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Summary
TheApple iPhone 15 Prois objectively better than the 14 Pro. Its titanium frame is lighter weight while even more elegant in the hand. The camera system gains enhancements, too. Even the USB-C port allows for more charging convenience. The iPhone 15 Pro, while better, is just less interesting than the 14 Pro was when it introduced an always-on display and Dynamic Island. The iPhone 15 Pro might not be the splashiest phone ever released by Apple, but its details are what make it worth the purchase.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro
The Apple iPhone 15 Pro features a titanium design with Action button, A17 Pro chip, USB-C port, and a 48MP camera.
The Design of a Mature iPhone Pro
Apple touted a new design of the iPhone 15 Pro at the phone’s launch event, but until you hold it in your hand, those design tweaks are almost imperceptible. It looks like the last few phones before it.
Once you do palm the 15 Pro, its refinements are immediately evident. For example, its 19g weight loss compared to the 14 Pro is roughly a 10% difference. It felt lighter to hold in a way that could be meaningful throughout the day. The subtly rounded edges of the titanium frame also felt great.
Altogether, the phone felt utterly polished, in a way only a constantly refined product could be. It actually felt so great in my hand that I dreaded putting a case on it—so far, I haven’t. The titanium sides will get smudgy from fingerprints. I don’t care. For now, it still looked good and felt smooth between my fingers.
In the same vein of the exterior being elevated rather than changed, the Action button doesn’tlookall that different from the previous mute switch. It’s about the same size and shape. In function, however, it’s completely different with the ability to personalize what it does. My first instinct was to use the button to launch the camera, making it the shutter button once the camera was in use.
To use the Action button it does require a slight hold delay. If you simply tap the button quickly, the iPhone will display an icon in the Dynamic Island of what it’s programmed to do and then instruct you to hold the button down longer to activate it. I didn’t find it annoying or difficult to master. It did feel odd to use as my go-to trigger switch at first, though.
After several days of tinkering with the customizable button, I’m unsure if I’ll ever be able to decide on a single function. Most likely, I’ll keep changing what it does. I love its addition to the Pro line. For now, I’ve landed on using it for a Shortcut that brings up a menu of items, such as toggling orientation lock or launching the Sonos app—we’ll see how long that lasts.
USB-C Is Super Fun and Weird!
The Lightning port had a good run, but it’s time for USB-C. It doesn’t matterwhythe new port is here now. It’s only important that itishere.
Because this is a “Pro” phone, the port getsUSB 3 speeds, which, in this case, means 10Gbps transfer speeds. This phone can also be connected to a storage device and used as direct storage when shooting video.
What I was most interested in was using the new port for charging—in all kinds of ways. Although people buying the Pro iPhone could be more likely to use it for video transfers or something more advanced, nearly everyone will plug their phone in for power at some point.
I tried all sorts of USB-C cables—cheap ones and more expensive ones. All of them performed fine and powered the iPhone 15 Pro. The braided USB-C cable the iPhone 15 Pro comes with was satisfying to plug in the first time.
The iPhone itself can share power with other devices like AirPods, Apple Watch, and even another iPhone. Of course, the iPhone 15 Pro will only provide 4.5W of power, so it is best suited to boost small accessories. But it did work.
Even though the USB-C port is boring—Hi, Android phone owners—it’s still the part of the phone that gets interacted with on a regular basis. The port is a solid addition thatdoesn’t get locked downin any strange ways.
Other USB-C notes
The Minor Improvements of the iPhone 15 Pro Camera
The first thought for discussing the 15 Pro camera system might be the photos themselves. They’re good, but all iPhones have done well at taking “good” pictures for the last five years, at least. My first thought was to try the different camera focal lengths.
If you tap on the 1x icon in the Camera app, it will toggle between 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm focal lengths—also shown as 1x, 1.2x, and 1.5x. Last year’s 14 Pro, with its default 24mm focal length, pushed the distance farther away than it had been in the past. It was something that continually tripped me up as I shot product pictures for reviews.
Not only can you change these focal lengths, but in the settings for the Camera app, you may pick a default one and turn any of them off that you don’t want to toggle through. Until recently, I would have hesitated about doing this and relying on a digital zoom. In this case, there isn’t any part of the iPhone’s camera system that isn’t digital or processed. The picture-taking pipeline bins pixels and enhances the end photo for all focal lengths and in nearly every setting.
