The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max introduce major improvements in camera technology, adding a 48-megapixel lens and low-light improvements across all lenses with the new Photonics Engine. We’ve spent the last week working on an in-depth comparison that pits the new iPhone 14 Pro Max against the previous generation iPhone 13 Pro Max to see just how much better the iPhone 14 Pro Max can be.
Although there is a 48-megapixel lens, the iPhone 14 Pro models use pixel binning to combine four pixels into one, resulting in a standard 12-megapixel photo unless 48-megapixel images are enabled through the ProRAW toggle. When comparing a 12-megapixel image from the iPhone 14 Pro Max to a 12-megapixel image from the iPhone 13 Pro Max, there is no immediate difference in quality, especially when the lighting is ideal. .
You’ll see some improvements in shadows and highlights for improved HDR, and colors may be more vibrant on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but it’s a subtle difference in most cases.
Where you’ll notice the biggest upgrade is enabling ProRAW for those higher quality 48-megapixel images. There’s so much more detail in the 48-megapixel image compared to the 12-megapixel image of the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but the file size is a major downside. 48-megapixel images can be over 60MB in size, which will eat up your iPhone storage quickly. Still, if you want to take a special, highest-quality photo, enable that ProRAW option and you’ll see noticeable improvements over what you can get from the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Apple is using the 48-megapixel camera for a new 2x telephoto option, which crops the image from full resolution. This adds a whole new focal length to the iPhone 14 Pro models, with the iPhone 13 Pro models being limited to 3x telephoto. The 2x telephoto is a great length for portraits or if you just want to zoom in a bit, and because it’s the main camera the quality is better than you get with the telephoto even with the crop.
According to Apple, the photonic engine designed to enable Deep Fusion earlier in the computational photography process brings at least 2x the improvement to all camera lenses, but it’s hard to see this improvement in full in side-by-side night mode photos of the iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
There is less noise and less light reflection in iPhone 14 Pro Max Night Mode photos, so there is a difference, but it’s not day and night. Some of the iPhone 14 Pro Max photos might also look brighter, but there are no drastic upgrades here because the iPhone 13 Pro Max was already great.
As for video, Apple has added Action Mode, which aims to mimic the stabilization you get with a gimbal, as well as improvements to Cinematic Mode. Cinematic mode now runs in 4K at 24fps, up from the max 1080p resolution on the iPhone 13 Pro Max, so it’s just more flexible for those who like to shoot in 4K.
Action mode does indeed improve stabilization when shooting video while moving, so it’s useful for filming a running pet or child, or for taking action shots. As it’s limited to 2.8K resolution, you probably won’t want to enable it all the time as it’s a downgrade above 4K, but it’s a solid feature if you need to. additional stabilization. In many cases, you may not need the stabilization boost provided by Action Mode, as the built-in default stabilization is sufficient.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max cameras are a big improvement over the iPhone 13 Pro Max cameras, but the new features for most people will only be used occasionally rather than daily. If you already have an iPhone 13 Pro Max, it’s probably not worth upgrading just for the camera, but there are of course other features to consider like Dynamic Island, the always-on display tech on, satellite emergency SOS and collision detection. .
What do you think of the iPhone 14 Pro Max camera compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max camera? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to watch the full video to see both smartphones in action.
