What is the Apple iPhone 15 Pro?
This is the smaller of two Pro iPhones recently released – and the only phone in the 15 series to have actually dropped in price compared to last year’s model. The iPhone 15 Pro with 128GB storage costs £999. Last year’s iPhone 14 Pro was £1,099. This, by the way, is a story that has not had much coverage.
This price drop, combined with the absence of the 128GB entry-level iPhone 15 Pro Max means there’s now a £200 price difference between the Pro and the Pro Max.
... the only phone in the 15 series to have actually dropped in price compared to last year’s model
The Pro has a 6.1-inch display, compared to the Max’s 6.7-incher. Like the Max, it has three cameras, not the two found on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. But where the Max has a periscope camera, called tetraprism, which provides a 5x zoom compared to the main lens, this phone has a 3x equivalent zoom.
The battery, unsurprisingly, is smaller than that in the Pro Max, so it doesn’t last as long.
Beyond that, though, there are no differences: the same brand-new titanium edge band, same colours, same thinner bezels around the display, same Action button replacing the silent/ringer switch, and the same identical new processor, the A17 Pro. Is it worth its lower-than-last-year price? And should you be worried by talk of overheating? Read on.
The iPhone 15 family
Design
The brushed matte-finish edge of the iPhone 15 Pro is very different from all previous Pro models which had shiny stainless steel cladding the sides. This new look is very chic, understated and high-end. And it has the extra benefit of being lighter – by 19g – compared to last year’s Pro. The same weight saving is found on the Max phones. While 19g may not sound that much, it’s worth having and is a difference you can feel as you hold the new phone.
The edges and back are colour-matched, even though the back is glass and the side titanium. There are four colours: white titanium and natural titanium, which are both light in colour, and black titanium and blue titanium which are both very dark.
Such is Apple’s obsessive attention to detail, Apple has been scrupulous enough to colour-match other parts of the phone: peep into the charging socket and the inside components are a perfect match for the outside edge of the phone.
And, as you’ll doubtless have heard, this year the charging socket has a new internal design because it now works with a USB-C cable, not Lightning. This is a Very Good Thing. Before you throw your Lightning cables away, remember you’ll still need them for AirPods, AirPods Max, the ninth-generation iPad and any previous iPhone which you’ve passed on to a family member, for instance.
AirPods Pro, by the way, have just been reissued with USB-C connect on the charging case. Even so, expect the Lightning cable to remain an important staple of many home for years to come.
This is a Very Good Thing
There’s an Action Button where the silent/ringer switch sat on all previous iPhones and is still found on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. The button is neat. Press it and the screen shows whether the ringer is silent or going to sound. Press and hold and it’ll pop from one state to another, with a buzzing feedback as you switch to silent. And it can be reconfigured to almost any purpose. Several options are specified in the Settings app, such as launching the Magnifier, opening the camera, after which it works as a trigger for the shutter, or starting or ending a voice note. But then, thanks to the Shortcuts app, you can opt for lots more purposes. This is the kind of versatility that every iPhone needs. Maybe next year it’ll come to the regular iPhone, like the Dynamic Island screen element from the iPhone 14 Pro is on all this year’s phones, but for now, this is a Pro-exclusive feature.
Last year's iPhone 14 Pro
Display
The difference to this year’s display rests entirely in the bezels around the screen, which have shrunk from narrow to super-narrow. They’re still there, and it’s a subtle change, but it’s noticeable with the 15 and 15 Pro next to each other.
Stat fans will want to know that the display has a resolution of 2,556 by 1,179 pixels, 2 million to 1 contrast, 1,000 nits max brightness, 1,600 nits peak brightness for HDR content and 2,000 nits peak brightness when outside.
Beyond those figures, as with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, this is a highly appealing OLED screen with 460 pixels per inch across the 6.1-inch display. It has ProMotion, Apple’s name for its dynamically changing refresh rate. It goes as fast as 120Hz, as slow as just 1Hz, which it uses for the always-on display.
This is the kind of versatility that every iPhone needs
That’s a Pro-only feature, too, and it’s great. You can see your chosen phone wallpaper, selected widgets and, of course, the time, without touching your phone. All with minimal power draw and with a better, more complete effect than any other phone manages. The iPhone cleverly turns off the screen in certain situations to save energy further, such as when the accelerometer spots the phone is face down, for instance.
Camera
The iPhone 15 Pro has three rear cameras, like the iPhone 15 Pro Max. But, as mentioned above, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a telephoto with a 5x zoom equivalent, the iPhone 15 Pro telephoto is 3x the focal length of the regular lens. If you want the ultimate in iPhone photography, the Max has a more advanced camera.
