iPhone 14 Pro Max The “I returned my iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max” Thread

[russell_314]

Photos are barley indistinguishable though. That's the problem. *Unless you shoot ProRaw and edit each one individually.

The newer camera should have better performance in low light. This means indoors. How much better well I don’t know yet, but there is an improvement just like there is an increased size camera.

On what hand do you have people that don’t like the larger camera and on the other hand you have people that want better pictures. You can’t make both happy.

 

[tonguenyc]

Tmobile in the US gives a massive credit. I can buy the phone outright and still get $800 in credits applied to my bill for the next 24 months. If I traded in a 13pro I’d get $1k in credit.

What are you trading in to get $800 off?

 

[Theozz]

I returned mine, only because the phone had a dent, out of the box.

I'm waiting for its replacement: I got a mail stating October 15, so I hope it's not true, Apple rep I got on the phone for the return process told me they would send me one as soon as they receive my old phone.

We shall see...

 

[sjobsian]

I have an iPhone 11 Pro Max and with 4G+ the data is too fast, not need 5G, in fact I don´t feel difference between my wifi6 and the mobile data.

You have made a good purchase, if I buy the 14 pro max is only for the 2000 nits, in Valencia in Spain we have a loot of sun, and sometimes when I use to see netflix for example, the brightness not is enought in dark scenes.

Thanks.

 

[LacrosseChic]

I returned my 14 pro that I picked up Saturday. My daughter smashed her SE so the plan was to pass her my 13 mini. However come Monday morning I couldn’t do it. I can’t justify spending that amount of money on something that I have to talk myself into liking.
So returned the 14 pro and got my daughter a new SE instead 🙂

 

[nemofish]

The newer camera should have better performance in low light. This means indoors. How much better well I don’t know yet, but there is an improvement just like there is an increased size camera.

On what hand do you have people that don’t like the larger camera and on the other hand you have people that want better pictures. You can’t make both happy.

"Should" but doesn't.

People are mistaken when they think new hardware equals better photos; on a real camera this would be the case but on a mobile phone is almost always about how good the software is as the images are processed so much and I don't think Apple are particularly hot at getting the best out of their hardware, unlike someone such as Google.

 

[Detonation]

Can anybody chime in who has an iPhone 11 Pro Max? They aren't 5G phones... is the data just too slow or are they good and can you FaceTime well over data?

Not a current 11 Pro Max owner, but I keep 5g off most of the time on my 13 Pro, and plan to do the same on the 14. 5G is absolutely not a reason to buy any phone right now, as much as the marketing tries to tell you otherwise. The times I've turned it on, I've noticed very little difference in speeds on Verizon, but I live in the suburbs so YMMV. The only time I was actually impressed was with mmWave 5G at a sporting event where I getting 3 gigabits down, but that's a very specific situation.

My point is I cannot know whether I can deal with a camera bump that large unless I try it. Obviously we the iPhone 14 Pro Max is unique in this respect and as a strictly Apple User, this is the biggest camera bump ever. Looking at pictures and actually physically testing something are two entirely different things...

On the iPhone Pro Max 11, my question is... does the data speed seem slow compared to 5G iPhones which started from iPhone 12 onward? Because my understanding is that it does not do 5G.

Do you use a case? With the Apple leather case on, the 14 Pro Max's camera bump is basically a non issue for me. It rocks slightly on a flat surface but not enough to matter. Without a case though, it rocks pretty bad. I used to go caseless, but the camera bump as well as the awkward flat sides since the 12 have driven me to use a case.

 

[ssledoux]

Not a current 11 Pro Max owner, but I keep 5g off most of the time on my 13 Pro, and plan to do the same on the 14. 5G is absolutely not a reason to buy any phone right now, as much as the marketing tries to tell you otherwise. The times I've turned it on, I've noticed very little difference in speeds on Verizon, but I live in the suburbs so YMMV. The only time I was actually impressed was with mmWave 5G at a sporting event where I getting 3 gigabits down, but that's a very specific situation.


