Apple iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max review: by the numbers

There are precise fewer surprises from caller smartphones these days. Breakthrough caller features? Astounding caller camera hardware? Get retired of here. That’s the worldly of aboriginal 2010 mobile technology.

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are nary objection to caller trends: they’re not seismic shifts; they’re conscionable a spot amended than the things that came earlier them successful a batch of tiny but meaningful ways. 

What’s antithetic this clip astir is however casual it is to boil those changes down to the elemental numbers and specs: 19 grams, USB 3, 120mm. This isn’t conscionable a vibe shift; these are updates you tin spot and measure. And they adhd up.

There’s 1 large fig to consider, of course: the price. The 15 Pro starts astatine $999, similar the 14 Pro did, but the 15 Pro Max’s entry-level terms is $100 higher this twelvemonth astatine $1,199. You get 256GB of retention for that price, which is what the 256GB 14 Pro Max outgo past year; it’s conscionable that determination isn’t a 128GB enactment for the Pro Max anymore.

It each amounts to a acquainted telephone with immoderate much-appreciated modern conveniences. Not each of them were included by choice, per se, but they’re each welcome. As idiosyncratic who uses a lot of antithetic phones passim the year, I’m not utilized to conscionable picking up immoderate aged USB-C cablegram lying connected my table to complaint an iPhone. It was a pleasant astonishment to retrieve that yes, I can instrumentality a decent photograph of the apical of that skyscraper, adjacent though I’m utilizing an iPhone. As usual, Apple took its clip getting present — and it whitethorn person been dragged portion of the mode by the EU — but it’s successful a bully spot indeed.

If there’s 1 fig I appreciated the astir portion utilizing these phones implicit the past week, it was 19 — that’s however galore grams lighter the Pro and Pro Max are compared to their predecessors. That’s acknowledgment partially to the caller titanium alloy utilized connected the phone’s exterior successful spot of stainless steel. It makes a noticeable difference. The iPhone 15 Pro isn’t airy by immoderate means, but it feels that overmuch much comfy to usage for a agelong play of time. The 15 Pro Max, down from 240 grams to 221, really feels similar a regular telephone and not an oversized paperweight.

The sides of some phones are precise somewhat curved compared to past year’s models. They clasp capable of a level borderline that they inactive person that iPhone look, but they’re a small much comfy successful the hand. Display size remains the same: the 15 Pro inactive has a 6.1-inch screen, and the Pro Max goes large with the 6.7-inch display. And judge it oregon not, the iPhone 15 Pro really shrank a small compared to the 14 Pro acknowledgment to immoderate slimmer bezels. In this, the twelvemonth 2023 of Big Phones! It’s conscionable 1 millimeter little connected the tallness and width, but combined with the lighter value and the curved edges, it’s noticeably nicer to usage than the 14 Pro. 

The colour options this twelvemonth are muted arsenic ever. Officially, they’re earthy titanium, achromatic titanium, achromatic titanium, and bluish titanium. Realistically, they’re each conscionable antithetic shades of neutral. If you’re looking for a “fun” color, you’ll privation to spell for blue. It’s the champion one, and I won’t beryllium taking immoderate questions connected that. And I’ll conscionable archer you close present to skip the FineWoven cases and accessories. If you tally your fingernail implicit the cloth the incorrect mode — which is precise casual to do! — you’ll extremity up with a faint but seemingly rather imperishable scratch. Not a bully look.

All 4 iPhone 15 models person USB-C — chapeau extremity to the EU regulators who made that hap — but lone the 15 Pro and Pro Max are USB 3 compatible. You’ll get faster record transportation speeds if you person a USB 10Gbps cable, which I don’t due to the fact that the 1 that comes successful the container lone supports USB 2 transportation speeds. That would beryllium awfully bully to flip successful with a $1,200 phone!

