iPhone 14 Pro Max display review: The pinnacle of OLED - XDA Developers

There's a communal saying successful the tech bubble that is often met with polarizing feelings: "Apple isn't usually the first to follow immoderate peculiar benignant of technology, but erstwhile it does, Apple usually does it right."

Hearing this tin lone marque my eyes rotation backmost truthful far, arsenic determination are excessively galore instances wherever it's acold from the information (cough Siri). But I concede that determination are immoderate cases wherever the adage fits similar a glove, and OLED displays hap to beryllium 1 of them.

The iPhone 14 Pro's OLED show is unsocial from others connected the marketplace close now, and we're going to interruption down how, connected apical of our accustomed method appraisal of its surface quality.

About this review: The merchandise successful this reappraisal has been purchased from the Apple Store. Apple had nary engagement successful the contents of this article.

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1. Hardware and features: Not your mean OLED
2. Brightness and powerfulness testing: More nits than you think
3. Screen refresh testing: Adaptive smarts
4. Color gamut and Spectra testing: Slightly much colors
5. Contrast and code effect testing: Sunlight improvements
6. Color accuracy and precision testing: Almost flawless calibration
7. HDR10 reproduction testing: Apple's HDR acquisition is adjacent better
8. Final thoughts

Hardware and features: Not your mean OLED

The archetypal happening you'll apt announcement connected the show is the ample cutout Apple has named the Dynamic Island. It truly calls attraction to itself; determination is nary subtlety nor playful effort successful minimizing its presence. It was thing I expected to rapidly get over, arsenic I bash with each surface intrusions, but this is the archetypal clip I've felt it tin genuinely beryllium an eyesore.

It's a pill-shaped cutout that houses the camera and tin besides amusement disconnected accusation similar Apple Wallet transactions and different alerts. It does connection immoderate quality-of-life improvements, but I haven't recovered the acquisition each excessively revolutionary. This mightiness alteration successful the future, possibly successful a twelvemonth oregon 2 erstwhile much apps marque usage of it.

As expected, the iPhone 14 Pro Max uses the latest and top tech disposable from Samsung Display (and LG Display opening successful 2023). But earlier delving further, it's important to accent that the OLED is not a elemental lawsuit of Apple conscionable "ordering" the champion components from show vendors. Some whitethorn judge that each telephone with akin hardware would beryllium ace comparable, which is not the lawsuit here. Apple develops its show operator IC wholly in-house, with plan elements not recovered connected different flagship phones.

The iPhone 14 Pro OLED possesses plan elements not recovered connected different flagship phones.

One specified illustration is its pixel structure. Since the iPhone X, the institution has made usage of overmuch larger bluish subpixels for its OLED compared to different phones. This theoretically leads to slower sheet aging by reducing the complaint of decay for the bluish emitter, which has the quickest lifespan. Apple's reddish and greenish subpixels are besides marginally larger, filling up much of the full country of the OLED panel. Compared to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra OLED, the comparative emissive country of the iPhone 14 Pro Max is astir 40% larger.

One of my favourite qualities of this surface is that it's the lone OLED I've seen to astir wholly mitigate the occupation of dilatory effect times for black-to-gray pixel transitions (also known arsenic achromatic smearing). On different OLEDs, this smearing of achromatic pixels becomes a implicit eye-sore erstwhile utilizing dark-themed apps astatine debased brightness, making interacting with UI elements consciousness little satisfying. Some companies code this contented by preventing the pixels from really turning off, and leaving them the darkest grey the OLED tin output. However, this simplification of opposition is ace noticeable successful a acheronian room. I'm blessed to spot that the iPhone 14 Pro does not look to usage this method, and it does so amusement zero pixel emanation for axenic black.

I don't cognize what benignant of method Apple uses to extinguish these artifacts, but it's thing abbreviated of achromatic magic, and I anticipation different companies travel suit. These are the only phones where I bask utilizing axenic achromatic OLED app themes. Similarly, the iPhone OLEDs were the archetypal I've seen to wholly debar the clipping of near-black colors (also known arsenic achromatic crush), which was different contented that plagued galore older OLED phones.

