iPhone 15 vs iPhone 15 Pro: Which Handset Should You Choose? | Tom's Guide

  • 8 months ago
Our iPhone 15 vs iPhone 15 Pro comparison will help you decide which new iPhone is right for you. The iPhone 15 Pro series has a sleeker titanium design, new Action button and faster A17 Pro chip. But the regular iPhone 15 has plenty of welcome upgrades, including the Dynamic Island, USB-C and a 48MP camera.
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:04 The iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Pro have some of the biggest differences that I've
00:08 seen in years, but the regular iPhone 15 is more pro than ever.
00:11 So which one should you get?
00:13 I'm gonna break down all the differences right now.
00:15 [MUSIC]
00:17 Let's start with design.
00:18 The new iPhone 15 borrows the Dynamic Island from the iPhone 14 Pro series.
00:23 As a reminder, the Dynamic Island gives you live updates at the top of the screen
00:27 for things like your flight status, Spotify tracks, and more.
00:30 So it comes in really handy.
00:32 Finally, the iPhone 15 also offers USB-C support.
00:36 You get that for both the Pro and the regular models, but
00:38 there's a big difference that you need to know.
00:40 If you're transferring lots of files and want to do it fast,
00:42 the iPhone 15 Pro series lets you do it with USB 3 speeds.
00:46 USB-C on the iPhone 15 Pro supports transfer speeds up to 10 gigabits per
00:50 second versus just 480 megabits per second for the regular iPhone 15.
00:55 The iPhone 15 has a Pro-like frosted glass back,
00:58 which gives you multiple color options, which includes blue, black, green,
01:02 yellow, and pink.
01:03 I like it, but it's almost too Pro-like.
01:06 So let's talk about titanium.
01:07 Both the iPhone 15 Pro and the Pro Max have a titanium body, which is stronger and
01:12 lighter than the stainless steel on the previous Pro models.
01:15 I like the brush metal look, and I also like the fact that the bezels are much
01:19 smaller on the Pro models, which results in a more compact design.
01:22 Another big difference for the iPhone 15 versus iPhone 15 Pro is the new
01:26 action button.
01:27 This replaces the ringer switch and allows you to do all sorts of shortcuts.
01:30 So for example, you can launch the camera or the magnifier or
01:33 the voice recorder button all with a long press.
01:36 Overall, I like it, but I wish you could do more than one action at a time.
01:40 The good news is that the iPhone 15 has the same super high 1600 nits of brightness
01:44 and 2000 nits when you're outdoors in direct sunlight.
01:47 So in terms of overall quality, they're very similar.
01:50 Just remember that only the iPhone 15 Pro series offers 120 hertz refresh rate,
01:54 which means you get smoother scrolling and better gameplay.
01:57 The iPhone 15 is still stuck at 60 hertz, which is not okay for a 2023 flagship.
02:03 The iPhone 15 gets a big camera upgrade with a new 48 megapixel sensor,
02:07 which is a big jump up from 12 megapixels on the last model.
02:11 Because of this jump in resolution, you get a lot more pixels to play with,
02:14 which means for the first time you get a 2x optical zoom treatment on the iPhone 15.
02:19 So it's almost like having a telephoto lens.
02:23 All of the new iPhone 15 models are smart enough to capture portrait shots without
02:27 having to enter portrait mode.
02:28 And you can change the focus point of your shots after the fact.
02:32 Plus, with improved smart HDR, you're going to see brighter highlights,
02:36 better colors, and more natural skin tones in all sorts of lighting conditions.
02:40 But the iPhone 15 Pro series continues to be the pro powerhouse because you can shoot
02:45 in 48 megapixel raw mode and you get a 3x optical zoom on the regular iPhone 15 Pro.
02:51 The iPhone 15 Pro Max takes this to the next level with a 5x optical zoom
02:56 using a tetraprism lens.
02:58 Both the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus feature the A16 Bionic chip from the iPhone
03:03 14 Pro series.
03:04 So you should expect faster overall speeds, especially if you're upgrading from an
03:08 older iPhone.
03:09 But the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are both more future-proof because they pack the new
03:14 3-nanometer A17 Pro chip.
03:17 So what does this mean for you?
03:19 The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max both offer 10% better CPU performance,
03:24 twice as fast machine learning performance, and an all-new GPU that is 20% faster.
03:29 And with ray tracing support, you're going to get the closest thing to console-based
03:34 performance in an iPhone ever.
03:36 Apple doesn't list the battery capacities for its new iPhones, but we do know that
03:40 they're rated for 16 hours of streaming video with the regular iPhone 15,
03:45 and it goes up to 20 hours for the iPhone 15 Plus.
03:48 The iPhone 15 Pro is rated for 20 hours, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max goes up to 25.
03:54 The amount of endurance that you're going to see depends on how you use your iPhone,
03:57 but we're going to be testing all four new iPhones with our battery test,
04:00 which uses web surfing, to see which one lasts longest.
04:03 Unfortunately, all of the new iPhones are still rated for fairly slow charging.
04:07 They're all rated to get to 50% in 30 minutes.
04:10 And frankly, I was hoping for more, especially when the Android competition
04:13 charges much faster.
04:15 And that's a little bit of a bummer, especially since USB-C gives you access
04:18 to more power.
04:19 Now let's get into the pricing.
04:21 The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus start at the same $799 and $899 as the previous
04:26 models, and the iPhone 15 Pro starts at $999, the same as last year.
04:31 The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a little bit of a price hike because now it starts at $1,199,
04:35 which is $100 more than last year.
04:38 But the good news is that you get double the storage, so it starts at 256 gigs.
04:42 Overall, I'm more excited about the iPhone 15 Pro and the Pro Max because you get the
04:46 titanium design, the more powerful A17 Pro chip, and the new action button.
04:51 And I'm especially excited for the Pro Max because you get a 5X telephoto zoom.
04:56 But don't write off the regular iPhone 15.
04:58 In a lot of ways, it's like you're getting the iPhone 14 Pro for less.
05:02 We have plenty more coverage of the iPhone 15 lineup on tomsguide.com,
05:05 and be sure to follow us @tomsguide on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and more.
05:09 For Tom's Guide, this is Mark Spoonhauer.
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