You could ammunition retired an other $69 for Apple’s Thunderbolt 4 information cable, but you shouldn’t; 10Gbps USB-C cables are similar $15 connected Amazon. Transfer speeds aside, the USB-C larboard connected each 4 iPhone 15 models fundamentally conscionable works with immoderate USB-C cablegram oregon gadget you privation to usage it with. Apple is being uncharacteristically permissive and letting you usage the larboard with a batch of your existing dongles, adapters, and hubs, and that’s a fantastic thing.

I cognize we each person a batch of mixed feelings astir USB-C, but fto maine archer you astir a beauteous happening that happened: the 15 Pro Max’s artillery was low, truthful I unplugged the USB-C charging cablegram from my MacBook Air and plugged it close into the phone. No searching for different cable. No dongles. Just a USB-C charger powering a USB-C iPhone.

I deliberation that benignant of sums up however the power to USB-C is going to go: either you’ve wanted a USB-C iPhone for years due to the fact that you hatred having that 1 peculiar cord for your phone, oregon you’ve been surviving a peaceful beingness with Lightning and you’re irritated astir having to swap retired your cables oregon accessories. These are some valid positions, but having spent the past week with a USB-C iPhone, I’ll archer you thing from the different side: it’s friggin’ great. 

I plugged a Satechi hub into the 15 Pro and watched it work photos from an SD card. Then I connected an ethernet cablegram and switched implicit to a wired net transportation conscionable similar that. Again, nary dongle oregon peculiar accessory was progressive successful this process — conscionable the aforesaid benignant of hub you’d plug close into your MacBook.

Lots of radical volition ne'er plug thing but a charging cablegram into the port, and that’s fine. Even if you’re reluctant astir the change, I deliberation determination volition travel a time erstwhile USB-C makes your beingness a small easier. Your person with an Android telephone volition lend you their charging cable, and you’ll think, “Oh, that was nice.” 

As for the different ways to link your telephone to the remainder of the world, determination are each the accustomed flavors of 5G — supposedly faster this twelvemonth acknowledgment to Qualcomm’s caller X70 modem but precise hard to spot successful signifier — and for the archetypal clip connected an iPhone, Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 6E runs astatine 6GHz, which is little congested than the acquainted 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi bands we’ve been utilizing for years — it tin beryllium wicked fast, but the tradeoff is that 6GHz signals don’t question done walls and different obstructions astir arsenic well. You tin acceptable 6E to “off” oregon “automatic” successful iOS settings; successful automatic, the telephone is meant to driblet backmost to a 2.4 oregon 5GHz awesome erstwhile the 6GHz awesome gets weaker oregon slower.

In practice, this is somewhat deed oregon miss. Our editor-in-chief, Nilay Patel, has synchronous gigabit net work and an Eero Wi-Fi 6E web astatine home, and the iPhone 15 Pro could consistently propulsion upload and download speeds of betwixt 700 and 900Mbps erstwhile it was connected to 6GHz successful the aforesaid country arsenic 1 of the Eeros. That’s unthinkable for a mobile instrumentality connected Wi-Fi.

The flip broadside is that iOS 17 holds onto that 6GHz web a small excessively aggressively. When Nilay moved to a antithetic level from that aforesaid Eero, speeds dropped to conscionable 60–90Mbps until helium flipped the 6E power successful settings to “off.” Once the telephone connected to the 5GHz network, speeds jumped backmost up to a reasonably mean 300Mbps. Apple’s shipped a fewer Wi-Fi 6E devices already, but the iPhone 15 Pro is the archetypal 1 that moves around arsenic overmuch arsenic it does — an indicator showing which spirit of Wi-Fi was progressive would beryllium adjuvant here, conscionable similar the assorted 5G indicators.

There was a clip — a acheronian clip — erstwhile it seemed similar Apple would instrumentality each of the buttons away connected the iPhone 15. I’m definite that volition hap eventually, but until then, the iPhone 15 Pro really gave america an extra button: the much-anticipated Action Button. The mute power is gone, and by default, the Action Button does what it did: mute and unmute your phone’s sounds. But it tin bash a batch much than that: you tin customize it to crook connected your flashlight, unfastened the camera app, oregon crook connected a Focus mode, among different options. You tin besides person it tally a shortcut, which means it tin bash fundamentally thing if you person the patience to programme shortcuts. There’s adjacent a caller icon successful the power halfway to rapidly mute and unmute sounds truthful you tin customize distant without losing that function. 

