Refinement. If I had to summarize all of the changes to the iPhone 15 Pro in a one word, that’s what I’d choose. You might go with iterative or samey, assuming that’s a term. In any case, the iPhone 15 Pro isn’t all that different from the phones that came before it. It’s the same as before, but better.
Features & Design
- Titanium + aluminium frame
- Action button
- USB-C
It definitely appears the same, but there are several modifications behind its famous skin. When you pick up an iPhone 15 Pro, the first thing you notice is how light it is. that’s around 19g lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro, and that makes a significant impact, far more than you’d anticipate.
Even with a case, which practically everyone will use, it’s just 213g – just a few grams more than a caseless iPhone 14 Pro.
It’s a pity to hide the attractive brushed surface, and the blue review phone Apple gave is particularly stunning. It also does not accumulate fingerprints because it is matt.
You could believe that because titanium is more resistant to scratches and damage than aluminum, you don’t need a case, but you’d be mistaken. Titanium’s strength is its trump card. It is heavier than aluminum, but you need considerably less of it to get the same level of strength, which is why when someone says titanium, you immediately think of lightness.
The first thing you notice when you pick up an iPhone 15 Pro is how light it feels.
The mute switch has been replaced with the action button, which is another significant design update. When you push it, you may choose what happens: mute, launch the camera, change focus mode, turn on the flashlight, start a voice recording, and more. You may also choose a Shortcut, which allows you to do almost anything, such as run an app or listen to your favorite playlist.
The Action Button provides the same haptic stimulation as the original mute switch, and the haptics are as good as ever. It’s a shame because you can’t readily change their strength. It is feasible, but you must know where to search in the Accessibility settings.
Returning to the button, it does feel like a squandered opportunity because it can only accomplish one thing. If you configure it to launch the camera, for example, it cannot also function as a mute button. However, alternative actions might be defined when you double-press or long-press it. Perhaps this will be included in an iOS version. Let’s hope so.
The proprietary Lightning port has been replaced with a USB-C port, which is a more important improvement. This has a number of advantages, the most important of which is that you can charge the iPhone 15 Pro with any USB-C connection. Furthermore, if you lose or damage the one that comes with the package, they are quickly and inexpensively accessible.
You can also use the new connector to charge other gadgets from the iPhone’s battery, such as an Apple Watch, AirPods, or some non-Apple earphones. You may also attach external screens and SSDs.
Screen & speakers
- 6.1-inch OLED display
- Up to 2000 nits of brightness
Despite having the same 6.1-inch screen as previous Pro versions, the iPhone 15 Pro is somewhat smaller with a little narrower bezel.
The resolution stays same at 2556 x 1179 pixels, but Apple has increased the max brightness to 2000 nits. I was using a 14 Pro before the 15 Pro, and the difference in brightness is fairly noticeable. Normally, if I were outside on a bright day, I wouldn’t expect to be able to see the screen clearly enough to frame photographs or play games. However, the iPhone 15 Pro’s display is so brilliant that you can see it even on the brightest of days.
And, as expected, it’s a high-quality screen with excellent colors and viewing angles. It, too, includes an always-on mode that displays the time, date, and notifications, much like the iPhone 14 Pro.
The black pill-shaped hole at the top is dubbed Dynamic Island because it changes shape depending on the information shown. This is now a standard feature throughout the whole iPhone 15 lineup and is not a gimmick. I enjoy how it displays relevant information as you use other apps.
It displays the length of a phone call, a thumbnail of whatever music or podcast you’re listening to, and even a countdown timer for an approaching flight. It’s also interactive: you may tap on it to open the appropriate app.
Ceramic Shield, a substance containing ceramic crystals, provides additional protection to the display glass. It’s performed admirably in drop testing on the iPhone 14 Pro, although it’s worth noting that the iPhone 15 Pro’s screen slopes ever so slightly at the corners, whereas the iPhone 14’s screen was perfectly flat.
If you like your phone without a case, this might be a disadvantage because it means the screen is somewhat proud of the frame, leaving it more vulnerable in a fall.
Cameras
- Improved wide, ultrawide & 3x telephoto lenses
- Option to shoot in RAW and ProRes
The cameras appear to have been copied and pasted from the 14 Pro, much as the appearance of the iPhone 15 Pro is essentially unchanged. It’s difficult to argue with the specifications. Apple claims that new lens coatings have helped to lessen flare, yet it remains when light sources are visible in the picture.
Even if the sensors and lenses are identical, there is a lot going on behind the scenes that contributes to better portrait and night photographs, as well as somewhat better overall photos. Macro photography is fantastic, and video is magnificent.
The main back camera now stores 24-megapixel photographs instead of 12, while requiring just around 1.5x the storage space. You have to zoom in to see the increased detail when compared to, example, an iPhone 14 Pro shot, but it’s there.
Here are a selection of unedited photos from all the cameras:
The ability of any phone camera to focus quickly and correctly time after time is critical, and that’s exactly what the primary camera does here. Only at night, when trying to picture moving things, can you get hazy results.
However, if you can keep your subject steady, you can capture beautiful shots – even portrait photos in low light.
Portrait photographs, whether taken with the primary camera or a front-facing selfie, are excellent. Edge recognition is still difficult, and the software blurs elements that should be in focus, but the ability to convert a shot to a portrait later is a wonderful feature. It only applies when a person, cat, or dog is detected, but it’s also nice that your pet photos may now have beautiful bokeh.