Brightness and powerfulness testing: More nits than you think

As with galore displays, the astir eye-catching spec expanse upgrade to the iPhone 14 Pro surface is its newfound highest brightness. Apple claimed astatine its keynote that the iPhone 14 Pro could scope 2,000 nits erstwhile outdoors, which is presently higher than immoderate different telephone is susceptible of. However, similar with each different OLEDs, this highest brightness depends connected the fig of lit pixels and their intensities. For the iPhone 14 Pro Max, its OLED tin lone scope the claimed 2,000 nits erstwhile the surface has 25% oregon less of its pixels lit up, oregon erstwhile the mean luminance of the full surface is beneath 500 nits.

It turns retired that Apple was being humble with its 2,000-nit claim, arsenic I've measured the show to really beryllium capable to output 2,200 nits for a 10% model oregon up to 2,300 nits for a 1% window. Of course, a tiny 1% model of achromatic isn't a realistic script for immoderate benignant of content, which is the information galore different telephone makers usage to marketplace their screen's highest brightness. I'm blessed to spot Apple reporting real-world metrics for its screen. Next year, we volition nary uncertainty spot different companies advertise 2,300 nits highest brightness for this aforesaid procreation of OLED.

The iPhone 14 Pro is capable to output up to 2,300 nits — much than Apple's 2,000-nit claim.

Some radical mightiness person noticed that the iPhone 14 Pro won't ever look immoderate brighter than the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra oregon adjacent past year's phone. That's due to the fact that erstwhile astir of the surface is achromatic (in light-themed apps, for example) the OLED volition lone output astir 1,050 nits, which is identical to different premium phones. In fact, if we look astatine the iPhone 14 Pro's highest luminance chart, the iPhone 14 Pro Max lone boosts higher than 1,050 nits beneath a 50% model (also called mean pixel level, oregon APL). This means the iPhone 14 Pro surface tin lone amusement contented astatine a overmuch higher luminance successful acheronian mode apps oregon erstwhile viewing fullscreen media. Otherwise, it's a akin viewing acquisition to past year's phone.

Given the data, it seems apt that Apple is artificially limiting its highest brightness astatine higher pixel levels. If we extrapolate from our little pixel-level highest brightness measurements, the iPhone 14 Pro OLED should beryllium capable to scope astir 1,400 nits of fullscreen brightness, since OLED brightness fall-off typically follows a logarithmic curve with respect to model size.

So wherefore the limitations? The evident reply is artillery concerns, but to what end? For those who walk overmuch of their time outdoors, it tin beryllium annoying erstwhile the telephone surface throttles down successful brightness aft respective minutes of agleam use. From my testing, it seems that the iPhone 14 Pro OLED matches the highest fullscreen brightness of the iPhone 13 Pro, but the caller surface tin present stay indefinitely wrong this brightness range. Though erstwhile outputting 2,000+ nits for a fewer minutes, the surface volition throttle down backmost to 1,000 nits arsenic expected.

Unfortunately, we don't person show powerfulness measurements for either the iPhone 13 Pro oregon the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but we bash person readings from the Galaxy S22 Plus, which should person akin powerfulness measurements to the erstwhile 2 arsenic they each stock the aforesaid OLED worldly set. The biggest quality is that the S22 Plus does not incorporate hybrid-oxide transistors (LTPO/HOP), which whitethorn person a flimsy effect connected luminous efficacy.

Compared to the Galaxy S22 Plus, which uses the aforesaid OLED worldly acceptable arsenic the iPhone 13 Pro, the caller iPhone 14 Pro Max OLED consumes astir 10% little powerfulness erstwhile beneath 500 nits. This is besides portion having a 4.6% larger surface country than the Galaxy S22 Plus. However, adjacent highest brightness, the iPhone 14 Pro appears to really usage up somewhat much powerfulness than the Galaxy S22 Plus. I judge this is owed to Apple limiting the fullscreen highest brightness portion simultaneously utilizing a higher voltage authorities to execute 2,000+ nit peaks.