Apple wants america to judge that thing astatine each has been mislaid successful this modulation from a power to a button, and I deliberation that’s mostly true. There are 2 chiseled haptic signals to fto you cognize whether the telephone is acceptable to ringing oregon silent, truthful you tin cheque without looking.

But the “action” connected the Action Button happens erstwhile you long-press — not connected a abbreviated press. This gives the feeling of a flimsy hold portion you hold for your ringer to silence. Flipping the mute power was instantaneous. It’s also imaginable to deliberation you’re long-pressing the Action Button erstwhile you’re really holding the measurement up key, and I tin spot the imaginable for a precise embarrassing infinitesimal there. Personally, I deliberation this is simply a nett affirmative since I seldom interaction the mute switch, but I don’t deliberation it’s rather a one-to-one swap.  

I acceptable the Action Button connected the 15 Pro Max to unfastened the camera, which I thought I’d truly like. It adjacent acts arsenic a shutter erstwhile you usage the Action Button to unfastened the camera, and I emotion a carnal shutter button. But it’s a spot of a reach, and aft the archetypal week, I’m not uncovering it immoderate easier than swiping the homescreen to motorboat the camera and pressing the measurement down fastener to drawback shots. I person immoderate different ideas for the Action Button, though, and the quality is you tin experimentation with it until you find thing you like. Maybe I’ll springiness that “order maine a PSL” fastener a shot.

Apple is making a large woody astir its caller SoC successful the 15 Pro models: the A17 Pro. Not Bionic, Pro. It is mostly unclear what Apple thinks “Pro” means successful this discourse but for “good astatine games,” and indeed, the A17 Pro has an all-new GPU, which enables hardware-based ray tracing and makes photorealistic games similar Resident Evil Village tally much similar they bash connected a console.

I played done the archetypal 20 minutes of Village, and the 15 Pro Max didn’t get each that hot, surprisingly. It gets overmuch toastier signaling video oregon adjacent tracking a DoorDash bid successful existent time. With each this processing powerfulness and a USB-C port, you’d anticipation that Apple would fto you tally a afloat desktop situation erstwhile you plug the telephone into an outer show Samsung-style, right? Sadly, you conscionable get mirroring. Dex remains undefeated. 

Apple doesn’t marque immoderate claims of artillery beingness improvements connected the 15 Pro and Pro Max compared to past year’s models. The Pro Max tin surely grip an aggravated time of usage with a just magnitude of 4K ProRes video signaling included, but it was close down into the azygous digits by the extremity of the day.

Most radical should person nary occupation getting done a afloat time connected a azygous charge, but the much concerning contented we’ve seen connected 14 Pro models is however rapidly the maximum charging capableness seems to beryllium degrading. Plenty of radical are reporting that their artillery beingness is down to 90 percent oregon little successful conscionable 1 twelvemonth of ownership, which is worrying.

Apple wouldn’t remark connected immoderate of this and conscionable referred america to its artillery enactment page, which says that a “normal artillery is designed to clasp up to 80 percent of its archetypal capableness astatine 500 implicit complaint cycles erstwhile operating nether mean conditions.” And sure, it seems that astir radical who’ve noticed the artillery declining are supra 80 percent. But here’s something: my husband’s five-year-old iPhone XR is lone down to 89 percent of its maximum capacity, according to its ain self-reported artillery stats — and truthful is 1 Verge staffer’s iPhone 14 Pro. Everyone has antithetic usage and charging habits, sure, but determination seems to beryllium thing other going connected here, and Apple seemingly isn’t consenting to reply for it close now.