I doubt many people would do that, but you can activate RAW mode for images and ProRes for films in the settings (in the Settings app, not the camera app). You can even shoot in Log and connect a USB-C connector to an external SSD to record 4K60 straight to it.
This, along with the new A17 Pro processor, is another very ‘pro’ feature.
There are a few new features, such as the ability to shift between 24, 28, and 35mm, or at least the digital equivalent of these common lens lengths, by tapping the 1x button in the camera app. Again, you may choose which of these is your default shooting mode in the options, as well as disabling either or both of the 28 and 35mm modes.
Similarly, the 2x in the camera app employs digital cropping rather than a real lens, but there are enough pixels to give the impression of one.
The new 5x periscope lens is restricted to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which is a letdown. That means you’ll have to settle with 3x if you want the smaller, lighter Pro.
Performance
The A17 Pro chip is the first to drop the “Bionic” designation, although that’s a minor point. It’s not significantly quicker than the A16 Bionic – Geekbench 6 shows a 15% boost – but the A16 Bionic was already quite fast. The A17 Pro outperforms everything else on the market; even Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will struggle to keep up.
The A17 Pro’s biggest news, however, is its graphics performance.
Apple claims that the iPhone 15 Pro is the “best games console” since its GPU can now perform real-time ray-tracing. Simply put, this raises the appearance and feel of games to console level, thus the claim. Ray-tracing, in particular, helps lighting and shadows appear considerably more realistic.
Unfortunately, the AAA titles that enable ray-tracing will not be available until later this year, so I won’t be able to see how they appear in person, nor will I be able to test if the iPhone 15 Pro can handle playing them without overheating or reducing performance to avoid overheating.
Although few people would buy the 15 Pro particularly to play games, the fact that you can play PlayStation titles on your phone is astounding.
Perhaps a few years down the road, the A17 Pro’s headroom will come into play: right now it’s certainly more powerful than you need it to be
If you’re coming from a recent iPhone, you won’t notice the increased power elsewhere, but it still enables things like the 24-megapixel camera mode, the ability to turn any photo into a portrait later, and the new voice isolation feature, which removes background noise from video and phone calls.
In overall, the iPhone 15 Pro feels no different than an iPhone 13 Pro: both phones are more than capable of skimming through social media feeds, online shopping, and everything else you need to do on a daily basis.
Perhaps the A17 Pro’s headroom will come into play in a few years: for now, it’s certainly more powerful than you need.
I did encounter the widely mentioned overheating issue, but only once before the iOS 17.0.3 release. I never noticed the phone become particularly warm after that.
Connectivity
- Wi-Fi 6E
- Thread radio
- Second-gen ultrawideband chip
Normally, there wouldn’t be much to say about wifi, but times have changed. To begin, there is Wi-Fi 6E. It’s not the Wi-Fi 7 I’d hoped for, but given that the iPhone 14 range still employed Wi-Fi 6, it’s not surprising.
With Wi-Fi 6E, the iPhone 15 Pro can at least access the new 6GHz band, which might speed things up when connected to a compatible router.
There’s also a second-generation UWB chip that can connect to another device equipped with this chip from up to three times further away. That’s why Apple brags about Find My Friends being so much better on the iPhone 15, although it does imply that those friends also require an iPhone 15.
The 15 Pro is also the first phone to include a Thread radio, allowing it to connect directly to Thread devices. This function was not activated at launch, but with so few Thread devices in most households, it’s another that might be handy in the future.
The iPhone 15 Pro, like the iPhone 14 Pro, features satellite connectivity for emergencies. If the crash detection feature is unable to telephone or SMS emergency services, it can utilize this. For US purchasers, there is also two years of complimentary roadside assistance.
Battery life and charging
This is one area that Apple has not altered. The battery life remains the same as before, and ‘rapid charging’ is still limited to 20W. Technically, it can draw up to 27W from a USB-C charger, however the battery can be charged at roughly 30% every 15 minutes.
That may be plenty for you, but it feels like a significant step back when compared to certain Android phones, but not the Google Pixel line, which is as sluggish.
In terms of USB-C, the provided USB cable is just USB 2.0, so if you want to take advantage of high transfer speeds, you’ll need to purchase a separate USB-C cable. More information may be found in our USB-C cable guide.
As usual, the iPhone 15 Pro can be charged wirelessly up to 15W with a MagSafe charger or 7.5W with a Qi charger.
In the actual world, battery life fluctuates greatly, to the point that some days I’d go to bed with more than 40% left, while other days I’d be reaching for the charger by 9pm, while doing the same tasks and having the screen on for about the same length of time. But, as I previously stated, there is no progress here: most days, the Low Battery alert will appear at bedtime, implying that this is a one-day phone that will require charging almost every night.
Price & availability
The iPhone 15 Pro costs $999 / £999 for the base 128GB model, rising to $1499 / £1499 for 1TB. You can buy it from Apple.
Should I buy the iPhone 15 Pro?
Despite the numerous updates and improvements, anyone who has an iPhone 14 Pro (or even a 13 Pro) should think twice before upgrading.
However, when seen in isolation, the iPhone 15 Pro is one of the greatest smartphones money can buy. It’s difficult to find flaws, and even the complaints about rapid charging and the lack of Wi-Fi 7 are minor.
Hopefully, Apple will bring camera parity to the iPhone 16 Pro line, but for now, the lack of 5x zoom is likely to lead more consumers to buy the 15 Pro Max… but only if they can accept the increased size and weight of that phone.
