iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: a titanic difference!

What new features do you get with the iPhone 15 Pro? And is it a big upgrade compared to the previous iPhone 14 Pro model?

The list of improvements on the iPhone 15 Pro starts with the new Apple A17 chip, which is the first ever 3nm chip on a smartphone, a major step forward. But you also have a bunch of advances in camera quality, a new titanium body that is more durable, a new USB-C port instead of the previously used Lightning port, and a lot more.

So... is that enough to convince iPhone 14 Pro users to upgrade to the newer 15 Pro? And what other differences are there?

iPhone 15 Pro at Walmart: preorder and save with a Verizon subscription

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AT&T-locked iPhone 15 Pro: preorder and save at Walmart

The incredible iPhone 15 Pro is also available with a subscription to AT&T. The device is available for $26.37 a month over 36 installments. In total, your savings amount to $100. This is the 128GB version of the device.

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The iPhone 15 Pro Max is available for preorder at Walmart with a Verizon subscription

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AT&T-locked iPhone 15 Pro Max is available for preorder at Walmart

An AT&T-locked version of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is available for preorder at Walmart. The device sells for $31.92/mo over 36 installments, saving you as much as $100 in total. This is the 256GB configuration of the Apple smartphone. Currently, all colors are available.

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The iPhone 15 Pro is expected to have a similar 6.1-inch footprint as the iPhone 14 Pro, but there are some slight differences, so your iPhone 14 Pro cases will NOT fit the new model.

Here are the exact dimensions:

The weight reduction is obviously the biggest change and that comes from the use of titanium. This is a first for an iPhone, previous Pro models used polished stainless steel.

Titanium is not only more scratch resistant, it sustains damage better overall. We have already seen it used on the Apple Watch Ultra, and it's held up very well on that device.

This new material will also come with more of a brushed matte texture, a change from the glossy finish used on the 14 Pro which was an absolute fingerprint magnet.

Speaking of the new titanium finish, you also get four new colors:

We also have one brand new button which Apple calls the Action button. It replaces the mute switch, and is programmable. By default it still acts as a mute button, but you can set it to open the camera, or really any other app or even more complex actions via the Shortcuts app.

The most impactful design change, however, we suspect is the the iPhone 15 Pro switching to USB-C after years of Apple using its own and proprietary Lightning port.

The USB-C port support faster USB 3 transfer speeds on the 15 Pro. While the 14 Pro is limited to speeds of only 480Mbps, the 15 Pro supports up to 10Gbps, nearly 20X faster. Remember, though, that you will need to purchase a compatible cable separately as the one that comes in the box does not support these faster transfer speeds. Apple sells one such cable at a price of nearly $80, so it is a bit of an expense that probably makes more sense for the pros that will transfer larger files often.

In other news, both the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro feature the same IP68 water and dust protection rating, so no changes there.

The 15 Pro come in a similar slim box as the 14 Pro with only a cable (a USB-C one on the new model), but no charging brick with it.

Both the iPhone 15 Pro and the 14 Pro come with the same sized 6.1-inch OLED screen.

These displays are manufactured by Samsung using the company's latest and most advanced OLED panels, and they are pretty much the same. The iPhone 14 Pro hits 2,000 nits peak outdoor brightness, and the newer 15 Pro matches that; both have an Always-On feature, both have great colors. Also, both models support 120Hz refresh rate ProMotion technology that can go from 1Hz for static content like lock screen wallpapers to 120Hz when you are scrolling for a buttery smooth experience, so again, all the same.

The one improvement is just the appearance of the screen. The borders around the iPhone 15 Pro screen are about a third slimmer, which makes for a more elegant look. Earlier reports suggest these measure just 1.55mm, thinner than the 2.17mm ones on the 14 Pro, and that would make them the thinnest borders ever on a smartphone.

Marching on, there are no changes to Face ID. Apple introduced the Dynamic Island with the 14 Pro and it is all the same on the 15 Pro.

The iPhone 15 Pro features the new A17 Bionic chip under the hood, Apple's first chip built using the new 3nm manufacturing process.

At just 3nm, you have incredible miniaturization which allows having many more transistors in the same sized chip (19 billion on A17 vs 16 billion on A16) and achieve great performance and efficiency gains over the 4nm technology Apple has used in the past few years.

Gaming performance also gets a welcome boost thanks to a breakthrough new GPU which adds one more core and is more powerful.

The new iPhone also likely runs on 8GB of RAM, more than the 6GB RAM on the 14 Pro, however we have not confirmed that yet. Apple is also expected to stick with the same LPDDR5 RAM technology on both the 15 Pro and 14 Pro (an upgrade to faster LPDDR5X RAM is projected for the iPhone 16 Pro series).

Both being iPhones, they run on the same iOS 17 software.

Among the new features in this latest iOS version are updated Phone, Messages and FaceTime apps, as well as a big change to autocorrect which will finally make it a lot better.