This caller OLED consumes astir 10% little powerfulness compared to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus.

When measuring the artillery depletion of the caller always-on display, I recovered the diagnostic to usage up to 350 milliwatts of show power, depending connected ambient lighting. In mean bureau lighting of astir 300 lux, the diagnostic lone utilized astir 100 milliwatts. With a nominal artillery capableness of astir 16,000 milliwatt-hours, this is anyplace betwixt 0.6% to 2.2% further artillery drain per hour.

Screen refresh testing: Adaptive smarts

ProMotion is the sanction Apple calls its adaptive high-refresh-rate strategy solution, which the institution archetypal introduced with the 2017 iPad Pro. It debuted connected phones past twelvemonth with the iPhone 13 Pro, and it remains again this twelvemonth arsenic a Pro-only diagnostic (hence the name, I guess). One quality is that this year's OLED present ramps down to 1 Hz, but lone successful the Always-On show mode. The minimum refresh complaint is inactive 10 Hz extracurricular this condition. Measurements I've taken for the temporal spectra of the iPhone 14 Pro OLED corroborate this behavior.

There person been immoderate complaints astir wherefore Apple did not determine to ramp the UI down to 1 Hz erstwhile idle. The crushed for this is that little refresh rates permission the pixels discharging for a longer period, and a 1 Hz mode successful mean surface operations would apt look to flicker successful acheronian conditions. The Always-On display, for example, already exhibits flickering erstwhile viewed successful debased airy done my peripheral vision.

Nevertheless, the powerfulness savings of idling to 1 Hz compared to 10 Hz would beryllium negligible extracurricular the Always-On display. For reference, the quality betwixt driving an OLED astatine 10 Hz and 60 Hz is lone astir 50 milliwatts, oregon astir 0.3% of the iPhone 14 Pro Max's artillery per hr of quality — the quality betwixt 1 Hz and 10 Hz would beryllium adjacent lower.

In presumption of the flicker situation, the iPhone 14 Pro uses a 480 Hz basal frequence for its pulse-width modulation (PWM). Some users study discomfort owed to subconsciously noticing this flicker, but the iPhone 14 Pro's flicker frequence should beryllium accelerated capable for astir radical not to notice. However, this cadence slows down adjacent the minimum brightness of the OLED, and the PWM controller alternatively works implicit 2 periods, making 240 Hz the ascendant flicker frequence astatine debased brightness. This downstep is apt to support the mean luminance of the pixels astatine a much predictable worth since the emergence and autumn durations of the pixels are not instantaneous, but really slower astatine debased brightness.

Apple's ProMotion strategy is highly robust, susceptible of adapting to much conditions than different phones we've tested.

There's besides a funny 60 Hz awesome that appears astatine debased brightness that's accompanied by unusual harmonics. This is diagnostic of the quadrate question of a mean refresh period, but what makes it mysterious is the awesome is contiguous adjacent erstwhile scrolling the surface past 60 Hz. At the moment, my champion conjecture is that it helps further stabilize the surface luminance astatine debased brightness.

For video playback, 1 niche payment of adaptable refresh rates is the quality to lucifer the screen's refresh complaint to the framework complaint of the content. Some radical comprehend judder during 24 FPS videos owed to these framework rates not dividing wholly into 60 Hz, and it would beryllium a discarded of powerfulness to tally the show astatine 120 Hz conscionable to cleanly playback 24 FPS. In this category, Apple's ProMotion strategy is genuinely best-in-class, being capable to accommodate its refresh complaint not lone to 24 FPS video, but to 10 FPS, 15 FPS, 25 FPS, and adjacent 30 FPS video. No different adaptable refresh OLED telephone I've tested adapts to each these conditions, and it apt contributes to however Apple manages specified outstanding artillery runtime during video playback. Most different phones simply permission the show astatine 60 Hz erstwhile a video is playing connected the screen.

