iPhone 15 Pro review: Apple delivers the Action you didn’t know you needed

If you’ve already read our iPhone 15 review and didn’t pull the trigger, I imagine you’ve been waiting for our iPhone 15 Pro review. After a solid week of using the latest high-end iPhones, I’m ready to declare that Apple did it again. The new Pro-series iPhones offer many of the refinements you expect, plus a neat surprise or two.

Starting at $999 for the iPhone 15 Pro with 128GB and $1,199 for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, these new models feature a series of smallish tweaks that add up to a lot — especially if you, like me, don’t upgrade every year. This year’s marquee perks include new camera tech, a new charging port, a new metal and even (gasp) a new button. But is that enough for you? Let’s find out.

What we liked about it

The USB-C change we’ve been waiting for

Apple’s long-overdue port swap from Lightning to USB-C is a welcome upgrade. USB-C is everywhere, from the video game console controllers in my living room to the laptops, mouse, webcam and ring light at my desk. Oh, and the iPhone 15 Pro’s USB-C port offers data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps, obliterating Lightning’s 480Mbps speed limit for those who are offloading content. Yes, I know people won’t want to buy more cables, but since you may have some USB-C cables around already, new accessory purchases will be minimized.

There are arguments to be made about how Apple didn’t use the fastest version of USB-C, as the iPhone 15 Pro’s max transfer speeds leaves the 40Gbps rates of faster cables and ports for a future model to potentially reach for. Those exporting a ton of 4K video off of their phone or backing up locally will want that rate to be as high as possible, so they’re not waiting for a progress bar to complete. But the Galaxy S23 Ultra also maxes out at 10Gbps, so I’m not miffed.

The touch, the feel of titanium

Don’t tell anyone buying an iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Plus, but stainless steel is so 2022 — Apple’s moved the Pro phones to titanium. And this upgrade is so good that I need to lavish some praise on Apple’s nü metal (don’t get me wrong, it’s no Limp Bizkit). The word “pro” has a lot of meaning in Apple’s lineup, and in the iPhone 15 Pro Max that translates to a big iPhone that’s lighter than ever. And on top of that, Apple claims that its titanium offers one of the “highest strength-to-weight ratios of any metal.”

Apple also shaved a little off the sides of the iPhone 15 Pro, both with its rounded edges and bezels. For those that go caseless, those cut-down edges may be the greatest boon, as I’ve found it makes the iPhone 15 feel better to grip. Personally, I thought the iPhone 14’s bezels were already thin enough, and anything slimmer will likely require more work to avoid accidental actuation.

Picking up the iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro Max, I instantly noticed that this year’s model is — just as they say — lighter. Sure, a 7.81-ounce iPhone 15 Pro Max may not sound substantially lighter than the 8.47-ounce iPhone 14 Pro Max on paper, but it’s certainly easier to hold. Still,  you might want to check the difference out for yourself in a store.

Better portrait photos (and stronger zoom for some)

Apple lauded the iPhone 15 Pro as heralding its “next generation” of portrait photos, something I noticed instantly in my testing. Portrait shots taken with the iPhone 14 Pro Max were a little inaccurate with my hair, blurring out the tips of the top of my new haircut, while the 15 Pro and Pro Max were far clearer. The Pro Max also picked up a slight rosiness in my cheeks that the Pro didn’t get, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s portrait mode lived up to its stellar reputation. My one knock against it was possibly going a little too warm on my skintone.

The truly revolutionary portrait mode trick that still blows my mind is the ability to add the Bokeh background effect after you’ve taken a regular photo. The iPhone 15 just needs to recognize that a human, dog or cat was in your photo (tap on the subject and look for the ‘f’ logo on screen), and you’ll see a Portrait option after opening ‘edit’ mode for a photo. This mode also lets you switch the focal point after the fact, which wowed me as I tested it out at my local dog park — though getting the hounds to stay still long enough to be recognized is its own problem.

Trying these cameras out with trickier nighttime portrait mode shots in a dimly-lit part of the lower east side, I’ll give points to the S23 Ultra for delivering great shots with little effort. The default iPhone settings over-illuminated my face to an unnatural pinkish hue, but I got great night mode portraits overall when I disabled the flash setting on the iPhone Pros. The S23 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro captured a similar amount of detail, I just prefer how my skin looks more natural in the iPhone shots.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max’s 3x telephoto sensors took similar shots of downtown Brooklyn from afar, while the Pro Max’s 5x optical zoom allowed for tighter framing. That said, the Galaxy Ultra’s 10x telephoto lens (which uses a periscope-mirror setup, unlike Apple’s tetraprism) gets you closer, enough to cut off the top of the ominous black Brooklyn Tower. I’d love for Apple to get that level of zoom some day.

