Apple’s latest flagship phone, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, debuted on September 12, 2023, alongside the basic iPhone 15, the bigger iPhone 15 Plus, and the semi-flagship iPhone 15 Pro.
This successor to the superb iPhone 14 Pro Max is arguably the best iPhone money can buy in 2023, and our iPhone 15 Pro Max review contains a detailed evaluation of its advantages and cons. For our impressions on Apple’s other new models, see our iPhone 15 review, iPhone 15 Plus review, and iPhone 15 Pro review.
Our comparison of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 focuses on the significant upgrades to Apple’s most recent ordinary model, but in this article, we explicitly compare the iPhone 15 Pro Max to the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
IPHONE 14 PRO MAX VS IPHONE 15 PRO MAX: SPECS COMPARISON
Today, we’ll match the new iPhone 15 Pro Max against the previous model, the iPhone 14 Pro Max. The new iPhone will be remembered for the transition to a USB-C port and the new periscope camera, but even if you don’t care about these details, the 14 Pro Max sounds like a fantastic smartphone.
CAMERA
The iPhone 15 Pro Max features the same triple camera configuration as the iPhone 14 Pro Max. The two camera modules include a 48-megapixel primary sensor, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, and a 12-megapixel telephoto sensor. Both phones can also record 4K video at up to 60fps.
One significant addition is the increased optical zoom on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which increases the magnification from 3x to 5x. This allows you to come closer to your subject without having to worry about the image losing quality, as would be the case with digital zoom.
We found the 5x on the iPhone 15 Pro Max to be significantly more useful than the 3x on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, albeit it still falls far short of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s zoom capability.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max also supports 4K/60fps ProRes video when recorded externally, log video recording, the Acadamy Color Encoding System, and the newest Smart HDR 5.
DESIGN AND DISPLAY
We grouped the display and design aspects of this comparison because there isn’t much to say about the former.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro Max use the same 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with ProMotion technology, which means their refresh rates range from 10 to 120Hz depending on the material displayed on-screen.
Both displays offer the same 1290 x 2796 pixel resolution, HDR10 compatibility, and peak brightness of 2,000 nits. Both the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the iPhone 15 Pro Max include Apple’s Dynamic Island technology, however, the latter’s version is slightly more adaptable. To put it simply, the most significant distinctions between these two devices are in their design.
At first appearance, the iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro Max appear to be very identical. The former has a glass back and a stainless steel frame, measures 160.7 x 77.6 x 7.9mm, and weighs 240g. The iPhone 14 Pro Max also features a square camera block (made up of three lenses) in the top left corner of the back panel, as well as the aforementioned Dynamic Island cut into the screen.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max also has a glass back, similar dimensions (159.9mm x 76.7mm x 8.25mm), display bezels are also substantially thinner, three rear cameras, and a Dynamic Island cut-out, but the metal surrounding Apple’s newer phone is titanium, not stainless steel, making it stronger and significantly lighter (221g) than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Another significant design difference occurs in the charging department. The iPhone 14 Pro Max features Apple’s Lightning port, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a new USB-C port. It’s slightly larger than the former, but if you have the correct cable, it can carry data at 10Gbps (the cable Apple sells with the iPhone is not high-speed).
HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?
Both the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the iPhone 15 Pro Max are unquestionably quick phones, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max is objectively more powerful due to its newer generation.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max is powered by Apple’s A16 Bionic chipset and has 6GB of RAM, whilst the iPhone 15 Pro Max has the newer A17 Pro chipset and supposedly 8GB of RAM.
In our review of the latter phone, we stated that the A17 Pro is a significant improvement over the A16 Bionic because it is built on an even smaller 3nm process, which improves efficiency (think battery life), with a 10% faster CPU and a six-core GPU that is not only 20% faster but also supports on-hardware Ray Tracing.
As a result, the iPhone 15 Pro Max supports native console-quality gaming, whereas the iPhone 14 Pro Max does not. Having said that, the latter remains a phenomenally powerful phone capable of handling nearly any task you throw at it.
GET THE IPHONE 15 PRO MAX FOR:
- The lighter body and softened corners provide a better hand feel.
- Better photographs and movies at 5x zoom, as well as crisper 24MP photos.
- Faster A17 Pro chipset.
- The ubiquitous USB-C port supports USB 3.2 transfer speeds and provides more connectivity choices.
GET THE IPHONE 14 PRO MAX FOR:
- The appearance and feel are, perhaps, more luxurious.
- It has excellent photo and video quality at 3x zoom and good quality at 5x.
- The significantly lower pricing.
- The Lighting port allows you to easily share chargers and accessories with users of older iPhones.
