iPhone 15 Pro review: Is Apple's flagship Android alternative worth buying?

Should you buy the Apple iPhone 15 Pro?

Let’s jump into the two significant changes to an otherwise overfamiliar iPhone design. First, the USB-C port (good riddance Lightning). Finally, we can charge the iPhone 15 series with the same plugs and cables all your other modern gadgets use. The Pro model also boasts fast 10Gbps data speeds over the port, making data transfer much quicker than with Lightning, and DisplayPort for external display mirroring. These benefits are familiar to the Android crowd but propel Apple’s formula into the modern era. However, you’ll have to buy a better USB-C cable than the one Apple supplies to benefit — a cheap decision for a $1,000 purchase.

The second significant addition is the Action Button, and it’s pretty great. I’ve loved mappable buttons and gestures on the occasional Android phone, and in classic Apple form, the iPhone 15 Pro takes an established feature and adds a layer of polish. However, you have to master Shortcuts to make the most of it, such as presenting a menu of options that extend the button’s initial limited functionality. The default Silent, Focus, Camera, Magnifier, Torch, and Accessibility quick access are fine, but why settle for one option when you can have many?

Apple has also swapped out the chassis for Titanium this year, making the phone 19 grams lighter than its predecessor. I welcome this change, but I feel that the iPhone 15 Pro remains too weighty in the hand. With the same display and camera housing layout, the 15 Pro is tough to tell apart from its predecessors, and the slightly revamped colorways don’t rejuvenate any “new toy” excitement either. While the hardware tweaks are all well implemented, this is fundamentally the same iPhone we already know intimately. Any amount of flair will need to be provided by a colorful case.

iOS 17 brings additional changes, but the core iPhone experience remains faithful to the working formula, and these new features aren’t exclusive to the iPhone 15 series. Some of the more noteworthy additions are FaceTime video messages and reactions, improved autocorrect thanks to a new machine learning model, interactive home screen widgets, the new StandBy lock screen, live voicemail transcriptions, and contact posters — all solid additions.

Now, if you’re eyeballing the iPhone 15 Pro for peak performance, you won’t be disappointed. Apple’s latest A17 Pro chip tops our benchmark table by a notable margin; the phone is frankly overkill for messaging and browsing the web. But the reason to buy a Pro model is to put that extra horsepower to work multitasking, gaming, and multimedia editing, and the phone certainly excels here.

That said, all this performance comes with a price — high temperatures. First, our stress test results are disappointing for serious gamers. The iPhone 15 Pro gives up its peak performance after just a single run of 3DMark’s various stress tests. While more demanding than most high-end titles, this indicates that the phone risks high temperatures and performance throttling during longer play sessions and when playing games that use ray tracing. Apple’s claims of high-end console-like gaming could be in doubt, at least without additional cooling.

Initially, gaming wasn’t the only area where the iPhone 15 Pro was hotter than the competition, but as we found in our follow-up testing, post-launch iOS 17.0.3 has addressed this problem. Temperatures are now much more in line with other phones, although a 10-minute video capture session still causes temperatures to spike, especially at higher resolutions. Using the phone at all while charging can also cause external case temperatures to leap above 40°C, making the phone uncomfortable to hold. A software patch hasn’t and probably can’t address this latter point.

Speaking of charging, the move from Lighting to USB-C has done nothing to improve the situation. Apple still caps the iPhone 15 Pro to 20W of power via USB Power Delivery chargers, though we have seen occasional spikes up to 25W that certainly don’t help keep temperatures down. The phone takes 90 minutes to fill, an eternity in the days of modern fast charging. Hitting earlier markers isn’t quite so sluggish, but it is still far from fast. 25% charge takes 12 minutes, 50% in 24 minutes, and 75% in 42 minutes from empty, but none of those will see demanding users through an entire day.

Charging aside, the iPhone 15 Pro is built for future-proofing, and that’s backed up by Apple’s typically excellent software support. Though, we can no longer call Apple the best in the business in this regard. With the Pixel 8 series, Google has smashed the idea that a key reason to go for iOS over Android is the former’s unrivaled support. The eight-generation of Pixels will both receive a guaranteed seven years of OS and security upgrades. While we’ve seen iPhones hit this mark, Apple doesn’t actually offer a firm guarantee. Nevertheless, you can still feel fairly safe knowing that your $999 purchase won’t be left to fester.

Of course, this wouldn’t be an iPhone 15 Pro review without a close look at the photography suite to see if it can best the top Android camera phones. While Apple hasn’t upgraded the camera sensors, there are a couple of additions to discuss.