Do you use a case? With the Apple leather case on, the 14 Pro Max's camera bump is basically a non issue for me. It rocks slightly on a flat surface but not enough to matter. Without a case though, it rocks pretty bad. I used to go caseless, but the camera bump as well as the awkward flat sides since the 12 have driven me to use a case.

Right now I’m using a cheap, Amazon case, and the 14 pro barely tilts and doesn’t rock. I use Loopy cases, so my phones are always crazy tilted if I put them on their backs, which is why I almost always have mine face down.

I think the camera bumps are pretty unsightly, but they have been for a while. That wouldn’t cause me to return the phone.

I’m just struggling because I miss my mini a lot, but I also really like the 14 pro.

 

[Detonation]

I’m torn on whether to keep it or not, I’m coming from a 13 Pro, but sized up for first time to 14 PM. If I bought a 14 pro I’d definitely return it since the differences aren’t great, but the increase in size is why I might keep the phone even though see lots of people complaining about wrist strain, one handed use etc with the PM but so far no issues for me.

Identical situation here. 13 Pro. Usually upgrade every year and decided to try the 14 Pro Max this time. Love the increased screen estate, but I'm definitely used to the easy one handed use of the Pro. But every time I grab the Pro, it seems so cramped now. Outside of the size though, the two basically seems like the same phone. AOD and Dynamic Island aren't really enough to seal the deal.

I just wish Apple would allow you to adjust the screen density like Android does. Let me use the same viewport width on my Pro that the Pro max uses. But I know that will never happen because it's all based on maintaining the 3x resolution scaling.

 

[djgcue]

Can anybody chime in who has an iPhone 11 Pro Max? They aren't 5G phones... is the data just too slow or are they good and can you FaceTime well over data?

I've actually just put an order in tonight with Apple for a refurbished iPhone 11 Pro Max as I'm at my wits end here and realize that this is the best design for what I like and this would be the absolute latest and best of what I can get in this design language.

My 11 Pro Max has been rock solid. I never had issues with slow data using FaceTime or any other apps. I haven't noticed a significant improvement moving to the 14 Pro Max. Still debating returning it and going back to my 11 Pro Max.

 

[AppleB]

Folks complain about the 14 and it’s not the phone it’s that they made a poor decision and look for other people that made a poor decision.

If something is not right for you that’s fine. But don’t make it seem like it’s not right for anyone.

Standing in a Apple Store looking in disgust at the camera bump on someone’s phone? Who does that?
It’s totally ridiculous and juvenile.


These blanket statements of no one could use the new iPhone Pro/Max or no one could put it in their pocket or how on earth can someone deal with the camera bump is complete nonsense. How does anyone know what someone else can do. I’m not into the iPhone Mini’s and it wouldn’t cross my mind to say how could you use that phone. If it works for you great.

It’s this juvenile mentality of “I don’t like it then no one should like it”

Then it’s this attitude of “My iPhone 8 is the best iPhone ever and everything after that is trash and you’re a fool for getting the latest iPhone and how dare you spend YOUR MONEY”.

 

[solq]

I didn't return mine but I cancelled the order. I had ordered a violet 14 Pro Max 512Gb, it was due 17-20 oct.

I went to the Apple Store today for a battery replacement on my old Macbook Pro and I saw the new phones. I didn't like them, they look a bit tacky. Too much bling. The deal breaker was the hard edge. I use my phone without a case, I like holding it. My 11 pro and the X before it were lovely to hold. I don't see how I could use a 14 without a case, the edges are hard and sharp. I don't want a case.

And then the metal surround looks odd to me. Where on my old X and the 11 Pro the metal surround is thick and round and looks like the visible part of the phone's structure, on the 14 Pro it looks like a thin metal strip glued around it. And it's very, very shiny, except for the black one which looks like covered in an enamel paint that I also didn't like. But if I were to absolutely choose one I'd say the black looked the least tacky, albeit by a small margin.

