iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro: Which should you buy?


iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro have landed as Apple’s latest and greatest devices. While the iPhone 15 Pro is naturally more feature-rich and powerful, it may be overkill for many. And the iPhone 15 has gained pro features of its own this year like the Dynamic Island, 48MP main camera, and more. Follow along for a deep dive into the iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro and advice on which to buy.

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro

Screen sizes and design

The iPhone 14 lineup was the first time Apple launched the exact same display sizes across the standard Pro devices. That continues for the iPhone 15 lineup with 6.1 inches for the 15 and 15 Pro displays and 6.7-inches for the 15 Plus and 15 Pro Max.

A big change for the more affordable 15 and 15 Plus this time around is getting the Dynamic Island which was a Pro exclusive. And the screen brightness is now the same across all iPhone 15 models.

However, the 15 Pro and Pro Max still keep exclusivity for Always-On and ProMotion. Here’s the full look at the display specs for iPhone 15 vs iPhone 15 Pro:

iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max
Size 6.1-inches 6.7-inches 6.1-inches 6.7-inches
Resolution 2556 x 1179 pixels 2796 x 1290 pixels 2556 x 1179 pixels 2796 x 1290 pixels
PPI 460 ppi 460 ppi 460 ppi 460 ppi
Super Retina XDR OLED
Dynamic Island
ProMotionadaptive refresh up to 120Hz
Always-On display
Typical brightness 1000 nits max 1000 nits max 1000 nits max 1000 nits max
HDR brightness 1600 nits max 1600 nits max 1600 nits max 1600 nits max
Outdoor brightness 2000 nits max 2000 nits max 2000 nits max 2000 nits max
True Tone
Haptic Touch
Wide color (P3)

While the displays have reached parity for the iPhone 15 lineup when it comes to specs like resolution and brightness, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max do have slimmer bezels.

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro/Pro Max bezels

Size, weight, design

Overall, the design of iPhone 15 and 15 Pro remains very similar to the 14 and 14 Pro, but Apple has given the 15 lineup more rounded edges for a more comfortable feel.

And for the first time, Apple has used titanium for iPhone with the 15 Pro and Pro Max. That means new brushed finishes, high strength and durability, and lighter devices too.

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro design

The other major update for the 15 Pro and Pro Max is the change of the side switch to the new Action Button that offers customization.

For size, weight, and materials, here’s iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro:

iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max
Height 5.81-inches (147.6 mm) 6.33-inches
(160.9 mm)
5.77-inches (146.6 mm) 6.29-inches (159.9 mm)
Width 2.82-inches
(71.6 mm)
3.06-inches (77.8 mm) 2.78-inches (70.6 mm) 3.02-inches (76.7 mm)
Thickness 0.31-inches (7.80 mm) 0.31-inches
(7.80 mm)
0.32-inches
(8.25 mm)
0.32-inches
(8.25 mm)
Weight 6.02-ounces 
(171 grams)
7.09-ounces
(201 grams)
6.60-ounces
(187 grams)
7.81-ounces
(221 grams)
Durability IP68 (splash, dust, 6 meters of water up to 30 minutes IP68 (splash, dust, 6 meters of water up to 30 minutes IP68 (splash, dust, 6 meters of water up to 30 minutes IP68 (splash, dust, 6 meters of water up to 30 minutes
Ceramic Shield front
Back material Color-infused glass Color-infused glass Textured matte glass Textured matte glass
Edges Aerospace-grade Aluminum Aerospace-grade Aluminum Aerospace-grade Titanium Aerospace-grade Titanium

Because the 15 Pro and Pro Max have slimmer bezels than the 15 and 15 Plus, the Pro models are ever-so-slightly more compact.

Of course, the new iPhones also come in new colors, we’ll get into that in detail below. Here are some great case options for the iPhone 15 devices:

Performance – A17 Pro vs A16 Bionic

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro performance

This marks the second year that Apple is putting the latest A-series chip in the Pro models and giving last year’s chip to the standard models.

Year-over-year performance improvements are becoming more minor but Apple says the A17 Pro is the “fastest mobile CPU.”

