Ultra and even the regular S22 take better portrait photos. Samsung’s nailed cutting the subject out of the background down to individual strands of hair, and the 14 Pro isn’t quite there yet. It went ahead and just chopped off part of Mariya’s head in perfectly bright light.

I did take a few photos in ProRAW at 48 megapixels, and there’s a lot of detail in there and a lot of room to edit. If you’re the sort of person who is excited about ProRAW on an iPhone, the iPhone 14 Pro will be endless fun to play with. But I don’t think normal people should take 48-megapixel photos on their phones.

Apple has added autofocus to the selfie camera, which is probably useful in some situations, but compared to the 13 Pro for some regular selfies, the overall differences were so mild that they were barely discernible.

I asked Verge senior video producer Becca Farsace to play with the video features on the iPhone 14 Pro, and she found that things are looking as good as ever, but there’s not a huge leap over the already excellent iPhone 13 Pro. You can see more in our video above, but here are the highlights:

Cinematic mode on the 13 Pro was more than a little messy last year, but Apple’s continuing to put more work into it, and on the 14 Pro, it does a better job separating faces from the background so it can apply blur. And it can now be used with 4K video resolution. Becca did quite a bit of testing of it and said it works best with faces but struggles with any other kind of subject.

Action mode, which is a stabilization system designed to let you leave things like a gimbal at home and still get smooth and steady footage, is the other big new video feature this year. But it comes with some significant compromises: you need a ton of light for it to work, and there’s a massive crop to the footage that’s captured — it maxes out at 2.8K, not 4K. It’s fun to play with, but it’s another feature that feels like it’s a year away from being useful.

As for the basic image quality question, Becca says that, in good light, it’s very hard to tell the difference between the 14 Pro’s footage and the 13 Pro’s, but in low light, the telephoto on the 14 Pro produces a noticeably crisper image with less noise.

Overall, the iPhone has been the top contender for smartphone video for years, and the 14 Pro maintains that lead. Really, check out the video for more; writing about the video features is like dancing about architecture, you know?

At long last, Apple added an always-on display mode to the iPhone 14 Pro, which, well, Android phones have had always-on displays for a long time now. It’s fine! The display refresh rate drops to just one hertz, and the brightness goes extremely low to save battery life. Apple’s done some nice work to keep wallpaper colors accurate in the low-power always-on mode, but honestly, I would prefer a Pixel-style black and white clock to something that sort of looks like my phone is awake all the time. I hope we see some customization options here in the future.

Allison Johnson has the iPhone 14 Pro, while Becca and I tested the iPhone 14 Pro Max. And while battery life certainly ran all day, all three of us felt as though the battery ran down a little bit faster than before. To be fair, all three of us were running around taking lots of photos and videos and generally testing these phones like mad for the past week, but, well, we test a lot of phones like that. Apple claims the 14 Pro and Pro Max will get slightly better battery life than the 13 Pros, and we all still got through a full day with the 14 Pro Max, so maybe that always-on display was just taking its toll. In any event, it’s something we’ll be keeping an eye on over time.

Other than that, the display is slightly brighter than before — it can hit a peak brightness of 1,600 nits when displaying HDR content, up from 1,200 nits, and in bright sunlight, it can go to 2,000 nits. It also retains the 120Hz ProMotion feature from the 13 Pro for smooth scrolling and interactions. I’ve long thought Apple’s mobile displays are consistently the best in the industry, and it’s no different here.

In another unexpected move, Apple made a big move to drop SIM trays from iPhones in the US, which means it’s time everyone got used to eSIM, which lets you access mobile networks without needing a physical SIM card. The 14 Pro can store at least eight different eSIMs, which is pretty intense, with two of them being active at the same time. It worked well in my testing: my AT&T account transferred over from the physical SIM in my iPhone 13 Pro right over Bluetooth, and I added my Google Fi account from the web with a handful of taps.

