Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: expected differences (2023)

Intro

So, the big bad — the Pro Max. We kind of expect it to be like an iPhone 14 Pro Max on steroids — slightly different design, much thinner bezels around the screen, a titanium body, and a periscope zoom camera that can reach up to 5x or 6x optical zoom. Of course, also a new processor — in fact, Apple is poised to release the world's first 3 nm smartphone SoC with the iPhone 15 Pro series.

Let's see what we know so far!

Design and Size

This one won't be a Spider-Man meme

But we are not being fair — rumor has it that the front will see a slight change, too. Apparently, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will have incredibly thin bezels around its screen — possibly the thinnest bezels on a smartphone right now. Which is a bit weird, since Apple typically prefers to leave some bezel there for the user to grab to. But leaked measurements of the iPhone 15 Pro Max do state that it will be slightly shorter and narrower, while — supposedly — keeping the same screen size and aspect ratio. So, this could very well be true.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is also reported to be built with titanium, which should make it lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max with its stainless steel chassis. And, titanium still looks and feels premium, so no losses to be had there.

Also, the iPhone 15 series will be getting a USB Type-C port instead of the Lightning port for charging and data transfers. You have the EU regulators to thank for this. Though, rumor is that Apple will be selling its own USB C cables with a chip inside, which "unlocks" the iPhone's fast charging and fast data transfers. Using a generic USB Type-C cable might not yield the best results. We are not rid of MFi yet!

As for data transfer speeds, rumor mill says the iPhone 15 Pro Max will have a USB 3.2 connection, which is heaps, bounds, years, and miles better than the USB 2.0 speeds the iPhones have been stuck with so far. USB 3.2 supports transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps (or 10 Gbps if it's Gen 2), which is already 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and its 480 Mbps. Boo! Boo, Wendy Lightning-burger, boo!

Display Differences

We expect mostly the same screens from both devices — Samsung-made OLED panels that have the Dynamic Island cutout on top, 120 Hz refresh rates, and outstanding max brightness. The iPhone 14 Pro Max was already capable of peaking at 2,000 nits — rumor says, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will go up to 2,500 nits.

But otherwise, here's the boring stuff — we expect the same 6.7-inch size, with the same 1290x2796 resolution, and a 120 Hz ProMotion refresh rate. Apple has found what it's comfortable with and we don't expect a change in those specs.

Performance and Software

A17 Bionic... Commando?

Another iPhone, another new processor. If the line of succession is followed, the SoC inside the iPhone 15 Pro Max should be called Apple A17 Bionic. Who knows, maybe it's time for a shakeup and a name change — A17 Cyborg? A17 StarDestroyer? We'll see.

In any case, it will be a faster and more efficient chip — again. Supposedly, the A17 will be the world's first smartphone SoC to be built on a 3 nm process, which is ridiculously small. It will, reportedly, fit 4 to 8 billion (with a b) more transistors in it, and perform 18% more operations per second than the A16 Bionic inside the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Do keep in mind that "operations per second" does not translate to performance increase 1 to 1, so thus far — as much as we are thankful to the rumors and leaksters — this doesn't mean much to us.

Supposedly, the A17 Bionic was supposed to support / come with LPDDR5X RAM. The Android flagships in the industry have already made the switch — the new memory technology is about 30% faster than regular LPDDR5, so... it's about time. But no, more recent leaks say that this upgrade has been postponed for the iPhone 16 series.

What we do know is that the iPhone 14 Pro Max is is still very snappy, fast, smooth, and basically among the best-performing smartphones on the market. Its A16 chip will likely live on inside the non-Pro iPhone 15, so it's obviously not going to be considered obsolete just yet. As far as raw performance differences — we'll have to wait for benchmark leaks or the actual device release so we can start frying that 3 nm circuit.

Camera

Periscope up! Actually, it's internal... well, you know what I mean

And that makes sense — the iPhones just got a new high-res sensor with the iPhone 14 Pro Max series. And Apple likes to pace and spread out upgrades nicely. The iPhone 15 Pro Max will likely make use of the same 48 MP main sensor and we don't expect huge differences in the main camera performance.

Selfie camera? Ultra-wide camera? We have no information on those. Though, no hot leaks can mean that Apple doesn't plan changes there. So, a 12 MP selfie and 12 MP ultra-wide camera, same as before.

Audio Quality and Haptics

Apple's haptics have been industry-leading for years (though, Android manufacturers did catch up about 3 years ago). At this point, we don't know how the haptics can be made better — the Taptic engine in the iPhone 14 Pro Max clicks and clacks super-accurately with pleasing feedback, as it has for years now. We don't see that changing with the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Battery Life and Charging

All day battery? You betcha

The Apple A-series chips have the capability of being powerful but also energy-efficient. Really, if you put an iPhone under a huge strain — max-res 3D gaming, video-editing and exporting, or just benchmark stress testing — it will eat through a battery fairly fast. Even then, the iPhone 14 Pro Max delivered pretty respectable battery life under heavy load.

On the other end of the spectrum, iPhones are exceptionally good at preserving charge while in standby, and also don't drain much for regular tasks, such as browsing, chatting, and YouTube binging. Again, the iPhone 14 Pro Max smashed results, giving us 19 hours of web browsing before turning off.

We fully expect that the iPhone 15 Pro Max would be on par. If worse than this — then only slightly. Yes, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is expected to have a slightly smaller footprint, so one would assume "Ha! Smaller battery, then!". But leaks say that it will have a slightly thicker profile. So, maybe we will get a cell similar to the 4,323 mAh one in the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

What about charging? We kind of doubt Apple will suddenly jump on the ultra-fast-charging bandwagon. So, we will likely see the same spec of 27 W wired charging, 15 W wireless (with MagSafe, otherwise - 7.5 W).

Specs Comparison

*Highly speculative

Not a huge difference? Well... par for the course in iPhone world. But, let's not forget — the iPhone 14 Pro Max is still fresh and bleeding-edge. How much improvement can one bring to it? We'll have to wait and see...

Summary and Final Verdict

By all means, if you currently have an iPhone 14 Pro Max, you should feel pretty set — we don't think an upgrade to iPhone 15 Pro Max would be mandatory or that much of an improvement. Unless you really, really want that optical zoom (and if we get it).

In fact, we do think we will be recommending the iPhone 14 Pro Max as a "cheaper super-premium phone" once the iPhone 15 Pro Max comes out and makes its price tick down by a bit.

But don't get us wrong — the iPhone 15 Pro Max is definitely shaping up to be a killer phone. If you are on an older iPhone — specifically 12 or below — it will be an awesome jump. If you've never had an iPhone, it would be the most impressive starting point.