Apple just announced its new high-end iPhones: the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. They’re made of titanium, they have Action Buttons and Apple promises they’re the most powerful smartphones Apple has ever made. The 15 Pro starts with 128GB of storage and the Pro Max with 256GB of storage. Both will be available for preorder.

This year’s Pro has a 6.1-inch screen, and the Pro Max has a 6.7-inch display like the new iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. Both are powered by the A17 Pro chip, which Apple has the fastest performance in any smartphone and can even challenge some high-end PCs. Along with a redesigned GPU, Apple seems to think these devices could be poised to level up the kinds of games you can play on your phone. (Of course, Apple likes to talk a lot about high-end gaming, and the results... don’t always keep up.)

Important Updates

Action Button

The Action Button, which replaces the ringer switch on the left side of the iPhone Pro, is a new button that you can customize to run shortcuts, bring up accessibility features, open the camera, turn on the flashlight, and more. By default, it’s still a ringer switch, but you’ll want to use it to do more.

USB-C

IPhone 15 and Pro phones have a USB-C port on the bottom rather than the old Lightning port. But in the Pro’s case, it could be for more than charging: Apple says the 15 Pro is the first phone with 10Gbps transfer speeds, which will make getting photos and videos (or large files of any kind) off your phone vastly easier.

Stand By Mode

The iPhone 15 Pros have Super Retina XDR displays with ProMotion, supporting the always-on display and the new StandBy mode in iOS 17.

Camera

On the video side, you’ll be able to shoot 4K60 ProRes video on the devices or even shoot directly to an external drive through the USB-C port (as long as you have the right cable). The 15 Pro can capture “spatial video,” too, the kinds of 3D content we’ve been seeing for the Vision Pro though that feature’s coming later this year. It’s clear that Apple imagines the 15 Pro as both a consumer device but also a genuine professional tool for the creators and filmmakers of the world.

Chipset

A17 Pro chip

New 6‑core CPU with 2 performance and 4 efficiency cores

New 6‑core GPU

New 16‑core Neural Engine

Display

Super Retina XDR display

6.1‑inch (diagonal) all‑screen OLED display

2556‑by‑1179-pixel resolution at 460 ppi

The iPhone 15 Pro display has rounded corners that follow a beautiful curved design, and these corners are within a standard rectangle. When measured as a standard rectangular shape, the screen is 6.12 inches diagonally (the actual viewable area is less).

Dynamic Island

Always-On display

ProMotion technology with adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz

HDR display

True Tone

Wide color (P3)

Haptic Touch

2,000,000:1 contrast ratio (typical)

1000 nits max brightness (typical); 1600 nits peak brightness (HDR); 2000 nits peak brightness (outdoor)

Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating

Support for the display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Pro Camera System

48MP Main: 24 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, second‑generation sensor‑shift optical image stabilization, 100% Focus Pixels, support for super‑high‑resolution photos (24MP and 48MP)

12MP Ultra Wide: 13 mm, ƒ/2.2 aperture and 120° field of view, 100% Focus Pixels

12MP 2x Telephoto (enabled by quad‑pixel sensor): 48 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, second‑generation sensor‑shift optical image stabilization, 100% Focus Pixels

12MP 3x Telephoto: 77 mm, ƒ/2.8 aperture, optical image stabilization

3x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out; 6x optical zoom range

Digital zoom up to 15x

Camera Features

Customizable default lens (Main)

Sapphire crystal lens cover

Adaptive True Tone flash

Photonic Engine

Deep Fusion

Smart HDR 5

Next-generation portraits with Focus and Depth Control

Portrait Lighting with six effects

Night mode

Night mode portraits enabled by LiDAR Scanner

Panorama (up to 63MP)

Photographic Styles

Macro photography

Apple ProRAW

Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos

Lens correction (Ultra Wide)

Advanced red-eye correction

Auto image stabilization

Burst mode

Photo geotagging

Image formats captured: HEIF, JPEG, and DNG

Face ID

Enabled by TrueDepth camera for facial recognition

Siri

Use your voice to send messages, set reminders, and more

Activate hands‑free with only your voice using “Siri” or “Hey Siri”

Use your voice to run shortcuts from your favourite apps

5G (sub‑6 GHz and mmWave)

Gigabit LTE with 4x4 MIMO

Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax) with 2x2 MIMO

Bluetooth 5.3

Second-generation Ultra Wideband

Thread networking technology

NFC with reader mode

Express Cards with power reserve

Safety Features

Emergency SOS via satellite

Crash Detection

Roadside Assistance via satellite

Video Calling

FaceTime video calling over cellular or Wi‑Fi

FaceTime HD (1080p) video calling over 5G or Wi‑Fi

Share experiences like movies, TV, music, and other apps in a FaceTime call with SharePlay

Screen sharing

Portrait mode in FaceTime video

Spatial Audio

Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum microphone modes

Optical zoom with rear‑facing camera

Audio Calling

FaceTime audio

Voice over LTE (VoLTE)

Wi‑Fi calling

Share experiences like movies, TV, music, and other apps in a FaceTime call with SharePlay

Screen sharing

Spatial Audio

Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum microphone modes

Audio Playback

Supported formats include AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless, FLAC, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Atmos

Spatial Audio playback

User‑configurable maximum volume limit

Charging and Expansion

USB-C connector with support for:

Charging

DisplayPort

USB 3 (up to 10Gb/s)

Power and Battery

Video playback
Up to 23 hours

Video playback (streamed)
Up to 20 hours

Audio playback
Up to 75 hours

MagSafe

Wireless charging up to 15W

Magnet array

Alignment magnet

Accessory Identification NFC

Magnetometer

Sensors

Face ID

LiDAR Scanner

Barometer

High dynamic range gyro

High-g accelerometer

Proximity sensor

Dual ambient light sensors

Operating System

iOS 17
iOS is the world’s most personal and secure mobile operating system, packed with powerful features and designed to protect your privacy.

Accessibility

Built-in accessibility features supporting vision, mobility, hearing, and cognitive disabilities help you get the most out of your iPhone.

Features include:

VoiceOver                         Zoom Magnifier                    Voice Control                              Spoken Content

Switch Control                  AssistiveTouch                       RTT and TTY support                  Closed Captions

Live Captions                   Personal Voice                        Live Speech                                Type to Siri

SIM Card

Dual eSIM (two active eSIMs; stores eight or more eSIMs)

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max use eSIM technology and are not compatible with physical SIM cards.