The camera is better, I compared it to my 11 Pro in store lighting conditions. But hugely? I didn't think so. It basically had more detail if you zoomed in fully. I don't need the fancy film features, I just sometimes film my kids for short clips.

I also didn't feel that the camera bump was outrageous or anything like that. It looked fine to me.

I had mixed feelings about the pill box replacing the notch. It's more intrusive for sure because there are pixels above it, but I definitely could live with it. When playing music it does show an icon of the album art and a tiny spectrum analyser, but if you use it to enlarge the widget and pause playback, the widget "inside" disappears very quickly, in something like 2 seconds, then you have to restart playback the usual way (app or control center). So it's not quite a replacement for the control center.

I mostly assume it's just not polished software and it will get better, but clearly this is Apple making the best of a bad situation (camera and sensors in the screen area) and not some great invention to celebrate.

I looked at the new Apple Watch 8 and I thought it had the same ugly square look and stuffy, busy interface with not a single nice watch face. Hard pass.

So I cancelled the 14 Pro Max (it was for sure the wrong size and colour) and instead got a battery replacement for my 11 Pro which didn't cost that much. I'm basically CHF1600 ahead now.

The new M2 Macbook Air though I really liked, particularly the near-black one. Excellent keyboard, reminded me of my 2011 Air (although the new one is thicker), very good screen, small and zippy.

It was also my first time seeing the 16" Macbook Pro and holy smokes compared to my 15" it's huge and much thicker. I was not impressed.

PS: the 14 non-Pro actually looks nicer, a bit more subtle, the aluminium isn't as shiny and in-your-face and doesn't cut into your hand as much. I'd never consider it though, it's not really an upgrade over the 11 Pro.

 

[joshseibert]

UPS didn't follow my delivery instructions and so after a few failed deliveries it's being returned to sender.

I've taken this as a sign that I don't need to upgrade. My 13 Pro Max is fine for another year. I'll just get a new case to spice up the relationship.

 

[Dave245]

I’ve thrown away my brown box that the iPhone 14 Pro Max came in. Does it matter if I just ship it back to Apple in another box? I have until the 30th of this month to initiate a return.

 

[LiE_]

I'm returning mine mainly because it's giving me a headache. This is my first time using ProMotion on a phone and it seems to cause me some eye discomfort and headaches. 16" MPB is fine. Other things I don't like: weight, price and SS sides. The cameras also aren't much of an improvement compared to my 13 so no real gain there.

 

[nemofish]

Folks complain about the 14 and it’s not the phone it’s that they made a poor decision and look for other people that made a poor decision.

No, mostly it's people who have been oversold by Apple's sensational hyperbolic marketing promising 2x better photos + early reviews from influencers who are shipped out to keynotes and receive free handsets to 'review' and whom are always utterly biased and will claim it the best smartphone with unimaginable improvements.

Anyone who's had the phone for 30 mins and coming from an iPhone 11-13 quickly realises that's all a load of baloney and thus return the phone.

 

[sjobsian]

Not a current 11 Pro Max owner, but I keep 5g off most of the time on my 13 Pro, and plan to do the same on the 14. 5G is absolutely not a reason to buy any phone right now, as much as the marketing tries to tell you otherwise. The times I've turned it on, I've noticed very little difference in speeds on Verizon, but I live in the suburbs so YMMV. The only time I was actually impressed was with mmWave 5G at a sporting event where I getting 3 gigabits down, but that's a very specific situation.


Do you use a case? With the Apple leather case on, the 14 Pro Max's camera bump is basically a non issue for me. It rocks slightly on a flat surface but not enough to matter. Without a case though, it rocks pretty bad. I used to go caseless, but the camera bump as well as the awkward flat sides since the 12 have driven me to use a case.

Thanks for the insight.

