iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 15 Pro Max: Is bigger better?

It’s been close to a year since Apple unveiled the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, meaning we’ve had plenty of time to compare and contrast the two Pro smartphones. 

The 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are the two high-end models in the 2023 iPhone line-up, sitting above the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus in Apple’s hierarchy. 

We test every phone we review thoroughly, using industry-standard tests to benchmark performance and treating the device as our main phone throughout the review period. 

Keep reading to learn how the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max compare. 

Price 

The iPhone 15 Pro launched on September 22 2023 with prices starting at £999 for 128GB of storage and going up to £1499 for 1TB of storage. 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max launched alongside the 15 Pro on September 22 2023. Prices for the larger phone start at £1199 for 256GB of storage and cap out at £1599 for 1TB of storage. 

Design and screen

• The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max appear identical 
• The 15 Pro Max has a larger screen and slimmer bezels
• The 15 Pro is 34g lighter 

The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max share identical designs with matching titanium finishes, including Natural Titanium, Blue Titanium, White Titanium and Black Titanium. Both phones also swap out the mute switch for the versatile Action Button and retain the Dynamic Island notch from last year’s iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. 

Both the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are also rated dust and water-resistant up to IP68, making them equally durable. 

The biggest difference in this area is screen size, with the iPhone 15 Pro toting a 6.1-inch display and the 15 Pro a larger 6.7-inch screen. Both devices feature OLED panels with sharp resolutions, smooth ProMotion refresh rates and impressive levels of brightness. 

The 15 Pro Max certainly has the edge when streaming videos and playing games thanks to its larger screen, with the phone’s super slim bezels helping boost immersion. However, the smaller iPhone 15 Pro has its own strengths as the phone has the convenience of being a bit more pocket-sized and 34g lighter. 

Winner: iPhone 15 Pro Max 

Cameras 

• The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max share the same 48MP/12MP/12MP camera array 
• The 5x optical zoom on the 15 Pro Max is significantly more useful than the 3x on the 15 Pro 
• Both phones now support Log encoding 

The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max again share very similar specs when it comes to their respective cameras. However, the 15 Pro Max has the edge with its 5x telephoto lens. 

Both the Pro models boast triple camera arrays that include a 48-megapixel wide-angle sensor, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens. Both iPhones also offer 12-megapixel TrueDepth cameras for selfies and FaceTime calls, and both allow users to capture 4K/60fps video with Dolby Vision and Log encoding. 

The only difference between the two camera layouts is the optical zoom on the telephoto lenses, with the iPhone 15 Pro delivering up to 3x optical zoom and the 15 Pro Max up to 5x optical zoom. 

We found the latter to be far more useful, offering increased versatility when shooting and closing the distance between the camera and far-away subjects more effectively. 

Winner: iPhone 15 Pro Max 

Performance and software 

• The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are powered by the same A17 Pro chipset 
• Both phones ship with iOS 17

The two Pro iPhones share the same A17 Pro chipset, which features a six-core CPU with two performance cores and four efficiency cores, a six-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine. 

We found the A17 Pro to be incredibly powerful, enabling both phones to feel speedy and responsive and comfortably outperforming any Android rivals in our benchmarking tests. 

Both iPhones also shipped with Apple’s iOS 17 software and will receive iOS 18 when it rolls out this fall. Key highlights that arrived with iOS 17 include the StandBy mode, Live Voicemail and more interactive widgets. Running iOS also means you have access to Apple’s App Store and the extensive library of apps and games available there. 

Winner: Tie

Battery life 

• The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a slightly longer battery life 
• We found battery life and charging to be very similar across both phones 
• Both models support 20W wired charging and 15W wireless charging 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a slight advantage when it comes to battery life, with Apple quoting 29 hours of video playback or 95 hours of audio playback. The 15 Pro, meanwhile, offers up to 23 hours of video playback or 75 hours of audio playback. 

In our tests, we found we were about to get through a full day’s use with 20-30% left in the tank. Similarly, we found that the 15 Pro offered around 5 hours of screen time and 7 hours of screen-off time with 26% left in the tank at the end of the day. 

In fact, the two phones were very close in our tests, both when it came to battery discharge while gaming and watching Netflix, and when comparing charging speeds. For example, the 15 Pro Max charged faster in the first 15 minutes, but the 15 Pro hit the 50% mark quicker. 

Both the 15 Pro and the 15 Pro Max support 20W fast charging via the USB-C port, as well as 15W wireless charging with both Qi2 and Apple MagSafe standards.

Winner: iPhone 15 Pro Max

Verdict 

If you’re stuck between the iPhone 15 Pro and the 15 Pro Max, you’ll be happy to hear that both phones offer competitive performance and battery lives, meaning there’s no need to shell out another £100+ for that extra power. 

The 15 Pro Max does, however, have an edge with its larger screen and 5x telephoto camera lens. If a large display and a more versatile camera are important to you, we’d recommend opting for the iPhone 15 Pro Max. If not, save your money and stick with the iPhone 15 Pro. 

Buy the iPhone 15 Pro if… 

You prefer a smaller, more pocket-sized iPhone. 

Buy the iPhone 15 Pro Max if… 

You want a larger screen for consuming content and playing games, along with a more useful zoom lens.