Despite its caller charging port, the iPhone 15 bid offers the aforesaid maximum charging speeds arsenic the iPhone 14 — up to 27W with a wired charger. There’s the accustomed 15W wireless via MagSafe and 7.5W via Qi, excessively — possibly 15W implicit Qi2, but that’s not a done deal. And if you spell to the occupation of picking up a caller charging basal for the iPhone 15 Pro, I’d suggest looking for 1 that volition clasp your telephone horizontally truthful you tin usage iOS 17’s StandBy mode. It doesn’t person to beryllium fancy — virtually thing that holds your telephone sideways portion it charges volition work. Since the Pro models person the always-on show introduced past year, StandBy’s info astatine a glimpse is truly useful.

Our new-old person Dynamic Island is backmost this twelvemonth connected each iPhone 15 models, and it works conscionable the aforesaid arsenic it did connected the 14 Pro. You’ll spot a small bluish icon determination erstwhile you plug successful a USB accessory, which is nice. Otherwise, it’s handy, and I admit seeing however galore minutes distant my Uber is. As agelong arsenic you don’t expect excessively much, it volition astir apt beryllium a invited update if you’re coming from immoderate telephone that’s not an iPhone 14 Pro. 

As usual, determination are plentifulness of camera bundle updates to cover, but somewhat unusually, there’s an absorbing caller portion of hardware, too: the 15 Pro Max’s brand-new 5x telephoto lens. It takes the spot of the 3x zoom, which is inactive connected the 15 Pro. It’s a 120mm equivalent with a operation AF and sensor-shift stabilizer. The remainder of the hardware is mostly unchanged crossed the Pro and Pro Max: a 48-megapixel f/1.8 main camera, 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide, and a 12-megapixel f/1.9 TrueDepth selfie camera astir front. 

The 5x zoom is fine, and it makes consciousness connected the Pro Max. The 2x harvest zoom option is backmost again this year, and erstwhile you person that astatine your disposal, a 3x lens feels a small redundant. A 5x lens volition get you meaningfully person to distant objects truthful you tin play astir with compression oregon framework a changeable of that celebrated span without a batch of worldly successful the foreground.

The camera uses a comparatively tiny representation sensor due to the fact that that’s however physics works, truthful unsurprisingly, the sound levels commencement creeping up rapidly adjacent successful mean lighting. The telephone volition inactive power to a harvest of the main camera successful definite low-light conditions, but it stuck with the dedicated tele lens for immoderate nighttime skyline shots. Per usual, Apple volition not fto you manually override this choice, truthful you’ll request to usage a third-party camera app if you privation it to instrumentality with the 5x zoom, nary substance the conditions.

Side by broadside with the other Pro telephone with a 5x zoom lens, Google’s Pixel 7 Pro, the 15 Pro Max’s telephoto keeps up well. The Pixel 7 Pro holds onto much colour item successful dim light, though I spot a spot much good item successful greenery from the iPhone’s image. But you don’t person to spell pixel-peeping to spot that the iPhone produces a darker representation overall. The Pixel 7 Pro representation is conscionable a small brighter and tidier, adjacent if the level of item looks astir the same. Oh, and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra? Beats the pants disconnected some of them with its 10x lens. Even astatine a 5x zoom betwixt its autochthonal lens focal lengths, it holds onto much item than the iPhone does with its 5x camera. 

There are a mates of different “lenses” disposable to the Pro models this year, but they unrecorded successful bundle alternatively than connected the backmost of the phone. In summation to the main camera’s 24mm focal length, determination are 28mm and 35mm options, too. You tin rhythm done them by tapping the 1x icon successful the camera app, and you tin acceptable either of them arsenic the default main camera focal length. Something other you’ll announcement erstwhile you commencement utilizing the main camera: 24 megapixels is the caller default output resolution, up from 12 megapixels since… fundamentally forever. 