Now, it’s not nearly as easy to move eSIM info from iPhones to Android phones, and carriers are certainly going to play some weirdo lock-in games here because they are carriers and weirdo lock-in games are just what they do. It will also likely present issues for travelers who are used to buying local SIM cards in countries they are visiting. And I was hoping Apple would allow iPhone users to scan for available networks and sign up right from the phone like you can do on an iPad, but that doesn’t seem to be an option — you need an eSIM activation kit, which usually involves scanning a QR code.

But being able to add new networks quickly and easily to your phone also theoretically means we can all force the carriers to compete a little more, and that’s definitely a good thing.

Apple’s emergency satellite connectivity system isn’t rolling out until later this year, but Allison got an early demo on the Apple campus, and it looked slick. The software prompts you to try to make an emergency call on cellular, and if that fails, then it deploys the satellite option. The system walks you through a series of questions to help first responders understand your situation; then, the UI shows you where to point the phone to access a satellite. You’ll even see the satellite icon on the screen changing position as the actual satellite moves across the sky. The demo was under the most controlled of controlled conditions, so take this with a grain of salt, but messages got out in less than 30 seconds, even with a little foliage between the phone and satellite.

Satellite SOS is one of those features that you’re either into or you’re not. If you’re an outdoors enthusiast, it might be appealing as a peace of mind kind of thing. But if you never leave areas with cell coverage, then you probably have no interest in a satellite emergency communication system. In either case, it’s likely going to cost extra at some point — Apple won’t say how much, but it’ll be free for the first two years on the iPhone 14. It won’t be available right off the bat, either — it’s coming in November as an update.

There’s another feature for grim scenarios, and that’s Crash Detection. It appears to work a lot like Google’s very similar Pixel feature and uses input from multiple phone sensors to detect when you’ve been in a car accident. The 14 and 14 Pro (and new Apple Watch models) are equipped with a specialized accelerometer that helps enable the feature, so don’t expect it to come to older iPhone models. Unlike SOS via satellite, Crash Detection doesn’t require any input from the user. If it detects a crash, it will display a prompt to call emergency services or dismiss the notification. If you don’t respond within 20 seconds, it will automatically call for help. We haven’t quite figured out how to crash a car to test it yet, but we’ve got some ideas. Anyway, assuming it works the way it should, it’s free and requires no setup — nice to have even if you never have to use it.

That’s really everything you need to know about the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. There’s slightly more to say, but most of it doesn’t change the fundamental iPhone equation: the 14 Pro is the only model this year with Apple’s latest A16 Bionic silicon, which is more powerful and has a faster GPU. It’s fast, sure, but so were the 13 Pro and the 12 Pro before it, so it’s hard to quantify the difference here. Apple’s performance advantage continues to be best expressed as longevity: these phones are so fast, they won’t feel slow for years to come.

The Pro is available in four colors, including the new purple and darker black options. We have the purple and the black, and everyone seems to really like them. But, well, almost everyone puts a case on these phones anyway. Actually, the Max is so big it’s almost not useable without a case to add some grip to the situation.

The way I’ve been thinking about Apple’s current iPhone lineup is that the iPhone 13 Pro was the culmination of a lot of ideas for Apple — it was confident and complete and kind of hard to criticize. The iPhone 14 is basically a slight remix of the 13, and it feels like the same culmination of ideas in many ways.

The iPhone 14 Pro, on the other hand, is the clear beginning of lots of new ideas, like the Dynamic Island, the new camera, and that satellite connectivity system. Because these ideas are new, they’re inherently incomplete. But they’re worth criticizing, which is its own kind of victory and a sign that Apple isn’t holding still with the future of the iPhone. I think we could all stand to think more deeply about how our smartphones work, and things like the Dynamic Island are evidence that Apple is still thinking deeply about parts of the iPhone experience.

What I don’t know is if all these new ideas are worth it yet. If you’re the sort of person who’s willing to accept some rough edges to be on the bleeding edge, you’re going to have a lot of fun with the iPhone 14 Pro — in many ways, you’ll be figuring it out right alongside Apple. But if you’re happy with your current phone, it might be worth holding out for another year to see how some of these things work out.

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales and video by Becca Farsace. Additional reporting and testing by Allison Johnson and Becca Farsace.

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