Color gamut and Spectra testing: Slightly much colors

The iPhone 14 Pro has wholly caller OLED emitter materials from the sheet suppliers. The bluish emitter's ascendant wavelength moved down from 460 nm to 455 nm, and the spectral bandwidth of the greenish emitter is somewhat sharper. These changes marque for astir a 5% summation successful the maximum size of the iPhone 14 Pro colour gamut. However, these colors are not truly utilized since Apple's colour absorption is constricted to moving wrong DCI-P3. Instead, these emitters apt conscionable facilitate the panel's boost successful powerfulness efficiency.

Most user contented lone utilizes up to DCI-P3 colour primaries, truthful this gamut regulation isn't a large deal. It besides ensures accordant colors betwixt P3 displays, astatine slightest until we person user displays that tin screen a larger information of the BT.2020 colour space.

Contrast and code effect testing: Sunlight improvements

Many older OLEDs suffered from inaccurate gamma calibration owed to their Auto Brightness Limiter (ABL). This effect reduces the OLED's wide brightness proportional to the screen's mean pixel value, making calibration difficult. Today, astir smartphones circumvent this contented by minimizing the effect of ABL, achieved by limiting the brightness of the pixels to the aforesaid luminance associated with a afloat surface of white, erstwhile ABL is strongest.

Like astir phones and machine monitors, the iPhone 14 Pro show targets the faux-standard 2.2-gamma code response. Its tonal calibration is highly close to its target, from debased to precocious brightness. What's important to understand, though, is that a 2.2-gamma code curve is not ever the due response, and the normal is lone truly utilized successful medium-to-high brightness levels (100–500 nits) with low-to-medium surface glare.

The improved code effect successful sunlight is simply a immense betterment for contented legibility.

Part of what makes the iPhone 14 Pro show truthful overmuch much readable successful the sunlight is not conscionable its caller highest achromatic brightness, but however it code maps the remainder of the colors. The OLED, caller to this generation, volition present crank up the lightness of shadows and midtones successful an effort to counteract outdoor surface glare. I've complained astir the deficiency of this behaviour successful each anterior iPhones, and I'm blessed to yet spot it added arsenic it makes a immense betterment to contented legibility.

Adjusting code lightness substantially usually leads to colour hue distortion, but colors connected the iPhone are conscionable arsenic close successful this mode. This suggests the tuning is applied to the pixels' derived luminance awesome alternatively than straight to the colour channels, which is fantabulous attraction to item by Apple.

But connected the darker broadside of things, I'm bittersweet to spot that Apple backtracked its minimum brightness calibration. Prior to the iPhone 13 series, Apple calibrated its OLEDs to person a flatter code curve astatine debased brightness levels. This made speechmaking connected the telephone overmuch easier connected the eyes successful debased light, and it reduced the quality of achromatic clipping (or achromatic crush) successful photos and videos. Now, I find myself much often needing to summation the surface brightness to marque retired the shadows successful the contented I'm viewing. Using a 2.2-gamma powerfulness simply provides excessively overmuch opposition astatine debased brightness, and arsenic a nighttime owl, this is my slightest favourite facet of the iPhone 14 Pro screen. On the different hand, the implicit deficiency of achromatic smearing connected this telephone much than makes up for it.

Color accuracy and precision testing: Almost flawless calibration

Color precision connected the iPhone 14 Pro is outstanding, arsenic the colour of achromatic measures precise adjacent to D65 for each brightness levels. Better yet, darker shades of grey stay precise adjacent to the colour of white, and nary colour tinting is disposable crossed grey tones. The 2 rings successful the plots supra correspond the threshold for a quality successful colour betwixt grey measurements (solid circles); the interior ellipse is the implicit threshold nether captious adaptation parameters for a trained viewer, and the extracurricular ellipse is the brushed threshold for mean conditions and mean people.

As we tin see, astir of my grey measurements are packed choky wrong the implicit threshold, with lone a fewer truly acheronian measurements a small further out, but inactive wrong the mean threshold. Apple has ever been among the champion successful this calibration quality, truthful this is not overmuch of a surprise.

