The new iPhones 15 Pro and Pro Max look great, but do you need to upgrade? Spoiler! YES! Here’s why…
New titanium build
The 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro and the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Max both feature a strong and lightweight titanium design. A first for the iPhone, this premium alloy is the same metal used in spacecraft. It’s very strong but also very light, so if you find your current pro iPhone too heavy, an upgrade could well be a good idea. The new pro lineup also features the toughest back glass in a smartphone and the industry-leading Ceramic Shield on the front.
Four new finishes
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are available in four titanium finishes; black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium, and natural titanium. Both models feature a new refined brush texture, contoured edges, and the thinnest borders on iPhone. They look stunning, and are very light too.
USB-C connectivity
One thing the iPhone 15 Pro models have in common with the regular iPhone 15 and 15 Max is they drop Apple’s Lightning port for a more commonly used USB-C socket. This is due to the European Union telling Apple to drop its proprietary format in favour of keeping to the USB standard which is to be used by all smartphones, reducing e-waste. This brings the iPhone into line with the iPad and Apple notebooks, which already use USB-C.
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The USB-C connector allows data transfer at USB-3 speeds, which is up to 20 times faster than USB 2. The A17 Bionic chip introduces a new USB controller, which allows the Pro models to achieve transfer speeds of up to 10Gb per second.
If you still have accessories that connect to the iPhone’s Lightning port, Apple as also released a USB-C-to-lightning port adapter for £29/$29/35 €. This adapter provides charging, data and audio functions, and has a braided cable for durability.
Happy snapping!
The Pro camera system is a major reason why people choose the Pro models over the regular iPhones. The cameras in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max offer a significant feature boost over their predecessors, so if you’re a keen smartphone photographer, you might well want to upgrade your current model.
Due to advanced hardware and software integration, the Pro models’ camera systems offer the equivalent of seven pro lenses. There’s a new 48MP Main camera built exclusively for the Pro lineup, which gives a new 24MP super-high-resolution default while keeping the file size of individual photos reasonable. You can switch between three focal lengths, 24mm, 28mm and 35mm, defining whichever one you wish as a default setting. The Main camera supports 48MP ProRAW and 48MP HEIF images with 4x more resolution.
The 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro also has a 3x Telephoto camera, and if you go for the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Pro Max, this is boosted to 5x at 120mm, the longest optical zoom ever on an iPhone. It also has an innovative tetraprism design with a combined optical image stabilisation and autofocus 3D sensor-shift module.
The Pro series 15 iPhones can also capture Spacial Videos. Using the Ultra Wide and Main cameras acting together, you can record 3D movies and then watch them on an Apple Vision Pro. It’s just like being there. This feature will be available later in 2023.
The New A17 Pro Chip
The new A17 Pro used in the iPhone 15 Pro models is the industry’s first three-nanometer chip, which makes for better energy efficiency, faster speeds and less heat production.
Improvements have been made across the entire chip. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is up to ten percent faster, and the Neural Engine is twice as fast. The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) has undergone the biggest GPU redesign in Apple’s history. It features a new six-core design and is up to 20 percent faster.
Action Button
On the iPhone 15 Pro models, the switch on the side of the phone that silences the device has been replaced by a new control, the Action Button. By default, this new button toggles between ring and silent just like before. Press and hold the button and your chosen mode is shown in the phone’s Dynamic Island atop the screen. A haptic feedback also confirms the change. But if you wish you can choose from a range of alternative actions instead.
You can use the Action button to turn the torch feature on or off, or to access the Camera app. It can also switch on Sleep Mode, or open Voice Memos so you can record a quick reminder. If you use Magnifier it can get you there faster, and also head straight to the Translate app, which is very useful for international travellers. You can use the Action Button to go straight to your favourite Accessibility feature such as Live Speech, and you can also use it to open Shortcuts, offering a wealth of options.
The Action Button is far more aesthetically pleasing than the silence switch, and it won’t get triggered in your pocket, which was often a problem before. It will be especially welcomed by those who never used the switch to silence their iPhone, but find one of the Action Button’s other functions appealing.
How much do they cost?
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are available in the following capacities and at these prices in the UK, USA and Europe:
iPhone 15 Pro
128GB £999/$999/1199 €
256GB £1099/$1099/1329 €
512GB £1299/$1299/1579 €
1TB £1499/$1499/1829 €
iPhone 15 Pro Max
256GB £1199/$1199/1449 €
512GB £1399/$1399/1699 €
1TB £1599/$1599/1949 €
