iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro are Apple’s latest and top 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 for all the differences and advice on which to buy for yourself or individual else.
Update June 2024: During the announcement of Apple Intelligence, we learned the fresh AI features will only be available with iPhone 15 Pro/Max and later. That marks a major fresh discrimination between Apple’s smartphones.
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 large 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 inactive 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 | ||||
ProMotion – adaptive 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 colour (P3) |
While the displays have reached parity for the iPhone 15 lineup erstwhile it comes to specs like resolution and brightness, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max do have slimmer bezels.
Size, weight, design
Overall, the plan of iPhone 15 and 15 Pro remains very akin 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 utilized titanium for iPhone with the 15 Pro and Pro Max. That means fresh brushed finishes, advanced strength and durability, and lighter devices too.
The another major update for the 15 Pro and Pro Max is the change of the side control to the fresh 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 fresh iPhones besides come in fresh colors, we’ll get into that in item below. And here are any large case options to defend iPhone 15:
Performance – A17 Pro vs A16 Bionic
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 insignificant 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 |
Apple Intelligence support |
In real-world use, both the A16 Bionic and A17 Pro are more than powerful adequate 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, up to 35 trillion operations per second
And game developers like CAPCOM say the fresh A17 Pro GPU has made it possible for console-exclusive games like Resident Evil 4 to come to iPhone.
Battery life
When it comes to battery life, the iPhone 15 lineup has the same ratings as the iPhone 14 devices. We’ll gotta 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
Rear cameras
Some of the main fresh features Apple highlighted for the iPhone 15, and specifically the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are the fresh camera strategy capabilities.
All the iPhone 15 devices come with a 48MP main rear camera, next-gen image 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 besides have more powerful sensors even though all iPhone 15 devices have 48MP sensors. And all the fresh 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 |
Digital zoom | Up to 10x | Up to 10x | Up to 15x | Up to 25x |
Flash | True speech flash | True speech flash | Adaptive actual speech Flash | Adaptive actual speech 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 fresh features for the Pro models include the option to rapidly 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 stay exclusive for the Pro models.
Video recording
While improvements in inactive photography are more plentiful, there are any improvements in videography for the iPhone 15 Pro devices.
USB-C 3 support on the Pro models means the ability to shoot ProRes straight to external drives – now at 4K60.
And there’s now support for log video recording, the Academy colour Encoding strategy (ACES), plus the ability to capture Spatial video that can be viewed on Apple imagination 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 imagination 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 colour 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 scope of upgrades found on the main rear camera. truly 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 imagination 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 control from Lightning to USB-C. All 4 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 any neat fresh capabilities like shooting video consecutive to an external SSD and more.
More differences between 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 another countries | Dual eSIM in US – physical included for most another countries | Dual eSIM in US – physical included for most another countries | Dual eSIM in US – physical included for most another countries |
MagSafe | ||||
Qi and Qi2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro colors
iPhone 15 and 15 Plus come in these 5 colors:
- Black
- Blue
- Green
- Yellow
- Pink
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 retention 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?
All of the iPhone 15 devices just come with the iPhone and a USB-C cable in the box.
If you request 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 fresh iPhones are powerful and capable devices, but which 1 is best for you will come down to how you want to usage your iPhone and what features you see as meaningful.
Reasons to buy iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max
- Apple Intelligence support
- 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
- If the 7 features above aren’t compelling for you, save any money and catch the iPhone 15, which includes large fresh cameras, USB-C, the Dynamic Island, A16 chip, and more
- And if USB-C isn’t that crucial to you, you could besides consider grabbing an iPhone 14 Pro or 14 if you presently have an iPhone 13 or older (14 Pro is no longer available at Apple, but can be found elsewhere)
Thanks for reading our guide on iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro!
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