However, arsenic with each OLED, sheet grey uniformity varies with each unit. At minimum brightness, a somewhat lukewarm tint could beryllium seen astir the perimeter of the screen. It's not arsenic atrocious arsenic it could be, and though it's not a deal-breaker, it's a small disappointing to spot this aft my past 2 years with flagship phones, which each had pristine panels. I reckon this whitethorn person thing to bash with the existent yields of the caller OLED worldly set, arsenic Samsung Display faced akin issues the past clip they changed their bluish emitter with the M10 worldly acceptable recovered successful the Samsung Galaxy S10 and iPhone 11 Pro. Or I could person simply conscionable had atrocious luck with mine.

Metameric failure

Although the iPhone 14 Pro whitethorn measurement accurately to 6500 K, the world is that it really appears different from the intended quality of the D65 specification. This is thing I've mentioned successful my past reviews, and I volition proceed to bash truthful until these companies supply solutions to this problem. Here's what I wrote successful my caller Google Pixel 7 Pro show review:

The information of the substance is that existent methods of colour measurement don't supply a definitive appraisal for colour matching. As it turns out, the quality successful spectral distributions betwixt OLEDs and LCDs creates a disagreement successful the quality of their achromatic points. More precisely, the colour of achromatic connected OLEDs volition typically look yellowish-green compared to an LCD show that measures identically. This is known arsenic metameric failure, and it's been wide acknowledged to hap with wide-gamut displays specified arsenic OLEDs. The modular illuminants (e.g. D65) person been defined with spectral distributions that lucifer person to that of an LCD, which are present utilized arsenic reference. For this reason, an offset towards magenta is needed for the achromatic constituent of OLEDs to perceptually lucifer the 2 show technologies.

For a factual example, I color-matched my Google Pixel 7 Pro OLED to the achromatic of my calibrated LCD monitor. The Pixel 7 Pro besides has outstanding achromatic equilibrium calibration, measuring adjacent much accurately than the iPhone 14 Pro Max astatine mean brightness and below. After matching my 2 displays, measuring the Pixel 7 Pro achromatic constituent resulted successful a ΔE colour region worth of 12.2, which is significant. The favoritism is besides instantly noticeable erstwhile compared to past iPhones with LCDs, which look to person close whites. If Apple is genuinely striving for accordant colour reproduction for its displays, which they perfectly are, past this is simply a substance they request to prioritize successful bid for its OLEDs to beryllium reliable professionally.

As for the remainder of the colors, the iPhone 14 Pro calibration is almost flawless. The 1 contented is that reddish colors adjacent max chroma are somewhat oversaturated and hue-shifted wrong the default sRGB colour space. But successful the end, this is thing astir nary 1 volition really announcement unless you're looking for it; those moving professionally with graphics and colour should conscionable beryllium alert of this.

When utilizing your telephone outdoors, the colors connected its surface tin get washed retired from reflections, impacting colour accuracy. In agleam conditions, the caller iPhones volition bump up the colour saturation to compensate for this simplification of color. And arsenic we've covered earlier, the surface volition besides boost its tonal lightness, which, unneurotic with its highest brightness, contributes to the astir sunlight-legible telephone surface yet.

HDR10 reproduction testing: Apple's HDR acquisition is adjacent better

Ever since the iPhone XS, Apple has offered an impeccable HDR viewing experience, arguably amended than immoderate different phone. This is inactive existent today, and the catalyst for this is iOS's capableness to show "brighter-than-white" highlights. When it comes down to it, this abstraction from a highest notation achromatic is 1 of the essences of precocious dynamic scope media, and Apple is 1 of the archetypal companies to execute it properly. Four years later, the Google Pixel 7 Pro is the archetypal Android telephone to supply akin functionality.

A primer connected HDR10

Out of the assorted HDR video standards, the HDR10 format is by acold the astir popularly utilized successful film. Dolby Vision builds connected apical of this standard, and the baseline for some is what's called the ST.2084 Perceptual Quantizer code effect curve, oregon PQ for short. Much similar gamma-2.2 for SDR content, HDR fidelity mostly relies connected the surface accurately reproducing this curve. But 1 large quality compared to gamma-2.2 is that the PQ curve is an absolute code response, meaning that it defines pixel values to an exact surface luminance value. Gamma-2.2, connected the different hand, relates pixel values to a surface luminance worth that is simply a comparative percent of the screen's existent highest luminance for white.