 

[noobinator]

I’ve thrown away my brown box that the iPhone 14 Pro Max came in. Does it matter if I just ship it back to Apple in another box? I have until the 30th of this month to initiate a return.

As long as you package it safely and securely they don't care how you get it back to them.

 

[sjobsian]

Folks complain about the 14 and it’s not the phone it’s that they made a poor decision and look for other people that made a poor decision.

If something is not right for you that’s fine. But don’t make it seem like it’s not right for anyone.

Standing in a Apple Store looking in disgust at the camera bump on someone’s phone? Who does that?
It’s totally ridiculous and juvenile.


These blanket statements of no one could use the new iPhone Pro/Max or no one could put it in their pocket or how on earth can someone deal with the camera bump is complete nonsense. How does anyone know what someone else can do. I’m not into the iPhone Mini’s and it wouldn’t cross my mind to say how could you use that phone. If it works for you great.

It’s this juvenile mentality of “I don’t like it then no one should like it”

Then it’s this attitude of “My iPhone 8 is the best iPhone ever and everything after that is trash and you’re a fool for getting the latest iPhone and how dare you spend YOUR MONEY”.

This "juvenile mentality" you speak of is the exact opposite: it's the adult thing to do to be critical of a company, its products, and your own decisions. If everyone thought like you and purported the same conclusions then the world would be left with nothing but lawn mowers with wings.

You erect a strawman: you're inserting a logical fallacy by stating that people are claiming here that the 14 Pro/Max isn't good for anyone because it's not good for them, which is not only "juvenile", but absurd. I personally have never said that and if everyone else in the world loves and uses the phone then cool. We all have our own needs but there are also things that are objective. If I tried to sell you a lawn mower with wings as a smartphone not only would you not buy it, but you would think it absurd in relation to anyone buying that product to use as a smartphone.

There is a threshold where something becomes more objective and less subjective. The camera bump is arguably one such component. It doesn't mean that I or others believe that everyone will dislike it and find it difficult to use the device day-to-day because of it, but the camera bump is so big that it does affect the usability of the device in various ways, such as resting the phone on a table and how much it tilts; how sharp the edges of the lenses are and how your fingers slide past it in daily use, etc.

Reading through this thread a person can see that several people are in fact returning these devices for such reasons, and the poll speaks to this as well.

 

[sjobsian]

No, mostly it's people who have been oversold by Apple's sensational hyperbolic marketing promising 2x better photos + early reviews from influencers who are shipped out to keynotes and receive free handsets to 'review' and whom are always utterly biased and will claim it the best smartphone with unimaginable improvements.

Anyone who's had the phone for 30 mins and coming from an iPhone 11-13 quickly realises that's all a load of baloney and thus return the phone.

Nails it.

 

[russell_314]

"Should" but doesn't.

People are mistaken when they think new hardware equals better photos; on a real camera this would be the case but on a mobile phone is almost always about how good the software is as the images are processed so much and I don't think Apple are particularly hot at getting the best out of their hardware, unlike someone such as Google.

Well, everyone has their opinion. Perhaps consider the Pixel phone?

 

[nemofish]

Well, everyone has their opinion. Perhaps consider the Pixel phone?

I own 3 of them. But thanks.

 

[russell_314]

I own 3 of them. But thanks.

Well, I didn’t exactly think you were too deep in the Apple ecosystem 😂😂😂

 

[junglesnake]

Returned my 14 pro this morning and went back to the 13 pro. First time ever I returned a device, but this upgrade besides the color and island was not worth it. Too bad, the black is very sharp.

 

[nemofish]

Well, I didn’t exactly think you were too deep in the Apple ecosystem 😂😂😂

Why because I dare criticise Apple? Lol.

My whole work eco system has been Apple since 1999 (Bondi Blue iMac) and that includes phones. Only for my personal phone do I switch between Android and iPhone, especially since the Pixel series which has killed iPhons for imaging in recent years.

Everything else is Apple.