Apple's Far Out event dropped plenty of mega new releases: the introduction of an Apple Watch Ultra, the advancement of the AirPods Pro 2, and an all-new phone called the iPhone 14 Plus.
But despite all those big-deal announcements, the one thing many were most excited about before the event even kicked off was the then rumour that the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max were finally set to ditch the notch.
And that came to be. Well, kinda. As you can see from the image up top of this very page, the notch is no more for the top-end iPhone models (the entry-level iPhone 14 and 14 Plus retain the older notch design), replaced by what Apple is calling a 'Dynamic Island'.
It may sound like a hip new band, but the Dynamic Island featured on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max is, to my eyes, more akin to moving the notch away from the top of the screen. It opens up a little headroom in the display above it, but the pill shape is no small factor in the design.
iPhone 14 Pro & 14 Pro Max best new features
Is that a disappointment? I don't think so. We've all got so used to punch-hole cameras and pill-shaped doubled cameras over the years, even multiples in a single device. What I'm more impressed about is the new screen technology in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
Crucially it's brightness that gets the biggest boost: the 6.1-inch screen of the Pro and 6.7-inch screen of the Pro Max can now deliver up to a claimed 2000 nits, which is absolutely massive. In addition both handsets offer Apple's ProMotion adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz for silky smooth scrolling and battery-saving when not in those extra frames just aren't needed.
There's also a new camera system, with both models introducing a 48-megapixel main camera. It uses quad-pixel processing, taking four pixels and using that data to produce one equivalent, outputting in 12-megapixel. So while it's not an output benefit in terms of scale, it ought to deliver greater dynamic range, colour and processing opportunities.
So whether or not you can say the new iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are truly notch-free or not, whatever you're going to call it – Dynamic Island or something else entirely – it's the screen and camera improvements that are the real winners for this generation. Plus there's new iOS 16 software, the latest A16 Bionic processor, and a host of other features.
The iPhone 14 Pro will be available for pre-order from 9th September, with an on-sale date of 16th September, priced at £1099/$999/AU$1,799. The iPhone 14 Pro Max follows the same pre-order and on-sale dates, and is priced at £1,199/$1,099/AU$1,899. A little pricier than the outgoing models, but if you're all about a Dynamic Island future then you'll have to get dynamic with your wallet.
