The iPhone 15 Pro Max looks like the most impressive iPhone yet thanks to a new titanium design, a more powerful A17 Pro processor, and a number of camera upgrades, including an improved telephoto zoom. It also introduces the Action Button for iPhone, a quick-launcher for specific features that's all about convenience. Here are our first impressions after going hands-on with the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Pro Max during the Apple Event from Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 We're here at the Apple event
00:06 and we're taking our first look at the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
00:09 It has a new titanium design,
00:11 a more powerful A17 Pro processor,
00:14 and the first 5X telephoto zoom on an iPhone.
00:18 Let's go take a look.
00:19 So one of the things you'll notice
00:20 about the iPhone 15 Pro Max design
00:21 is that it has the thinnest borders ever on an iPhone.
00:24 So like the bezels are not quite gone,
00:26 but they're almost gone.
00:27 And then the other thing that's cool
00:28 is that because this is a titanium design,
00:30 you can see that sort of has
00:31 like a brush finish on the side.
00:33 This feels lighter in your pocket,
00:35 despite having the same 6.7 inch display
00:38 as the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
00:40 And down below, you have this new USB-C port,
00:43 which is not just for charging,
00:44 it can also transfer data up to 10 gigabits per second,
00:47 which is good for transferring 48 megapixel raw photos,
00:51 let's say to a Mac or to an external storage drive.
00:55 So one of the new iPhone 15 Pro Max features
00:58 is this periscope zoom lens.
01:00 They're calling it a tetraprism.
01:02 And the idea is that you get,
01:04 so this is a macro lens right here,
01:07 this is ultra wide,
01:08 then the three standard lenses,
01:10 then you start to get into your 3x zoom,
01:15 and then this is a 5x zoom right here.
01:18 So you can get in really close,
01:19 and it's pretty amazing just how far away we are
01:23 at the start.
01:24 And now with 5x,
01:26 Apple is getting closer to the competition,
01:28 especially the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
01:30 Another feature that's new for the iPhone 15 Pro Max
01:32 and the 15 Pro is that you have more control
01:35 over the depth and focus.
01:36 So you can decide with a tap
01:38 what you wanna focus on in the image.
01:40 So now you can see the object that was in the foreground
01:42 is now in focus,
01:43 or you could do the face in this case,
01:46 and you can all do this after the fact.
01:49 The ringer switch is gone.
01:50 It's replaced with this action button right here.
01:52 And within settings,
01:53 you can decide what you wanna do with the action button.
01:55 So silent mode is there by default,
01:57 but you can do focus, camera, flashlight,
02:00 voice memo, or magnifier.
02:02 So if I go into camera,
02:04 and then I go back out to the main screen,
02:06 and let's say I'm in another app
02:07 and I see there's a great photo opportunity,
02:09 I just long press this button,
02:11 and I go directly into that app.
02:13 And if I want to,
02:14 I can also press the action button once more
02:17 to take a photo.
02:18 So what about performance?
02:19 The iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Pro
02:20 both have the new A17 Pro chip,
02:23 and it has a new six core GPU built in.
02:26 And it has ray tracing technology
02:28 that's integrated into the chip,
02:30 which is a first for the iPhone.
02:32 And they're saying it gives you console quality graphics.
02:34 And you can see that the lighting effects
02:36 are very sophisticated.
02:37 And this game is available now,
02:38 but the ray tracing effects will be coming later.
02:41 But you can see that like with this lighting over here,
02:43 the ripples in the water,
02:45 this is definitely like among the best graphics
02:47 that we've seen on a mobile device.
02:48 So overall, I do think that this could be
02:50 the best iPhone ever,
02:51 but we'll have to see how it does in our testing.
02:53 Be sure to follow all of our Apple coverage
02:55 @tomsguide on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and more.
02:59 For Tom's Guide, this is Mark Schmudhauer.
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