With the release of the iPhone 14 Pro, the big question is “do I upgrade?”. On the outside, this year’s iPhone looks relatively similar to the outgoing model, but there are many new features that make this a worthy upgrade.

The most notable feature of the new iPhone is the “Dynamic Island”, a new spin on the traditional notch design. This new take leaves a gap between the top bezel of the screen and the camera and facial recognition hardware. The Dynamic Island doubles as a notification bar. When a notification is received the bar will expand to relay important information to the user. With a traditional LCD display this would look tacky but with Apple’s OLED screen technology the pixels that display the notification turn off completely to match the vast blackness of the Dynamic Island. This gives a smooth transition between notification and island. 

Another feature added to the 14 Pro is an always-on display. Previous generation iPhones would display date, time, and notifications on the lock screen when the phone was raised or tapped. When the iPhone was not in use the screen would not display any information. On this generation’s iPhone, the lock screen is always on, hence the name. When in use it will light up at full brightness and when set down with the screen face up the display will dim but keep displaying information for the user. 

The next big feature of the new iPhone is the upgraded camera system. Apple finally has a camera that can compete with big competitors such as Samsung’s 108-megapixel Galaxy Note 22 Ultra. Last year’s iPhone sported a laughable 12 megapixels; this year’s primary camera gets an improved 48. While that is still very low compared to what the Android offers, it shows Apple is open to further camera upgrades in the future. A new stabilization system for the Pro models has been added as well. Titled “action mode” this feature puts the new stabilizers into play by locking on a subject and steadying the footage with hardware, with further software stabilization once the video has been taken. 

Continuing a tradition Apple has updated the chip on this phone with their all-new A16 Bionic. This chip provides 50% more memory bandwidth, while still using the same five-core GPU as last year’s A15. This means the GPU will better handle a heavier workload. 

For the average iPhone user, these upgrades may seem easy to glance over. But for a person who is looking for a refreshed version of a near-perfect product, the iPhone 14 Pro is worth the upgrade.