Intro
- Slight redesign
- Titanium frame
- Mute switch is upgraded to Action Switch
- New A17 Pro processor with ray tracing, USB 3 data speeds
- No more 128 GB entry option
- New camera algorithms to improve image quality
- New 5x zoom lens
- USB Type C instead of Lightning
Table of Contents:
Design and Size
This one won’t be a Spider-Man meme
No.
Additionally, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is ever-so-slightly smaller since it has thinner bezels around the display, thus a slightly higher screen-to-body ratio.
As for buttons — you will find the power and volume buttons to be on the same spots on both phones. But the iPhone 15 Pro Max has an extra one — the Action Button now replaces the good old mute toggle. By default, the Action Button will cycle through mute and ringer. But you will also be able to customize it to open apps, Siri shortcuts, flashlight, camera, Focus modes, et cetera.
Also, the iPhone 15 series have a USB Type-C port instead of the Lightning port for charging and data transfers. You have the EU regulators to thank for this. The non-Pro iPhones are still in the stone age stuck to USB 2.0 speeds, but the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will be able to transfer data via cable with USB 3 speeds. That means 10 Gbps or 20 times faster than USB 2.0 (and Lightning). Finally, you will be able to get those super-huge video files off your iPhone… if you have the optional USB 3 cable that is.
Display Differences
We have mostly the same screens on both devices — Samsung-made OLED panels that have the Dynamic Island cutout on top, 120 Hz refresh rates, and 2,000 nit max (peak) brightness.
Do you ever need that much brightness? Possibly not, but Apple is using it for headroom so it can display HDR videos and photos comfortably, no matter your ambient lighting conditions.
The other numbers haven’t changed — same 6.7-inch size, with the same 1290×2796 resolution, and a 120 Hz ProMotion refresh rate. Apple has found what it’s comfortable with and, in fairness, it works.
Performance and Software
A17 Pro-Bionic?
Do keep in mind that “operations per second” does not translate to performance increase 1 to 1, we will have to run some benchmarks. But for real life use? The iPhone 14 Pro Max is still ridiculously powerful, so the iPhone 15 Pro Max will simply be “more headroom” for 90% of users out there.
What is cool is that the chip has actually convinced some game developers to actually bring their console-grade games to the iPhone 15 Pro. No, that’s not a metaphor like “Raid: Shadowlegends is console-level” — we are talking about Assassin’s Creed: Mirage here — the yet-unreleased but highly anticipated AAA game by Ubisoft.
Apple’s wording made it sound like these games are only coming to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, but we’ll see… It doesn’t sound like a great investment for a game studio to only develop for two devices.
What we do know is that the iPhone 14 Pro Max is is still very snappy, fast, smooth, and basically among the best-performing smartphones on the market. Its A16 chip will likely live on inside the non-Pro iPhone 15, so it’s obviously not going to be considered obsolete just yet.
As for what’s actually going to be new with it — we will get a new customizable Contact Poster. Basically, you will be able to choose how you present yourself on the screen of whomever you are calling. There’s also a new journalling app, and quality of life improvements inside iMessage, better ways to share your location and automatic ways to let close ones know when you have gotten home safely.
Camera
Tetra-mega-… look, it’s 5x zoom!
The main camera sensor of the iPhone 15 Pro Max hasn’t changed — it’s still the big 48 MP one that was introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro Max. What’s new with the 15 is the image processing.
With upgraded Photonic Engine and HDR pipelines, Apple is promising better details, better low light performance, and more accurate skintones. Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro Max now bins pixels and shoots 24 MP photos by default — the iPhone 14 Pro Max defaults at 12 MP. Should we expect double the image quality? At this point we are hoping for less software oversharpening.
What the iPhone 15 Pro Maxis getting is a new periscope zoom telephoto lens. Well, OK, it’s a tetraprism lens. Look, the end result is a 5x optical zoom. Did we need that much? That’s debatable.
