Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max Review: The Hot New Phone to Beat

Trust me when I say this — the ‘hot’ in the title has nothing to do with the thermal tittle-tattle on Twitter. In fact, I haven’t encountered any overheating on my iPhone 15 Pro Max (more on that in a bit). It’s simply to express how pleasurable the experience of using the latest iPhone has been. I’ve been using the iPhone 15 Pro Max as my daily driver for close to 10 days now. Switching from the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, the iPhone had big shoes to fill. And boy it didn’t disappoint. If you’re keen on purchasing the device, I’ve encapsulated my experience in this iPhone 15 Pro Max review.

Having used the iPhone 14 Pro briefly last year, I was disappointed with what that phone had to offer. So this time around, I had a lot of hopes; not as many expectations. Apple is known to deliver iterative upgrades instead of drastic improvements. But, I can’t be happier to report the brand proved me wrong with the iPhone 15 series.

While the improvements on paper may not seem apparent, the new 24MP photos and the 5X lens take the camera system to a whole new level. The reduction in weight is also a huge bonus. Now that you’ve already figured out my general consensus about the phone, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.

The Weight Loss I Wish I Achieved

One of the biggest downsides of the Pro Max series of iPhones was its weight. The 14 Pro Max was an open-ended invitation to Carpel tunnel syndrome and a hurting pinky. Slap a case on and it only made things worse. Apple has finally addressed this with the new titanium frame on the iPhone 15 Pro series. The 15 Pro Max has shed close to 20g compared to the 14 Pro Max. This may not seem significant on paper but makes a world of difference when you hold the phone for an extended period.

As a matter of fact, I would say this is the single biggest change that convinced me to switch to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Even more than the 5X camera (and I’m saying this as a telephoto camera enthusiast). It no longer feels like I’m carrying a brick and a half in my trouser pockets.

Couple the weight loss with the slightly rounded edges and you now have a phone that doesn’t dig into your palms. Apple has made subtle refinements this year with respect to design that result in drastic improvements in terms of comfort and ergonomics. As for the new titanium frame — I like the way it looks. While some may say the shiny stainless steel sides looked more premium, I beg to differ.

Lights, Camera, Action

Whether you want to turn on the flashlight or quickly open the camera to take a picture, the new Action Button comes in handy. Again, this is a debatable topic where some may say the mute switch was more helpful. Personally, my phone always stays silent as I rely on my smartwatch for notifications. So, a customizable button makes a lot of sense for my usage.

However, I get that the visual indicator of your phone’s volume levels can be handy to those who frequently switch between audio modes. Unfortunately, that’s a thing of the past. While I do like the Action Button, I can’t help but wonder why Apple didn’t allow users to customize it further. As of now, you can only assign a single function to the action button — a long-press.

I wish Apple also allowed users to set actions for double-press, triple-press, or other similar permutations. That would have totally been a ‘Pro’ move. Maybe with a future version of iOS, Apple may introduce this feature. Until then, you can follow my friend Aamir’s guide on customizing the Action Button like a Pro. That’s what I’ve done to get the most out of the new key.

I’ve set up the button to open the Notes app when it’s pressed in the portrait orientation. But, when I turn the phone around in landscape mode, pressing the Action Button quickly launches the Camera app. Now that’s more like it!

C You, Lightning!

Whether it was the collective prayers of all tech enthusiasts or EU regulations that worked their magic, Apple has finally bid adieu to the lightning port. USB-C has now made its way to the iPhone which means I can finally carry a single cable to charge my laptop, phone, headphones, and power bank.

However, the only real advantage of the switch apart from universal compatibility is faster data transfer speeds. You can now connect an SSD directly to your iPhone and transfer data at USB 3 speeds. In fact, you can record 4K 60fps ProRes footage straight to an external SSD by keeping it plugged in when recording. The charging speeds unfortunately remain the same. But hey, it’s a step in the right direction.

Same Recognizable Design

I think it’s high time the iPhones get a design overhaul — especially on the back. They’ve looked the same since the iPhone 11 series and the back is starting to look a bit dated at this point. If I put the iPhone 12 Pro, 13 Pro, 14 Pro, and 15 Pro in a case, you’ll have a hard time telling them apart. Unless of course, you pay close attention to the size of the camera island.

While the ‘why fix something that’s not broken’ principle has been working rather well for Apple, a design refresh wouldn’t do any harm. Speaking of looks, the bezels on the front have gotten narrower resulting in a more immersive experience. And that’s the perfect segue into the next segment.