But the truth is that a 3x zoom, the same as found on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, is useful and effective.
The three lenses mean there are three focal lengths – 0.5x, 1x and 3x. Well, that’s straightforward enough. But the magic of Apple’s software means there are four more. Here’s how that works.
First, because there’s a 48-megapixel sensor on the 1x sensor, you can also slice out the central portion of the image, creating a 2x optical zoom equivalent, but only at 12-megapixel resolution. However, this clever cropping in means there’s no digital zoom with its deleterious effect on image quality. Two more zooms come from the main lens by clever cropping and reframing rather than digital zoom effects. These are the equivalent of 1.2x and 1.5x the main lens and can be set as your default main camera focal length if you prefer. This is a feature that pro photographers with a particular preference may be glad to see.
Finally, there’s the macro lens Apple has had for a couple of years, where it recognises that you’re up close to your subject, shooting on the main lens and the camera automatically swaps to the ultra-wide lens to achieve a pin-sharp close-up effect. You can go as close as 2cm and it will focus.
... a feature that pro photographers with a particular preference may be glad to see
There’s more. When you shoot on the main lens, the camera takes multiple images, including at 12-megapixel resolution and at 48-megapixel resolution for extra detail. The iPhone then combines the data to create a 24-megapixel final result. This could look manipulated and unreal, but Apple’s engineers combine great technical knowhow with fiercely good taste and in almost all circumstances the images look just great. This applies to all images shot on the main lens at between 1x and 1.9x and still includes all the other features such as Smart HDR and Live Photos that you’d have found on 12-megapixel shots before.
Another benefit is the way Portrait mode, where the background is blurred to emphasise your subject in great relief, now comes as a default option in some photos. The phone can spot a human face, or a cat or dog. No other pets, sorry newt-fanciers. But if it sees a face, it automatically records the depth data needed for a Portrait, even when you’re in the regular camera mode. You can then turn the photo into a Portrait later on. This is much easier than remembering to switch to Portrait mode. Afterwards you can place the focal point anywhere in the image – so you could even deliberately blur someone if you want.
When it comes to photography, the iPhone has excelled for years and this is Apple’s best yet – only the Pro Max with its 5x zoom beats it.
... Apple’s engineers combine great technical knowhow with fiercely good taste
The iPhone’s video capabilities remain excellent, with sumptuous recording at 4K resolution at 60 frames per second now available. Features introduced on earlier iPhones, such as an Action mode which involves advanced image stabilisation so your footage looks steady even if you’re running or on a bouncy vehicle, for instance, are here, too. Pro users will be glad of what’s called Log encoding, which basically just means there’s an extra format available which provides the capability for more versatility when it comes to post-production, in colour grading, for instance.
Performance
This phone is super-fast, not slowing down whatever you throw at it, whether that’s intensive photographic demands or high-quality gaming.
Every year, the Pro iPhones get an all-new sensor – the regular iPhone 15 models have the iPhone 14 Pro’s sensor, the Apple A16 Bionic. The new processor here is not bionic, whatever that meant, and Apple has adopted a simpler naming structure: this is the A17 Pro. The switch in name emphasises the move to a new fabrication process. It’s a 3-nanometre process which Apple boasts is an industry first. That means lots more transistors are crammed onto the chip, to add faster performance that’s more efficient. If you want to play games on your iPhone 15 Pro, the graphics have taken a significant step up so that console games can be slid across to the phone with no loss of graphical quality – although gaming on a screen this small obviously still has its limitations.
Battery
Battery life is the same as last year’s and easily enough to last a full day and more, though the Pro Max has a bigger cell, obviously, so lasts even longer.
Apple has fixed this now
A word about overheating: some iPhone 15 Pro models got hotter than they should have done in the first days after release. Of course, setting up a new phone sees an intense period of activity while music, apps and photos are transferred from the old handset to the new. But for some users, this was a more serious problem.
Apple has fixed this now, with a software update, iOS 17.0.3. Overheating diminishes battery life like crazy, of course, so it’s good this has been fixed. What’s more, Apple has achieved this without reducing performance at all.
Conclusion
This is a brilliant phone. If your hands don’t take kindly to the size of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, this is the perfect alternative – and it’s cheaper compared to last year’s iPhone 14 Pro. Apart from the extra battery life and 5x optical zoom, you lose nothing compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The processor, the other cameras, the new design are all identical to the larger Pro.
... a fantastic all-round phone that’s way ahead of the competition
And those new features, like the elegant titanium frame, the handy new Action Button, the great convenience of USB-C charging and connectivity and the blazing-fast performance are all worth having. Some of the upgrades are subtle, but they add up to a fantastic all-round phone that’s way ahead of the competition.
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