First, the new sensor-shift OIS system on the main camera offers improved stabilization. While this is helpful for long exposure low light shots, smoother video is the real winner. Apple’s setup continues to stand out on the video front, with ProRes video and LOG encoding offering serious videographers a powerful editing tool you’ll struggle to find elsewhere. Just as long as you can withstand the aforementioned heat.

The main sensor also now captures 24MP snaps by default, combining data from the 48MP raw resolution and 12MP pixel-binned images. Pictures have marginally more detail than last year’s models, but the difference is only noticeable in ideal lighting conditions, and even then it isn’t 24MP of genuine clarity. The iPhone 15 series also captures 2x snaps directly cropped from the 48MP sensor, but again, the improvements are heavily dependent on sufficiently lighting up those smaller pixels. Sometimes 2x looks super sharp, other times a smudgy mess, but most of the time I can’t tell it apart from the old 2x zoom method.

These additions work well enough; I have more of a problem with the mislabeled 24, 28, and 35mm modes when tapping the 1x button. These equate to basic 1x, 1.2x, and 1.5x crops; there’s no physical adjustment to the focal length or depth of field. Apple insinuates features it doesn’t have.

For the best-looking zoom, you’ll see more detail with the 3x optical zoom lens. It’s not a long-range solution, however. Only the Pro Max features Apple’s swankiest 5x zoom lens. Still, Apple’s digital upscaling is pretty solid, meaning the iPhone 15 Pro can take snaps up to about 6x if you don’t mind the lack of sharpness and dynamic range. Plus, the 77mm focal length, while a little long, offers an extra option for portraits and natural bokeh.

Apple claims the ultrawide lens now captures more light, but it’s still the phone’s weakest link, particularly in dim conditions. Details quickly smudge when the lights go down. Other long-established issues remain, too. Photos often have a yellow tint, Apple’s HDR solution can hand in underexposed pictures, snaps and selfies are oversharp, and color saturation swings wildly. It’s a flexible camera package in the round but still error-prone and not massively improved from previous generations.

On the whole, Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro is a solid phone that, slow charging aside, doesn’t make any major faux pas and does virtually everything competently, if not brilliantly. However, with prices starting at $999 for a meager 128GB storage (you’ll almost certainly want the $1,099 256GB model at least), the handset doesn’t do enough differently to warrant an early upgrade, even if you’re holding on to an older 12 Pro model.

What are the best Apple iPhone 15 Pro alternatives?

Apple may be forging ahead with its next-gen smartphones, but it doesn’t mean existing rivals aren’t worth a look. A few options around and below the $1,000 mark offer a lot of bang for their buck.

• Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus ($999.99 at Samsung): Apple’s biggest competitor is undoubtedly Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Plus. The phone offers higher base storage and better battery life, along with a competitive triple camera setup, wireless charging, IP68 rating, and great build quality. The software is different, of course, and we’d probably give Apple the nod for its extended ecosystem and videography, but Samsung’s Plus model is built for Pros too. Of course, if you want the real high-end specs, you’ll need the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but that’ll cost you quite a bit extra.
• Google Pixel 8 Pro ($589.98 at Amazon): If you’re looking for a photography powerhouse in the Android camp, the Pixel 8 Pro should be on everyone’s shortlist, especially given its long-range zoom credentials, AI features, and aforementioned industry-leading software update promise. The Tensor G3 doesn’t pack the same extreme gaming performance as the A17 Pro, but the Pixel 8 Pro is the closest thing to a pure Android phone you can get.
• Sony Xperia 5 V ($799.99 at Amazon): While not available the US, other regions should have their eye on Sony’s latest. Its compact design, IP68 rating, wireless charging, and multimedia capabilities give the iPhone 15 Pro a run for its money. Videographers, in particular, will benefit from Sony’s manual controls. However, Sony can’t match Apple’s update commitment, and the dual camera package can’t match the 15 Pro zoom.
• Apple iPhone 14 Pro ($799.99 at Amazon): While perhaps not an obvious choice, last year’s iPhone 14 Pro remains a solid pick for iOS fans. If you’re not fussed about USB-C, 24MP camera snaps, and the new Action Button, the features and overall experience are very similar to the 15 Pro and could save you a few pennies while stock lasts.
• Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max ($1199 at Amazon): The bigger brother of the 15 Pro series isn’t too dissimilar, but you do get an improved zoom lens (up to 5x optical) and a larger battery and display.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro specs

Apple iPhone 15 Pro review: FAQ