Apple will be using software magic to make sure the 1x-4.9x zoom range is of “lossless” quality and the new lens allows for a software zoom of up to 25x. The iPhone 14 Pro Max has a 3x telephoto lens and caps out at 15x total digital zoom.
Still a far cry from what competitors like Samsung are doing, and barely touching the Pixel’s 30x zoom.
Audio Quality and Haptics
Apple’s haptics have been industry-leading for years (though, Android manufacturers did catch up about 3 years ago). At this point, we don’t know how the haptics can be made better — the Taptic engine in the iPhone 14 Pro Max clicks and clacks super-accurately with pleasing feedback, as it has for years now. We don’t see that changing with the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
As for speakers — the iPhone 14 Pro Max already sounds excellent, with loud and full stereo sound. It can be a bit harsh or crackle a bit in the highs with specific genres. We do think Apple should revisit the EQ curve for the speakers of the iPhones just for a couple of tweaks. But we don’t think it will happen with the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Battery Life and Charging
All day battery? You betcha
The Apple A-series chips have the capability of being powerful but also energy-efficient. Really, if you put an iPhone under a huge strain — max-res 3D gaming, video-editing and exporting, or just benchmark stress testing — it will eat through a battery fairly fast. Even then, the iPhone 14 Pro Max delivered pretty respectable battery life under heavy load.
On the other end of the spectrum, iPhones are exceptionally good at preserving charge while in standby, and also don’t drain much for regular tasks, such as browsing, chatting, and YouTube binging. Again, the iPhone 14 Pro Max smashed results, giving us 19 hours of web browsing before turning off.
We fully expect that the iPhone 15 Pro Max would be capable of hitting at least that endurance, if not more. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t even reveal battery capacity, so we can’t speculate here. Apple’s battery stats for the iPhone 15 Pro Max are exactly the same as the ones for the iPhone 14 Pro Max:
- Video playback – Up to 29 hours
- Video playback (streamed) – Up to 25 hours
- Audio playback – Up to 95 hours
Specs Comparison
| iPhone 15 Pro Max | iPhone 14 Pro Max | |
|---|---|---|
| Size, weight | 6.30 x 3.02 x 0.32 inches (159.9 x 76.7 x 8.25 mm) 7.80 oz (221.0 g) |
6.33 x 3.05 x 0.31 inches (160.7 x 77.6 x 7.85 mm) 8.47 oz (240.0 g) |
| Screen | 6.7″ OLED 120 Hz ProMotion 2796 x 1290 pixels |
6.7″ OLED 120 Hz ProMotion 2796 x 1290 pixels |
| Processor | A17 Bionic 3 nm |
A16 Bionic 4 nm |
| Storage options | 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB |
128 GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB |
| Cameras | 48 MP main 12 MP ultra 12 MP 5X zoom 12 MP front |
48 MP main 12 MP ultra 12 MP 3X zoom 12 MP front |
| Battery | Unknown | 4323 mAh |
| Charging | USB-C 20 W wired 15 W MagSafe |
Lightning 20 W wired 15 W MagSafe |
Looking at the table here, we can definitely say that whatever notable improvements the iPhone 15 Pro Max would have, they are either in the software or stem from the field of “Apple Magic”. Though, the faster USB C port is definitely a long overdue and much needed upgrade.
Summary and Final Verdict
By all means, if you currently have an iPhone 14 Pro Max, you should feel pretty set — we don’t think an upgrade to iPhone 15 Pro Max would be mandatory or that much of an improvement. Unless you really, really want that optical zoom and the USB 3 speeds (we get it, especially if you actually use that Pro iPhone as a video camera. A novel concept in a product with a Pro moniker).
In fact, we do think we will be recommending the iPhone 14 Pro Max as a “cheaper super-premium phone” once its price gets ticked down by the release of the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
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Alex Smith is a writer and editor with over 10 years of experience. He has written extensively on a variety of topics, including technology, business, and personal finance. His work has been published in a number of magazines and newspapers, and he is also the author of two books. Alex is passionate about helping people learn and grow, and he believes that writing is a powerful tool for communication and understanding.