When I brought these phones to the historic Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY for All Elite Wrestling, I found that the Ultra was better at getting tighter shots of in-ring competitors. That said, I’ve found the S23 Ultra’s 6.8-inch form a little harder to get used to than the only-slightly-smaller iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 6.7-inch design, and its 5x telephoto camera still got great action shots.

But what about more regular, every-day photography? Well, check out these photos from the pier at New York City’s West Side Highway, where the iPhone photos look more or less the same across the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, while the 14 Pro Max’s colors are a little brighter (not an issue) but the S23 Ultra delivers super-saturated blues in the sky and reds on the boat.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max didn’t separate itself much from the iPhone 14 Pro Max in food photography either, with gelato closeups practically looking dead-even. The browns of the chocolate on the 15 Pro Max appear slightly more true to real life, but it’s by a margin you wouldn’t notice without side-by-side comparison. The S23 Ultra’s shot of this frozen treat delivered the brighter and over-saturated tones we expect from Samsung’s Galaxy phones, while its food mode capture was washed out.

The iPhone 15 and 14 Pro Max photos looked even more similar with macro shots of a slice of pepperoni pizza, where I had to double-check the metadata to make sure they weren’t the same shot. The reds of the spicy sauce and the curling pepperoni cups look rich and vibrant no matter if you’re on the iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, or the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Again, the S23 Ultra shot of that slice delivered boosted color, while the food mode shot went too far.

Beast mode performance

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max’s A17 Pro chip is Apple’s brawniest pocketable silicon yet, something I could sense throughout most moments with the phone. Everything just moved smoothly as I switched back and forth from 4K video editing to all sorts to all the various apps I use throughout the day. I also noticed it run regular iPhone games such as Asphalt 9 and Diablo Immortal with ease. My Mitsubishi Lancer careened into walls and all sorts of objects without clipping in the former, and my barbarian Brock slashes through hordes of beasties in the latter. Both Madden 24 Mobile and Genshin Impact also looked great.

Testing out a preview version of Resident Evil Village, the iPhone 15 Pro Max handled the first chapter of Ethan Winters’ latest terrifying tale admirably… most of the time. Everything looked perfect as I navigated Ethan around his home, bringing his young daughter Rosemary to her crib, and even when I led Ethan through the dark woods and through a few terrorizing zombie-like infected creeps. Calamity only struck when I was surrounded by too many of these beasties, and the game slowed down a bit.

Hopefully that doesn’t happen once the game comes out of “preview” and is officially released on Oct. 30. Still, even as is, it’s an impressive piece of proof of how far iPhone performance has come. Games of this caliber will be iPhone 15 Pro exclusives, and the Resident Evil 4 Remake and Assassin’s Creed Unity are to follow. That said, playing a video game that makes more sense on a big screen TV on a much-smaller phone doesn’t really feel like something I’ll be doing in my personal time.

The iPhone 15 Pros dominated the field on our Geekbench 6 benchmark tests, with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro) walloping the S23 Ultra by almost 2,000 points on multi-core performance.

Curious how this year’s iPhones stack up? Well, the A17 Pro also beats the A16 Bionic found in this year’s iPhone 15 models and last year’s iPhone 14 Pro series by about 7%.

Time for some (customizable) action

For years, I had hoped Apple would open up the Control Center — the iPhone menu you open by swiping down from the top-right corner — so that third party applications could have their own buttons. Apple’s apps are good, but what if you want instant access to something else? Enter the Action button.

Yes, Apple flipped off the mute switch in favor of the small, clicky oval-shaped Action button. Its placement may have confused me at first, as I thought I was clicking the volume-up button, but I’ve adjusted to it over the span of a week. While it defaults to operating as a mute switch just as before (with more haptic feedback when muting than un-muting), there’s a delightfully extra Settings app menu that lets you change this new button to whatever you want.

The default options let you turn silent mode on and off, enable a focus mode, open the camera (and take a photo with an extra click) or flashlight, start capturing a voice memo, use the magnifier, open a Shortcut, use an accessibility feature or simply do nothing. I already see the value in the Shortcut option, as you can open any other app there. I’m often testing other company’s streaming devices, so I’m happy I can open the Fire TV and Roku remote apps with a single click. Or, I could just as easily start snapping photos in third-party camera apps such as Halide or Obscura faster than you can say “ProRaw.”

This kind of customization is exactly what I think of when I hear “pro,” and it’s something I hope Apple gives us more of down the line. I’m also curious which Apple TV+ show will be the first to show someone using the Voice Memo option to secretly record someone else.