Here’s a breakdown of the iPhone 15 vs iPhone 15 Pro chip specs: 

iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max
SoC A16 Bionic A16 Bionic A17 Pro A17 Pro
CPU 6-core: 2 performance + 4 efficiency 6-core: 2 performance + 4 efficiency 6-core: 2 performance + 4 efficiency 6-core: 2 performance + 4 efficiency
GPU 5-core 5-core 6-core 6-core
Neural Engine 16-core 16-core 16-core 16-core
RAM 6GB 6GB 8GB 8GB

In real-world use, both the A16 Bionic and A17 Pro are more than powerful enough for almost everyone. But here are a couple more A17 Pro stats:

  • Up to 20% faster GPU than A16 Bionic (with AV1 decoding, Pro Display engine, ProRes codec, hardware-accelerated ray tracing)
  • Up to 10% faster high-performance CPU cores than A16 Bionic
  • Up to 2x faster neural engine
  • Capable of 35 trillion operations per second

And game developers like CAPCOM say the new A17 Pro GPU has made it possible for console-exclusive games like Resident Evil 4 to come to iPhone.

Battery life

iPhone 15 battery specs life

When it comes to battery life, the iPhone 15 lineup has the same ratings as the iPhone 14 devices. We’ll have to wait and see how real-world results compare but here are Apple’s ratings for video and audio playback:

iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max
Video playback 20 hours 26 hours 23 hours 29 hours
Audio playback 80 hours 100 hours 75 hours 95 hours

For how that compares to iPhone 13 and 12 and more details, check out our full post on iPhone 15 battery life:

Cameras

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro cameras

Rear cameras

Some of the main new features Apple highlighted for the iPhone 15, and specifically the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are the new camera system capabilities.

All the iPhone 15 devices come with a 48MP main rear camera, next-gen portrait with Focus and Depth Control, Smart HDR 5, and more.

But the 15 Pro and Pro Max stand out with the most powerful camera systems. And in a change this year, the 15 Pro Max gets the most capable camera with the telephoto lens getting a 5x optical zoom (3x for 15 Pro like the 14 Pro).

The 15 Pro and Pro Max main cameras also have more powerful sensors even though all iPhone 15 devices have 48MP sensors. And all the new models support shooting 24 and 48MP “super-high-resolution photos.”

iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max
Main lens 48MP, ƒ/1.6 aperture 48MP, ƒ/1.6 aperture 48MP, ƒ/1.78 aperture 48MP, ƒ/1.78 aperture
Main lens sensor 2 µm quad pixel 2 µm quad pixel 2.44 µm quad pixel 2.44 µm quad pixel
Main lens focal length 26 mm 26 mm 24, 28, 35 mm 24, 28, 35 mm
Ultra Wide lens 12MP, ƒ/2.4 aperture 12MP, ƒ/2.4 aperture 12MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture 12MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture
Telephoto lens 12MP, ƒ/2.8 aperture 12MP, ƒ/2.8 aperture
Stabilization Sensor-shift optical image stabilization Sensor-shift optical image stabilization 2nd-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilization 2nd-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilization
Optical zoom 0.5x, 1x, and 2x 0.5x, 1x, and 2x 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x
Up to 10x Up to 10x Up to 15x Up to 25x
Flash True Tone flash True Tone flash Adaptive True Tone Flash Adaptive True Tone Flash
Photonic Engine
Deep Fusion
Smart HDR 5
Next-gen portraits with Focus and Depth Control
Portrait Lighting with six effects
Night mode
Night mode portraits
Photographic Styles
Macro photography
Apple ProRAW

More new features for the Pro models include the option to quickly change (and set a default) for different focal lengths for the main camera – 24, 28, and 35 mm.

And capabilities like macro photography and Apple ProRAW support remain exclusive for the Pro models.

Video recording

Video recording

While improvements in still photography are more plentiful, there are some improvements in videography for the iPhone 15 Pro devices.

USB-C 3 support on the Pro models means the ability to shoot ProRes directly to external drives – now at 4K60.

And there’s now support for the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) plus the ability to capture Spatial video that can be viewed on Apple Vision Pro.

iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max
4K recording ✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps ✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps ✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps ✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps
1080p recording ✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps ✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps ✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps ✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps
Cinematic mode ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps
Action mode
HDR/Dolby Vision recording ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps
ProRes recording ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps with external recording ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps with external recording
Log video recording
Academy Color Encoding System
Macro video recording
Spatial video recording
Slo-mo recording ✅ –1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps ✅ –1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps ✅ –1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps ✅ –1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps
Time-lapse with stabilization
Night mode Time-lapse
QuickTake video
Stabilization Sensor-shift optical image stabilization for video Sensor-shift optical image stabilization for video 2nd-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilization for video 2nd-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilization for video
Audio zoom
Stereo recording

Selfie camera

Apple’s TrueDepth front camera on the iPhone 15 devices gets a range of upgrades found on the main rear camera. Really the only feature missing from the iPhone 15 is ProRes support.

iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max
TrueDepth front camera 12MP, ƒ/1.9 aperture 12MP, ƒ/1.9 aperture 12MP, ƒ/1.9 aperture 12MP, ƒ/1.9 aperture
Retina Flash
Photonic Engine
Deep Fusion
Smart HDR 5 for photos
Next-gen portraits with Focus and Depth Control
Portrait Lighting with six effects
Animoji and Memoji
Night mode
Photographic Styles
4K recording ✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps ✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps ✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps ✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps
Cinematic mode ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps
HDR/Dolby Vision recording ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps
ProRes recording ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps with external recording ✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps with external recording
Slo-mo recording ✅ –1080p at 120 fps ✅ –1080p at 120 fps ✅ –1080p at 120 fps ✅ –1080p at 120 fps
QuickTake video
Cinematic video stabilization ✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p ✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p ✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p ✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro I/O

The major change for iPhone 15 I/O is the switch from Lightning to USB-C. All four models feature the universal connector, but the Pro and Pro Max offer much faster transfer speeds with USB 3 support at up to 10Gbps.

USB 3 on the Pro models enables some neat new capabilities like shooting video straight to an external SSD and more.

More differences with the iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro include WiFi and Thread.

iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max
USB-C ✅ – USB 2 up to 480Mbps ✅ – USB 2 up to 480Mbps ✅ – USB 3 up to 10Gbps ✅ – USB 3 up to 10Gbps
WiFi 6 6 6E 6E
Bluetooth 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3
UWB Gen 2
NFC with reader mode
Thread
Cellular GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPA GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPA GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPA GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPA
5G Sub-6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMO Sub-6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMO Sub-6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMO Sub-6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMO
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou Precision dual-frequency GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou, and NavIC) Precision dual-frequency GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou, and NavIC)
Audio playback Spatial audio/Dolby Atmos Spatial audio/Dolby Atmos Spatial audio/Dolby Atmos Spatial audio/Dolby Atmos
Video playback HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG
SIM Dual eSIM in US – physical included for most other countries Dual eSIM in US – physical included for most other countries Dual eSIM in US – physical included for most other countries Dual eSIM in US – physical included for most other countries
MagSafe
Qi and Qi2 Yes and yes? Yes and yes? Yes and yes? Yes and yes?

On the question of whether the new iPhone 15 devices will support Qi2, Apple is saying yes but it’s a bit confusing:

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro colors

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro colors 1

iPhone 15 and 15 Plus come in these five colors:

  • Black
  • Blue
  • Green
  • Yellow
  • Pink
iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro colors 2

And iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are available in:

  • Natural titanium
  • Blue titanium
  • White titanium
  • Black titanium

Storage and pricing

iPhone 15/15 Plus comes in these storage options:

  • 128GB – $799 / $899
  • 256GB – $899 / $999
  • 512GB – $1,099 / $1,199

iPhone 15 Pro/15 Pro Max comes in:

  • 128GB – $999 (only 15 Pro available in 128GB)
  • 256GB – $1,099 / $1,199
  • 512GB – $1,299 / $1,399
  • 1TB – $1,499 / $1,599

What’s in the box?

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro what's in box

All of the iPhone 15 devices just come with the iPhone and a USB-C cable in the box.

If you need a power adapter, go with at least a 20W so you get fast charging for your iPhone. Good options include:

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro: Which should you buy?

All of the new iPhones are powerful and capable devices, but which one is best for you will come down to how you want to use your iPhone and what features you see as meaningful.

Reasons to buy iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max

  • Most powerful and capable cameras for photos and video
  • Titanium build with very slim bezels
  • USB-C with 10Gbps speeds, WiFi 6E support
  • Fastest chip, most powerful GPU for mobile gaming
  • Always-On display and ProMotion refresh rates up to 120Hz
  • Storage up to 1TB

Reasons to buy iPhone 15 or 15 Plus Pro

  • If the six features above aren’t compelling for you, save some money and grab the iPhone 15, which includes great new cameras, USB-C, the Dynamic Island, A16 chip, and more
  • And if USB-C isn’t that important to you, you could also consider grabbing an iPhone 14 Pro or 14 if you currently have an iPhone 13 or older (14 Pro is no longer available at Apple, but can be found elsewhere)

Pre-orders for the iPhone 15 lineup start at Apple, carriers, and other retailers on September 15 at 5 am PT / 8 am ET.

Thanks for reading our guide on iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro!

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