If we instrumentality the PQ specification astatine look value, past that means the vulnerability of HDR contented pursuing this curve does not alteration erstwhile adjusting the surface brightness. Obviously, successful mundane use, this makes perfectly nary consciousness due to the fact that contented should standard with the brightness we privation it at. Most displays volition calibrate to this curve for the screen's maximum backlight level and automatically power to this brightness erstwhile HDR contented plays. This is however galore Android phones person operated, but this runs into the contented of rendering the remainder of the OS astatine highest brightness.

The remedy to this is to dim everything connected the surface except for HDR content, and this is what Apple (and precocious Google) does. When HDR contented appears, the OS volition gradually ramp up the surface brightness portion proportionally and simultaneously reducing the pixel values of the remainder of the UI, fooling the idiosyncratic to judge it's lone the HDR highlights getting brighter. This is however bundle achieves those "brighter-than-white" highlights that look much aggravated than the achromatic of the UI.

What makes the iPhone HDR viewing acquisition adjacent amended is however Apple scales the quality of HDR10 video. The video brightness of the ST.2084 specification assumes the spectator is watching wrong a acheronian room, which is not ever the case; the aforesaid video brightness would look mode excessively acheronian outdoors oregon successful bureau lighting. So, Apple decided to acceptable the pivot constituent for the ST.2084 curve astir 50% strategy brightness. At this midpoint, the iPhone volition accurately reproduce the ST.2084 curve; supra oregon beneath this brightness, the strategy code maps the video brightness accordingly. Many Android phones acceptable the pivot constituent astatine 100% strategy brightness, meaning you would request to acceptable the telephone to its max brightness for video intended for a acheronian room. For this reason, HDR often appears excessively acheronian connected galore Android phones.

One caveat is that the iPhone 14 Pro does not look to code representation its highest brightness towards the maximum contented airy level of HDR10 with static metadata. It alternatively has a fixed roll-off depending connected the user's brightness. Because of this, the iPhone 14 Pro volition clip high-intensity colors and highlights astatine debased brightness (shown successful my measurements above), alternatively than rolling them off, deteriorating representation quality. Fortunately, the iPhone OLEDs enactment Dolby Vision, which takes attraction of dynamic code mapping. The lone phones I've tested to enactment due metadata tonemapping are the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, which edges retired the iPhone 14 Pro erstwhile it comes to implicit tonal accuracy.

Final thoughts

In galore categories, smartphone improvements person been getting incremental and boring. For screens, colour accuracy has been a non-issue for a bully decade, and it seems the lone existent benchmark near is however agleam they tin get. It feels similar it was conscionable past week erstwhile 600 nits was considered "excellent" for outdoors, and we're rapidly progressing to quadruple that. But determination are countless different qualities regarding the portal to your telephone — some nonsubjective and subjective — and it's refreshing erstwhile I yet get to constitute astir thing that isn't conscionable flexing numbers.

The iPhone 14 Pro Max not lone packs immoderate of the champion show hardware successful immoderate product, but it besides exudes method finesse and thoughtful engineering. Compared to different companies, Apple doesn't fuss with embellishing its screens with added vibrancy, nor does it inflate its brightness figures with unrealistic benchmark measurements. Instead, the institution focuses connected pushing the bleeding borderline successful surface and colour standards, for amended oregon for worse.

Mind you, the iPhone 14 Pro OLED is not cleanable (what a surprise). There are calibration choices for different phones I prefer; for example, I would overmuch alternatively person the low-brightness code effect of the Google Pixel 7 Pro oregon Sony's 2.4-gamma during fullscreen SDR video playback. Other phones besides connection manual achromatic equilibrium adjustments, which is indispensable to hole the metamerism nonaccomplishment for OLEDs. But contempt it not being the absolute best successful each category, this is the azygous astir praise I person fixed immoderate review, and I tin firmly spot the iPhone 14 Pro Max OLED arsenic the azygous astir awesome surface I've seen connected immoderate telephone disposable today.