All day battery life — but some may test that limit often

After I used my iPhone 15 Pro Max throughout what most people would call a normal day, it showed 20% battery left after going from 7am to 10pm. On those days, I was taking photos with friends, using a mix of cellular and Wi-Fi data, listening to music and podcasts (via the AirPods Max), and not glued to its screen (as I normally am).

However, when I put the iPhone 15 Pro through my uniquely aggressive testing, from being outside nearly all-day to bouncing around town day and night, I found that the iPhone 15 Pro Max had much less in the tank once I started yawning. These days, where I was taking a ton of photos, using my phone as a speaker at home, downloading content off 5G+ and streaming without Wi-Fi, its battery life was in the single digits by the end of the day.

I don’t want to say I push my phone harder than my colleague Mike Androndico pushes his phones, but I can’t think of any other explanation for why he had more in the tank at the end of the day for his iPhone 15 review.

The good news about the new iPhones is that refueling is faster than ever, if you need it. I saw my iPhone 15 Pro Max go from 0% to 44% in 30 minutes, and it was at 85% after another half-hour.

For what it’s worth, iPhone 14 Pro owners shouldn’t expect better battery life this year. Apple provided the same endurance ratings for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro (up to 23 hours), just like with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro Max (up to 29 hours).

What we didn’t like about it

You’re getting warmer, Siri

Whether I was taking lots of dog photos in the park and tweaking their Portrait Mode settings moments later or simply recharging, I found that the iPhone 15 Pro Max had a tendency to get a little warmer than I’d like.

This isn’t an issue per se, it’s just weird when it happens. Fortunately, it’s happened less and less since I started testing the iPhone 15 Pros.

Low entry-level storage

The iPhone 15 Pro phones take photos in higher resolution than before, with up to 48MP HEIF (which has four times as much resolution than before). So, why does the iPhone 15 Pro storage still start out at 128GB for the iPhone 15 Pro and 256GB for the iPhone 15 Pro Max?

On top of that, the iPhone 15 Pro will gain the ability to record three-dimensional spatial video for Apple Vision Pro headset later this year. That footage is definitely going to take up a lot of space, so we would have loved to see these models start at 256GB and 512GB, respectively.

When is Touch ID coming home?

iPhone users may be surprised to hear this, but the Galaxy S10, S20, S21, S22 and S23 models have all offered an in-display fingerprint reader. Yes, the much beloved Touch ID that was replaced by Face ID starting with the iPhone X is still available outside of Apple. For those who feel the need for Touch ID, the cheaper iPhone SE will still deliver.

That said, this is not a hill I plan to switch platforms on. Face ID is good enough, even if you have a facemask on. But in-display Touch ID is still a feature worthy of a pro-level iPhone.

Boring colors

When Apple unveiled its iPhone 15 Pros in a series of four similar steely shades of titanium, I was a bit let down. Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium and Natural Titanium all come decorated in the muted metallic hues that Apple’s painted its Pro products in for years. Gone, though, are gold and purple, the iPhone 14 Pro colors that had a bit more energy to them.

Just because someone is a professional doesn’t mean they don’t like the color pink. Don’t believe me? Just look at the millions (and millions) that Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” took in at the box office, and try to tell me that pink isn’t a color synonymous with success. So, Apple, I ask why the iPhone 15 Pro phones can’t come in the same pink shade that the normal iPhone 15 is sold in? Or even a bolder pink?

In 2023, though, Apple’s iPhone colors seem to matter as little as ever, as I rarely see one in the wild without a case on it. So, congrats to all the iPhone case-makers, Apple included, for your chance to let iPhone 15 Pro buyers reskin their phone with a hue that speaks to their passions and personality.

How it compares

Bottom line

I really love the new iPhone 15 Pro Max, and I can already tell I’m going to be unbearable to anyone who is trying to stave off an upgrade. The new titanium design enables a new feel and lighter weight that makes everything, including taking photos and video, just a little bit easier. The longer-distance zoom will probably be the marquee feature I brag about the most, even if I know Galaxy S23 Ultra owners have me beat. I’m already having fun testing out new ways to use the Action button, and USB-C is a “better late than never” upgrade.

But no iPhone exists in a vacuum. The iPhone or Android you’re currently using will color how you interact with Apple’s latest and greatest. For that reason, I’m not pushing anyone with an iPhone 14 Pro to upgrade again this year. But if you’ve got an iPhone 13 or older, you’re going to get other features that you’ve been missing, like the always-on display that works great with StandBy mode or the Dynamic Island, which I love for making it super easy to open the music or podcast app I’m currently using. And on that note, it’s time for me to get back to the Action.