Same Recognizable Display

Apple built its own identity in the display department with the dynamic island on the iPhone 14 Pro last year. This time, they’ve introduced it across the iPhone 15 lineup for uniformity. Unlike the myriad of Android phones with a hole-punch cutout, the iPhone’s display is easily recognizable from afar. If you see the pill-shaped cutout, you know it’s an iPhone.

After all, this has been Apple’s design ethos for the longest time. Whether it was the notch on the iPhone X to 14 or the similar camera island we mentioned from the iPhone 11 series, the brand creates a unique identity and sticks to it for a few years. Now it’s not necessarily a bad thing since the iPhone 14 Pro already had an excellent display.

The Super Retina XDR panel on the iPhone 15 Pro Max isn’t any different apart from the fact that the bezels are slimmer and the corners are slightly more curved. Brightness levels remain the same at 2,000 nits along with HDR capabilities that elevate the viewing experience. As for the size of the display — it also stays the same at 6.1-inch on the iPhone 15 Pro and 6.7-inch on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. But, thanks to the reduction in bezels, the overall footprint is slightly smaller.

While weather conditions in Boston and New York were mostly overcast during my testing, I had no issues viewing directions on Google Maps under the glaring sun at 2PM when crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s worth noting though that if the phone gets too hot, it does throttle the display brightness to an annoying low level. Thankfully, I didn’t experience this personally but I’ve had a few colleagues from the industry mention this to me.

Same Reliable Performance

iPhones are known to run smoothly with little to no hiccups and that’s exactly the experience I had with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. iOS is an absolute pleasure to use at 120Hz and the ProMotion display on the 15 Pro series does a great job at handling the smooth animations.

That’s not to say iOS 17 is perfect. In fact, it’s far from it. I’ve run into peculiar issues like the phone getting stuck on the call screen or the camera UI not responding when switching between lenses. Both these issues have been annoying since the former didn’t allow me to hang up a call once I was done speaking, and the latter ensured I missed taking a picture at the right moment.

It’s disappointing to see such issues plague a phone that costs upwards of $1,000. However, it’s, unfortunately, the case with pretty much every single smartphone out there. I’m coming from the Galaxy S23 Ultra where I faced issues like the notification panel disappearing or the fingerprint scanner not working from time to time.

Anyhow, coming back to the iPhone — the performance has been solid apart from these software bugs. I haven’t faced any slowdowns or lags when using any app or game. Photos — despite now being captured at 24MP — are processed as soon as you click them. This was a big relief for me coming from the S23 Ultra where I had to wait for 2-3 seconds for a photo to be processed after it was clicked.

Does the iPhone 15 Pro Max Overheat?

I’ve had the iPhone 15 Pro Max for close to two weeks at this point and I’ve been using it extensively since then. Throughout this period, I haven’t felt that the phone has gotten exceedingly hot even once. It’s worth noting that I use my phone with a case so maybe the phone has gotten warm but I haven’t felt it.

If that is indeed the case, it doesn’t really matter since a) most people use a case with their phones. And b) the heat did not affect my usage or performance of the phone. Notably, users had complained of the heating issues on SKUs that have a physical SIM tray i.e. units sold outside the US. I’ve been using the US variant eSIM only so your mileage may vary. Still, I’m not sure how the presence of a SIM tray should affect the thermals.

Moreover, the iOS 17.0.3 update rolled out recently addresses any overheating issues and improves battery life (more on that in a bit).

The New Smartphone Camera to Beat

I compared the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s camera with the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s since the latter was the reigning champion as per my testing. The results clearly indicate the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a superior camera setup. Thanks to the new 5X lens on the Pro Max variant, you also get a good level of versatility with an extended focal length — something that didn’t exist till now on iPhones.

Pictures shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max are crisp and have plenty of details. The fact that the phone captures photos in 24MP resolution is actually turning out to be beneficial. I guess Megapixels do matter at times after all! It’s not just about the details though. Apple’s color science has improved drastically this year as human subjects don’t end up having a yellowish skin tone.

Moreover, the single biggest improvement to the iPhone cameras in my books this year is HDR. Apple’s new Smart HDR algorithms work just as expected. Highlights are no longer blown out so if you click a picture with harsh lighting, the entire background won’t simply appear white. The iPhone 15 Pro Max controls highlights beautifully resulting in highlights and shadows being properly exposed.