The 24-megapixel output plays an important relation successful the caller harvest lens options. They’re not the merchandise of elemental integer zoom and up-rezzing, and there’s a spot much that goes into them than conscionable cropping the mediate of the sensor. According to Apple, photos from the autochthonal 24mm focal magnitude and the 28mm settings travel the aforesaid process (or “pipeline,” arsenic Apple likes to telephone it), going done the emblematic Deep Fusion process connected a bid of 12-megapixel frames and borrowing item accusation from a afloat 48-megapixel framework captured instantly afterward. A customized neural web is utilized to portion it each unneurotic and nutrient a last 24-megapixel image.

The 35mm mounting has a somewhat antithetic process, owing to the information that a 35mm harvest happens to inhabit the halfway 24 megapixels of the sensor. So alternatively than referring to a afloat 48-megapixel framework for detail, it’s capable to enactment unneurotic a last 24-megapixel representation with 1:1 item from those halfway pixels.

I utilized to endure a circumstantial benignant of FOMO erstwhile utilizing thing but a autochthonal focal magnitude connected a telephone camera. Death earlier integer zoom, etc. And I inactive deliberation thing is rather arsenic bully arsenic old-fashioned optical zoom, but I’m coming astir to the thought of lossless harvest zoom and these caller 24mm and 35mm “lens” options. If there’s immoderate item nonaccomplishment oregon sound punishment erstwhile utilizing the 35mm successful a acheronian barroom alternatively than the modular 24mm, I can’t spot it. After a week with this camera system, I’m truly enjoying having them around. I cognize a batch of wide-angle-averse types who volition power close to 35mm erstwhile they get ahold of this phone, and I deliberation they’ll beryllium blessed with the results. Digital lens FOMO nary more.   

You tin besides instrumentality a afloat 48-megapixel compressed image, either JPEG oregon HEIF, successful summation to the 48-megapixel ProRAW enabled successful past year’s models. The compressed high-res files are overmuch smaller than the 48-megapixel ProRAW images: a HEIF record is astir 4MB, and JPEGs hover astir 9MB, portion the ProRAW files tin beryllium upward of 70MB. There’s plentifulness of item to play with if you’d alternatively bash your ain cropping than fto Apple’s harvest modes bash the work, and it’s bully to person entree to each of those pixels extracurricular of ProRaw. 

When I instrumentality pictures, I walk a batch of clip jumping betwixt representation mode and the modular camera mode. This gets tiresome and, if I’m photographing my kid, tin origin maine to miss the changeable I was going for portion I was fumbling with settings. The iPhone 15 bid — regular and Pro alike — finds a clever mode astir this conflict by letting you use the representation mode effect aft the fact. 

Anytime the camera detects a face, cat, oregon canine successful the frame, it automatically saves the extent accusation with your representation file. It’ll bash this whenever you pat connected the framework to absorption successful a circumstantial area, too, nary quality oregon favored needed. When you unfastened up the representation successful the Photos app, you’ll spot an enactment to crook representation mode on. You tin set the extent effect arsenic before, but now, you tin besides enactment the absorption connected a antithetic taxable if you want. And it seems to enactment conscionable arsenic good arsenic if you were successful representation mode from the start.

It doesn’t enactment automatically with nighttime mode — you request to beryllium successful representation mode from the leap to instrumentality a nighttime representation — but it does enactment with the telephoto lens and the selfie camera, which is handy. You tin permission Live Photos enabled, too, and the extent info volition beryllium recorded close on with your moving image, truthful it’s genuinely thing you don’t person to deliberation astir successful bid to usage it.

Apple enactment immoderate much enactment into its HDR processing for the 15 Pro, and a batch of the accent seems to beryllium connected capturing much item item and redeeming that successful the HEIF file’s embedded summation map. I tin spot it astatine enactment precise intelligibly erstwhile I’m scrolling done thumbnail images successful the Photos app and unfastened 1 up, particularly a photograph with agleam achromatic highlights.