The Phone app in particular gets the biggest upgrade with the new Contact Poster which you set for yourself and others will see when they get a call from you. NameDrop is another new iOS exclusive trick where you just bring your iPhone close to another iPhone to exchange contacts. The most important new feature in the Messages app is new stickers and live stickers, which you can create from your own Live Photos for a personal touch to chats.

iOS 17 also brings a new Standby Mode turning your iPhone into a mini home hub of sorts, displaying useful information while it’s charging. Other new iOS 17 features include interactive widgets, mood tracking in the Health app, as well as a brand new journaling app.

Both phones also get Apple's usual commitment to five or six years of software updates, way more than other manufacturers. The only thing worth mentioning is that the iPhone 15 Pro - since it launches a year later - will get one extra years of software updates.

Apple does not say what modem it uses, but chances are we have the new Qualcomm X70 modem in the 15 Pro, an upgrade over the Qualcomm X65 5G modem used in the 14 Pro with some improvements to coverage range, latency and power efficiency.

Both phones also support the Emergency SOS via satellite functionality, which can be a life-saver when you are out of cellular coverage.

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You can easily recognize an iPhone in a crowd with that "stovetop" camera system styling and that look is not changing in the new iPhone 15 Pro.

You have a triple camera system on the 15 Pro, just like we had on the 14 Pro: you have a 48MP main camera, and then you also have an ultra-wide and a 3X zoom camera.

You should know that the fancy 5X folded zoom lens is NOT coming to this smaller-sized iPhone 15 Pro. This year, the periscope zoom camera is only available on the larger 15 Pro Max model. Rumors do suggest that next year, Apple will redesign the smaller Pro model, increasing its size and then it will fit the folded zoom camera on it, but not this year.

As for differences between the 15 Pro and the 14 Pro, the main 48-megapixel camera has a few new tricks. You now get 1.2X and 1.5X sensor crop on the 15 Pro, and you can even set these focal lengths as your default.

In photographic terms, that means that instead of wide 24mm, you can shoot 28mm or 35mm, and especially the latter is one of the preferred lenses for street and just everyday photography. Great news!

Add to that a number of other improvements too: a new antireflective coating helps reduce lens flare, one of the most dreaded issues on previous iPhones. 

We also love that you can now take so called Super High Res pictures at 24-megapixel resolution. This is much more detailed than 12-megapixel shots, and image size is not quite as gigantic as for 48-megapixel photos. Great middle ground!

Apple also mentions the ultra-wide camera has gotten better with a similarly improved anti-reflective coating, better night mode, HDR and macro photography.

Apple did not say anything about improvements to the 3X zoom camera, though, so we have to test it out to see.

Apple has also been criticized for introducing excessive sharpening on the iPhone 14 Pro, so we will be curious to see if it addresses those concerns in the 15 Pro.

On the video front, the big new feature is Spatial Video which you can then play on the upcoming Apple Vision Pro headset for a very immersive experience. To record that, the iPhone 15 Pro uses both the ultra-wide and main camera and captures videos with depth.

Both the iPhone 15 Pro and 14 Pro are expected to have a practically identical loudspeaker system with a main, down-firing speaker and then a secondary speaker in the earpiece.

We don't expect any huge changes in terms of audio quality, but we have to test this to confirm with certainty.

As for haptics, Apple has been using the Taptic Engine for years and there are no new features for it on the 15 Pro.

The iPhone 15 Pro comes with a 3,274 mAh battery, which is merely 2.3% larger than the 3,200 mAh battery on the 14 Pro.

But this change is so tiny that it does not change the actual battery life on the new model.

The iPhone 15 Pro battery life numbers provided by Apple are absolutely identical to the battery life numbers on the 14 Pro.

Yes, yes, we know, disappointing, especially after all the wild rumors floating earlier about a huge increase in battery size.

This is still a one-day phone that you will have to charge every day.

With the new USB-C port on the iPhone 15 Pro, some hoped to see faster charging speeds, but again - no.

The iPhone 14 Pro unofficially supports up to 23W charging rates, which is fine, but definitely slower than many rival Android phones. It takes around 1 hour and 40 minutes to fully top up the iPhone 14 Pro, while some Android phones can top up fully in less than 30 minutes. The new iPhone 15 Pro? Same as its predecessor.

Both the iPhone 15 Pro and 14 Pro also support MagSafe wireless charging with no changes, running at the same 15W charging speed.

We have summarized all the major specs highlight of the two models right below:

Don't forget that we also have an in-depth iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro specs comparison table here where you can learn more about all the smaller details.

Overall, the iPhone 15 Pro is one of the biggest upgrades in the series. The new generation A17 chip, the light-weight titanium body, the more elegant styling with the slimmer bezels and the welcome USB-C port, but also the changes in cameras, the Super High Res photos and new focal lengths. It's a lot!

And contrary to all rumors, the iPhone 15 Pro costs the same as before, starting at $1,000 (at least in the United States).

Should you upgrade if you already own the 14 Pro? If you find a great trade-in deal we think you will like it, but it's clearly not a must.

So... do you have a favorite new iPhone 15 Pro feature and are you upgrading to the newer model?