Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island pales in comparison to Google’s Pixel 7 Pro Dynamic Island: let’s talk marketing

As always, it’s been an exciting year in the world of mobile technology, and before you know it, here we are at Techtober! Apple has released its new iPhone 14 Plus just now, after the rest of the iPhone 14 series, and like clockwork, Google recently unveiled the competition – its new Pixel 7 series. Today we’ll talk about the Pro models, namely the iPhone 14 Pro and the Pixel 7 Pro… And in particular how each of the two giant brands has them marketed. So we’re not going to delve into complicated specs, just selling points and their real value.

Now the way Apple tried to sell users on the new iPhone 14 Pro (and iPhone 14 Pro Max) was, in part, by introducing something called “Dynamic Island”. It’s a horizontal pill-shaped cutout in their screens, succeeding the good old notch.

These cutouts contain the phones’ Face ID sensors, and with a few software tricks, they can look alive and moving! More functional, even – they’re like where notifications and quick toggles live! Pretty cool!

However, Google’s recently announced Pixel 7 Pro has a different kind of pill-shaped cutout…on the back. Yes, we are talking about the cameras.

How are these two “dynamic islands” related? Well, aside from their shape, they are tied as major selling points for their respective phones.

Instead of banking on what is essentially a redesigned notch, which now takes up even more screen real estate (considering the new row of unusable pixels above it) as Apple did, Google knew what matters most to the majority of smartphone users – the camera and privacy.

Let’s start with the first and explain why Google’s “dynamic island” and its new phone in general are much more exciting than what Apple tried to sell as a major feature on its “Pro” iPhone. And how the Pixel 7 Pro beats the iPhone 14 Pro not just in terms of marketing, but as an overall upgrade over its predecessor…

Let’s face it – face unlock is a thing on both phones now

Let’s take a look at the most important “specification” – the price. The base 128GB Google Pixel 7 Pro is $100 cheaper than the base 128GB iPhone 14 Pro, which costs $999. Let’s be real though, and round things off – it’s a $1000 phone versus a $900 one. Both phones now have face unlock, like Google has announced that its Tensor 2 processor can and will use “advanced machine learning models” to utilize the Pixel 7 series’ single front camera for this purpose.

So while we can’t expect Google’s Face Unlock to rival Apple’s Face ID in terms of accuracy and reliability, we know from experience that Google is able to do more with less, so let’s not lower our expectations too much.

Stay tuned to our Google Pixel 7 Pro review where we’re really going to test it, but at least on paper – it’s official – the iPhone 14 Pro and Google Pixel 7 Pro now have face unlock.

Except the iPhone has this massive pill-shaped “dynamic island” that takes up a good chunk of the screen, while the Pixel 7 Pro only has a small selfie camera cutout. Plus, there’s a bonus on the Pixel – a fingerprint sensor! Which, of course, the iPhone lacks.

And just like that, the Pixel 7 Pro has made the iPhone better because it not only offers more ways for secure unlocking, but its face unlock doesn’t require a large horizontal cutout in the screen, taking up valuable space on the screen.

But let’s turn away from the face unlock situation on these phones and think of them as the yearly upgrades that they are.

Was the new iPhone 14 Pro the biggest upgrade, or was the Pixel 7 Pro the biggest leap forward from its predecessor? Well that’s how it is…

The Pixel 7 Pro is what a real upgrade should look like (take notes, iPhone 14 Pro)

As we said in our iPhone 14 Pro vs iPhone 13 Pro comparison – the visual differences between the two are almost indistinguishable. We’re talking a slightly different size for the new model, very slightly smaller bezels, and of course – the notch becomes a dynamic island (a pill-shaped cutout).

In terms of software features, the always-on display that comes with the 14 Pro is significant, and when it comes to hardware, it has a faster A16 Bionic chip and a high-resolution 48MP main camera.

Just the incremental updates we expect, with no big surprises. Well, other than, again, Dynamic Island, if we’re going to make it as big a deal as Apple.

Regarding the Google Pixel 7 Pro vs Google Pixel 6 Pro – in the design department they are also quite similar, but things get interesting when we look at the new features of the 7 Pro.

Yes, it has the same mandatory upgrades as any new flagship – better cameras, slightly better performance… But, we also get face unlock now, a 25% brighter screen, zoom higher camera (5x, SuperRes zoom up to 30x), a new Macro Focus function, a new Photo Unblur function.

But perhaps best of all, but probably the most underrated – the Pixel 7 Pro comes with a built-in VPN powered by Google One! To be fair, Apple does offer a private relay feature which, while not a VPN, protects your internet privacy by hiding your IP address, but it only works when you’re browsing the web in Safari. So the rest of your internet traffic remains as unprotected as usual.

On the other hand, Google’s free VPN that comes with the Pixel 7 series essentially hides all of your online activity from prying eyes, making it harder for any apps to collect data about you and sell it to third parties. .

With all of Apple’s talk about user privacy being its top priority, this move by Google is definitely a bold way to say, “Google cares about the privacy of our phone users, too, and we’re ready to prove it. considerably”.

Which brand sold you the best on its “Pro” phone? Which phone would you buy and why?

So at the end of the day, with all this marketing about Dynamic Islands and such, what phone are you really being sold on?

Or at the very least, which phone do you think deserves the most hype and which of its features do you think is the most underrated?

Also, do you think Apple’s marketing relies a bit too much on hype, significantly obscuring the true value of the iPhone features it introduces? Or do you love how exciting it is and wish Google tried to match it too?