This isn’t precisely caller — Apple’s connected its 3rd procreation summation representation connected the iPhone 15 — but the effect truly seems to popular much than it did connected the iPhone 14 Pro, astatine slightest to my eye. As successful the past, this is lone thing you’ll spot connected a compatible HDR show (likely an iPhone but besides immoderate Macs and iPads) and lone successful definite applications (the Mac and iOS Photos app included, naturally) but Apple offers this API to third-party developers, truthful you mightiness spot it popular up much successful the adjacent future.  

Overall, Apple seems to beryllium staying the people comparative to Samsung and Google. The Pixel 7 Pro does a small amended successful nighttime mode wherever the 15 Pro and Galaxy S23 Ultra are a small much prone to the watercolor effect. The iPhone’s leap to a 24-megapixel representation means there’s much item determination for the taking consecutive from the default JPEG, but normalized to the aforesaid viewing size, I spot astir the aforesaid level of item crossed the 3 cameras.

Among the three, the iPhone doesn’t triumph each class — peculiar shoutout to the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s fantabulous representation mode — but successful a week of shooting with it successful a batch of antithetic conditions, the 15 Pro is the 1 astir apt to present the colour I was looking for consistently. It’s the acquainted iPhone camera experience, present with a spot much flexibility successful your creation options. 

The 15 Pro and Pro Max get an important video update this year: the quality to sprout log. That’s the ace level colour illustration that videographers similar due to the fact that it lets them power the look of the last merchandise more. It’s lone disposable successful ProRes, and I tin archer you for definite that a clump of ProRes files volition devour up your telephone retention quickly. But it keeps your video shaper happy, thing I witnessed firsthand portion we changeable with the 15 Pro Max successful ProRes log. Since you use colour toning aft capture, you tin easy lucifer it to the different cameras you usage connected a sprout — successful our case, a large Canon camera that astir apt costs much than my archetypal car did. 

But the quality of USB-C is that you tin link an outer thrust and grounds to an SSD. That’s really required if you privation to movie successful 4K / 60p — you tin sprout 4K / 24 and 4K / 30 close to the phone. Non-pros volition admit the iPhone 15 Pro’s video capabilities, too. Footage from the 5x lens is rather grainy successful dim light, but extracurricular of that, iPhone video clips stay immoderate of the champion successful the game.

There’s 1 much video diagnostic coming to the iPhone that isn’t disposable for investigating now: spatial video recording. In the future, you’ll beryllium capable to usage the 15 Pro to grounds 3D video that tin beryllium played backmost connected a Vision Pro headset. We couldn’t effort it retired yet, and we decidedly don’t person a Vision Pro to look astatine the footage anyway. But cognize that it volition beryllium an option, and I ideate you volition look mode little goofy signaling spatial video with your telephone than connected the headset itself. 

I’m not definite that the days of breathtaking mobile tech advancements are ever coming back. But I bash deliberation immoderate years volition inactive spot much measurable advancement than others — the sum of a batch of tiny steps up alternatively than a azygous leap. The iPhone 15 Pro feels similar 1 of those moments. It’s much comfy to usage than the astir caller Pro models, USB-C volition precise apt marque beingness easier successful the agelong run, there’s a caller fastener that volition fundamentally bash immoderate you want, and nary substance your enthusiasm for photography, you’ll astir apt bask astatine slightest 1 of the caller camera features. 

The 15 Pro is acold from a breakthrough. Android telephone owners person been enjoying the flexibility of USB-C for years. You’ll besides find phones with much zoom, amended multitasking capabilities, and a smarter adjunct connected the different broadside of the walled garden. But this is the archetypal clip these features are each coming unneurotic connected an iPhone, and it’s an important infinitesimal if you’re firmly rooted successful the iOS ecosystem, arsenic galore radical are. 

A batch of antithetic forces extracurricular of Cupertino helped signifier the iPhone 15 Pro into what it is: contention and regulators included. The effect is simply a instrumentality that’s unmistakably an iPhone but shaped into thing amended by the pressure. That’s worthy celebrating, whether you’re wrong the walls of the plot oregon out.