Apple’s unveiling of the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max yesterday offered numerous surprises, including satellite connectivity, improved crash detection and the show-stealing “Dynamic Island” which takes the phone’s notch and turns it into an interactive, customizable information and access hub. But there were also some impressive upgrades to the camera, which has gradually become a tool that even the most demanding professionals turn to for media creation.
The iPhone 14 Pro now sports a 48MP main camera with a quad-pixel sensor that adapts to the photo being captured, and features second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization. For most photos, the quad-pixel sensor combines every four pixels into one large quad pixel equivalent to 2.44 µm, resulting in amazing low-light capture and keeping photo size at a practical 12MP.
The quad-pixel sensor also enables a 2x Telephoto option that uses the middle 12 megapixels of the sensor for full-resolution photos and 4K videos with no digital zoom, delivering optical quality at a familiar focal length, ideal for Portrait mode. Professionals will like the quad-pixel sensor now optimized for details in ProRAW; it also features a new machine learning model designed specifically for the quad-pixel sensor.
For shooting in low-light, the iPhone 14 Pro features Photonic Engine, offering a giant leap for mid- to low-light performance in photos across all cameras through a deep integration of hardware and software: up to 2x on the Main camera, up to 3x on the Ultra Wide camera, up to 2x on the Telephoto camera, and up to 2x on the TrueDepth camera. Photonic Engine enables this dramatic increase in quality by applying Deep Fusion earlier in the imaging process to deliver extraordinary detail, and preserve subtle textures, provide better color, and maintain more information in a photo.
Additional pro camera system upgrades and features include:
- A new 12MP Ultra Wide camera with 1.4 µm pixels, which delivers sharper images with more detail, improving already powerful macro photography capabilities.
- An improved Telephoto camera that offers 3x optical zoom.
- A new front TrueDepth camera with an ƒ/1.9 aperture that enables better low-light performance for photos and video. Using autofocus for the first time, it can focus even faster in low light and capture group shots from farther away.
- A new Adaptive True Tone flash that has been completely redesigned with an array of nine LEDs that change pattern based on the chosen focal length.
- Powerful computational photography benefits like Night mode, Smart HDR 4, Portrait mode with Portrait Lighting, Night mode Portrait photos, Photographic Styles to personalize the look of every photo, and Apple ProRAW.
- A new Action mode for incredibly smooth-looking video that adjusts to significant shakes, motion, and vibrations, even when video is being captured in the middle of the action.
- Cinematic mode, now available in 4K at 30 fps and 4K at 24 fps.
- Pro-level workflows for video, including ProRes3 and end-to-end Dolby Vision HDR.
As for the screen, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch sizes, includes a new Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion that features the Always-On display for the first time ever on iPhone, enabled by a new 1Hz refresh rate and multiple power-efficient technologies. The advanced OLED display also brings the same peak HDR brightness level as Pro Display XDR, and the highest outdoor peak brightness in a smartphone: up to 2000 nits, which is twice as bright as iPhone 13 Pro.
Customers in the U.S. and 30 other countries and regions will be able to pre-order iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max beginning at 5 a.m. PDT on Friday, September 9, with availability beginning Friday, September 16.