Whether you’re clicking photos in daylight or at night, the results are much better than what they used to be on the iPhone 14 Pro. While that statement is applicable to the primary camera, the ultra-wide lens — not so much. It’s still on the softer side and tends to blow out highlights ever so slightly.

Zoom In on Your Subjects

Let me get this out of the way — I absolutely love telephoto cameras. Coming from the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the 3X and 10X lenses were my most-used focal lengths on that phone. And when I saw that Apple added a 5X shooter on the 15 Pro Max, I knew it was the phone I was getting. Having used probably one of the best telephoto cameras on any phone, I went in with a lot of expectations from the new iPhone.

Well, the 15 Pro Max stood up to my expectations on most occasions. When taking photos in daylight with the 5X camera, you can get some stunning shots with excellent compression. In fact, I would go as far as saying the 5X lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max is probably the best way to take Portrait Mode photos on any phone. I mean, take a look for yourself. Everything from colors to edge detection is spot on.

However, when there’s little or no light, the 5X lens suffers from noise and grain. Moreover, Samsung’s 10X lens can click usable pictures up to 30X that are fairly detailed. If you try zooming in beyond 5X on the iPhone, you can get to about 10X in broad daylight and end up with a usable shot. However, anything beyond that looks like a garbled mess. Even 10X zoom shots in indoor lighting conditions contain a lot of noise.

So, if you wish to zoom into faraway objects like the moon, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is still the way to go. But, for street photography or mainly — portrait mode shots — the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 5X lens is more than capable. I just wish Apple worked on its computational algorithms to improve zoom shots past 5X.

Create Reels and TikToks

Just like the ultra-wide camera, the front-facing shooter hasn’t received any improvements on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. As a result, we’re working with slightly dated hardware that doesn’t capture as many details as some other flagship devices. However, the dynamic range is good and so are the skin tones.

As with every iPhone, the video recording capabilities — be it via the selfie camera or any of the rear shooters — are top-notch. If you’re a content creator or influencer, you’ll love the video output from the iPhone 15 Pro Max. You even have the ability to shoot in ProRes LOG now which can be color-graded later. The iPhone has always been a creator’s phone and the 15 Pro Max further strengthens that notion.

(Sorta) Same Dependable Battery

I think smartphone battery life peaked with the iPhone 13 Pro Max. That phone just went on and on. The iPhone 14 Pro series in comparison was a letdown as it didn’t last as long. With the iPhone 15 Pro Max (and the A17 Pro), Apple has redeemed itself — to a certain extent.

The endurance surely seems better than last year but it’s still not as good as the iPhone 13 Pro Max. On average, I get close to 6.5-7 hours of screen-on time — which don’t get me wrong — is excellent. But, it doesn’t match up to the 8-9 hours I experienced when using the 13 Pro Max.

With lots of outdoor usage with 5G and navigation, I ended up with 5.5 hours of screen-on time with 18% left in the bank at the end of the day. You can expect similar stats when using the phone primarily on cellular data. Switch to Wi-Fi and the number should go up close to 7 hours. For most people, that’s plenty of battery to last the entire day.

Things aren’t as rosy when it comes to charging speeds though. Apple is still sticking to the same old 20W charging support despite moving to USB-C. In my testing, it took the iPhone 15 Pro Max 109 minutes to go from a dead state to 100%. That’s a little shy of 2 hours. There’s MagSafe charging too if you wish to use it but no reverse wireless charging yet. Sigh!

I can’t help but wonder why Apple wouldn’t enable reverse wireless charging given how helpful it is. Imagine resting your Apple Watch or AirPods on the back of your iPhone to juice it up for a few minutes. How convenient! Hopefully, we get to see it next year.

More of the Same, but Better

There’s a recurring theme you may have observed throughout the review. A lot of aspects of the iPhone 15 Pro Max are simply derived from older-generation iPhones. The display, design (barring minor refinements), performance, battery life, and charging — are all extensions of what/how they were on the iPhone 14 series. So, what really has changed then?

Well, the cameras have gotten significantly better. And the phone isn’t unwieldy anymore thanks to the reduction in weight. If you think about it, these are the only two key changes on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. And frankly, they’re enough for me to recommend the phone to pretty much anyone willing to spend $1,200. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is a solid offering that gets all the basics right. It fixes most of what was broken last year while adding more utility with the 5X lens and a USB-C port.

After reviewing most smartphones, I usually switch back to my trusted Galaxy S23 Ultra. Well, looks like that’s not happening this time. I’m sticking with the iPhone 15 Pro Max.