Despite the initial controversy around this year’s Pro iPhones, is the newer design, 5x telephoto camera, and A17 Pro worth the higher entry price?
Apple released its 2023 iPhone lineup to the masses, and with it comes the new iPhone 15 Pro Max, packing the best hardware that Apple has to offer for users who want it. This year’s Pro iPhone brings subtle but impactful design changes, a new processor with a pro moniker, multiple camera improvements, USB-C, and a few other nifty features.
A New Titanium DesignThe Pro iPhone models offer a new material that replaces the stainless steel from before: titanium. This material has shown up on other Apple devices, such as the Apple Watch Ultra and the titanium Apple Watch Edition (but is no longer available to buy).
Aside from the different feel, the biggest improvement the new material brings is reducing the phone’s weight. If you own an iPhone 13 Pro Max or 14 Pro Max, you will notice the difference with this year’s model since it’s about 19 grams lighter.
Along with the new material, the phone now features contoured edges. Apple says that this design change makes the iPhone more comfortable to hold.
Since the iPhone switched to a squared-edge design with the iPhone 12, the edges have been sharper and less comfortable to hold than rounded-edge iPhones. You’ll feel the difference right away with the contoured edges of the 15 series.
Additionally, the bezels on the iPhone 15 Pro Max are slightly slimmer, making the phone look a little more modern.
When it comes to color choice, the iPhone 15 Pro Max comes in four colors: Black Titanium, Silver Titanium, Natural Titanium, and Blue Titanium. I chose Natural and Blue, and both look fantastic.
At Apple’s reveal event, the Blue Titanium color seemed to resemble the Pacific Blue color that was on the iPhone 12 Pro. However, when you see Blue Titanium in person, it is more of a navy blue, which I prefer. I hope both Natural Titanium and Blue Titanium stick around on future iPhones.
, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is slightly shorter than the previous 14 Pro Max. While it is minimal on paper, it is somewhat noticeable when you hold the phone. It seems to make it easier to use Apple’s larger model.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max’s design feels like what the 14 Pro Max should have been, since that model was the final version of the iPhone 12 cycle. Regardless, I like the 15 Pro Max’s design a lot. It may very well be one of my favorite smartphone designs ever. It almost makes me want to go without a case, but I’m not that bold.
The DisplayThe iPhone 15 Pro Max features the same display as its predecessor. It’s a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR display with a resolution of 2796 x 1290. The display can reach 2000 nits of peak brightness when the phone is outdoors, making it easier to view in sunlight. Since this is a Pro iPhone, the 15 Pro Max also includes up to a 120Hz adaptable refresh rate.
iPhone 15 Pro Max display
Therefore, you can enjoy smooth animations when swiping between home screen pages, scrolling, and more. The iPhone 15 Pro Max still features Dynamic Island, Apple’s version of a hole punch display cutout, which remains unchanged this year. Although there are no changes to the display this time around, it’s still excellent, so no complaints here.
The Action ButtonThe physical Silent Mode switch has existed on every iPhone since the start. But smartly, Apple decided to replace that switch with the Action button. This button is customizable, allowing you to map it to a specific action (even Silent Mode, if you can ‘t live without it!)
It initially showed up on the first-generation Apple Watch Ultra and has now made its way to the iPhone.
Only on the Pro models, the Action button can be used to open the camera, turn on the LED flash, enable a Focus Mode, and more. But you can also configure it to any Shortcut (read our beginner’s guide to Shortcuts on the iPhone ), which lets you do things such as open a specific app or even lock and unlock a Tesla. To trigger an action, you have to press and hold the button instead of just clicking it once.
I think this was a smart decision. The Action button on the Apple Watch Ultra only needs to be momentarily pressed for it to activate, which has led to accidentally triggering the flashlight, in my experience. Having to press and hold requires more intention.
It’s puzzling that Apple didn’t replace the physical Silent switch sooner. I always have my phone on mute, so the switch has been useless to me for years. The Action button is an excellent addition to the iPhone, since it’s multipurpose and adds a bit of customization. I’m interested in seeing if it will come to the standard iPhone models in 2024.The A17 Pro Chip2 Images15 Pro Max Geekbench CPU results15 Pro Max Geekbench GPU scorePowering the iPhone 15 Pro models, you’ll find a new chip: the A17 Pro. The A17 Pro is the first 3nm chip in any smartphone, which translates to better performance than a chipset built on a larger nanometer process.Apple claims the A17 Pro has a 10 percent faster CPU and a 20 percent faster GPU. It features a new Neural Engine that’s twice as fast as the A16 Bionic, as well as a 6-core CPU and a 6-core GPU; that’s one additional GPU core compared to the A16. Lastly, there is now 8GB of RAM, up from 6GB.