The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max mark a significant upgrade to the lineup, perhaps the most substantial since the introduction of the first Pro Max in 2019. The standout change is the adoption of USB-C, replacing the Lightning port, allowing for universal cable compatibility across platforms.
These Pros feature USB 3.0 with speeds of up to 10 Gbps, enabling the use of chargers and cables from devices like the iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, or Galaxy to charge the new iPhones, although Apple hasn’t mentioned faster charging capabilities.
In terms of design, the iPhone 15 Pro series introduces several enhancements. They boast contoured edges and the slimmest bezels ever seen on an iPhone, maintaining the same display sizes as the previous year while reducing overall dimensions.
Stainless steel frames have been replaced by titanium, making these the lightest Pro models Apple has introduced, with just a 1g difference from the 11 Pro duo but a significant 19g reduction compared to last year’s 14 Pros. The specific alloy used is grade 5 titanium, known for its use on the Mars rover, and it encases aluminum in the substructure for improved thermal dissipation.
The frames feature a brushed texture achieved through a 14-hour-long process involving machining, sanding, brushing, and blasting the phone’s titanium exterior. The iPhone 15 Pro comes in four finishes: Black, White, Blue, and natural Titanium.
Notably, the mute switch now doubles as an action button, allowing for quick access to various functions with presses and double presses.
The front of the iPhone 15 Pros features Ceramic Shield glass, maintaining the same display size as the 14 Pro models. The iPhone 15 Pro sports a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with an adaptive 120Hz (ProMotion) refresh rate, HDR10, Dolby Vision, and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. The iPhone 15 Pro Max increases the screen size to 6.7 inches, and an always-on display now includes Stand-by and a landscape always-on mode for charging.
The camera system on the iPhone 15 Pro is entirely revamped. It starts with a 48MP main camera featuring a larger sensor with 1.22µm pre-binned pixels and second-generation sensor-shift stabilization, with a lens of 24mm f/1.78.
This new main camera introduces various imaging possibilities, including the capture of 48MP HEIF images alongside 48MP ProRAW. The larger sensor enables 28mm and 35mm digital zoom modes, letting users select their preferred focal length.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max debuts the first periscope camera on an iPhone, achieving up to 5x optical zoom, equivalent to 120mm in 35mm terms. This optical design is unique, utilizing a tetraprism to reflect light four times, along with optical stabilization that performs 10,000 micro-adjustments per second for blur reduction.
In contrast, the iPhone 15 Pro features a 77mm 3x zoom camera with 1µm pixels and an f/2.8 lens.
Both models share a new 13mm f/2.2 1.4µm ultrawide camera with 100% focus pixels and macro capabilities.
Powering the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max is the A17 Pro chip, built on a 3nm process, boasting a 6-core CPU with 2 performance cores (10% faster than the A16 Bionic) and 4 efficiency cores. The GPU is a 6-core unit, 20% faster during peak performance, enabling hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing, which is four times faster than last year’s chip.
The Neural Engine is a 16-core unit, doubling the speed for machine learning models compared to the previous year’s chip.
The A17 Pro SoC includes a Display Engine with a dedicated AV1 codec and ProRes codec support. These new iPhone 15 Pro models can capture 4K 60fps in ProRes RAW and support the ACES color profile.
Pre-orders for the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max begin this Friday, starting at $999 for the base 128GB model for the 15 Pro and $1,199 for the 15 Pro Max, which now offers a base model with 256GB of onboard storage. European prices are €1,199 for the Pro and €1,449 for the Pro Max, matching last year’s pricing.