Based on the specs Apple has made public, the camera sensors in the 15 Pro are the same as the ones in the 14 Pro. The camera system this year does have more capabilities, however. Likely enabled by the A17 Pro chip, the camera shoots 24MP photos by default, which have more detail.
So there will be some differences in the pictures taken by the 14 Pro and 15 Pro phones, but it’s not because of any hardware enhancements—it’s because of digital processing upgrades, probably tied to the better phone chip.
I could tell a difference between iPhone 14 Pro and 15 Pro pictures, but only when comparing them directly next to each other. When separated, it was harder to tell. You will need to consider how much you’re willing to spend to get minor year-over-year improvements in this area.
The sample images below haven’t been retouched or edited in any way—only converted from .heic to .jpeg at full resolution. The landscape gallery shows a progression of 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 2x, and 3x. The picture of the succulent shows a progression of 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm.
The 3x zoom helped extend reach, but as you can see above, there is a noticeable difference between the main camera and the telephoto one. The zoom feature alone would not be worth upgrading from the iPhone 15 to the 15 Pro. (It would need to be that, plus other aspects of the Pro phone.) Interestingly, the 15 Pro Max’s new 5x telephoto camera has a bigger sensor which results in better pictures. But you’ll have to read How-To Geek’s full review on that phone to get the scoop on that camera system.
In terms of the front-facing camera, there are no surprises here. It’s the same 12MP camera as it was last year. There are tiny enhancements on the software side like Smart HDR 5, instead of Smart HDR 4 on the 14 Pro. But really, the photos look the same. A sample photo from the front-facing camera is below.
iPhone 15 Pro Performance With a Pro Chip
The A17 Pro is Apple’s first 3nm chip. The smaller the fabrication process, the potential for more power or more energy savings, or a combination of the two, comes into play. In this case, Apple claims a 10% processing gain while stating the same battery life as last year’s 14 Pro. There is a 6-core GPU in the 15 Pro, while there was a 5-core GPU in the previous model. So this year’s Pro phone should be 20% faster for graphics processing simply because more capability was added to the chip.
I don’t have many examples of how this faster A17 Pro chip delivered speedier experiences. Most likely, what’s happening is that Apple is enabling more experiences in the Camera app, in photo processing, and how the system continues to keep everything running smoothly. And, of course, playing games. The casual games I play don’t push the boundaries in any way. But all of them ran smoothly and loaded a touch quicker.
iOS 17 on iPhone 15 Pro
The star of the show for iOS 17 on iPhone 15 Pro is StandBy mode. Although anyone with an iOS 17-compatible phone can experience the ambient information displayed from clocks and widgets, only iPhone 14 Pro owners, or now people with an iPhone 15 Pro—phones that have an always-on display—can experience it continually, as a nightstand display.
iPhone 15 Pro Battery Life
Having only limited time with the phone initially, long-term battery life is to be determined. I don’t think it’s worth hollowly posturing about what could be after a short time. I will say that in early use, my battery life seemed to be about the same as it was on the 14 Pro. It was aggressively average and didn’t stick out as better in any way. Make of that what you will.
Upgrading From a 14 Pro to the 15 Pro
There’s very little reason to justifiably upgrade from a 14 Pro to a 15 Pro. But here’s what I’ve noticed initially.
Price and Availability
The iPhone15 Pro starts at $999for 128GB of storage and goes up from there. It’s available in four shades of gray: white, blue, natural, and black.
Should You Buy the Apple iPhone 15 Pro?
This is an expensive question. Unfortunately, there is no formula that says when each person should upgrade their iPhone—or pick a Pro model versus the regular one. My recommendation is that most people should probably upgrade every three years, general enthusiasts every two years, and early adopters will find a way to justify a new iPhone every year.
You should know where you fall within that spectrum. As a final parting note. The iPhone 14 Pro seemed like the most advanced Pro phone in a while, with its visible always-on display and Dynamic Island. TheiPhone 15 Pro, however, feels like the nicest, most premium iPhone—possibly ever.
