Technology

iPhone 15 Pro Max preview: up periscope, set course for the Dynamic Island

By Nick Heyman

iPhone 15 Pro Max Intro

We’re pretty used to the iPhone update schedule by now — every September, Apple holds an exciting event, where we get to see the next generation iPhones, plus some other tech from Cupertino, for the first time.

And, surely, this year will be the same, with the rumor mill being confident that it will be another quartet of iPhones we are looking at — iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The latter is, of course, the biggest, meanest, most expensive of the bunch, and often the most desired one. So, what do we have to look forward to? Is it time to start saving up for a new iPhone 15 Pro Max? Let’s take a look at everything we know or expect thus far:

What’s new about iPhone 15 Pro Max

  • New A17 processor
  • USB Type-C charging and data port
  • New zoom camera, up to 5x or 6x optical zoom
  • Upgraded to 8 GB RAM
  • Same screen size
  • New titanium build material
  • New Action Button instead of Mute switch
  • New Deep Red color

Table of Contents:

iPhone 15 Pro Max Specs

Another year another processor… oh, is that USB C?
Specs iPhone 15 Pro Max
Size and Weight unknown
Display 6.7″ OLED
120Hz ProMotion
2,500 nits peak
Processor A17 Bionic
3nm
RAM, Storage and Price 8/128 GB
8/256 GB
8/512 GB
8/1 TB

LPDDR5
Software iOS 17
Cameras 48 MP main
12 MP ultra
12 MP 3X zoom

12 MP front
Battery Size 4,323 mAh*
Charging Speeds 27 W wired
15 W MagSafe

*highly speculative

It’s no shock that we will get a new processor this year, sure. However, the information flow in the rumorsphere says that Apple has booked TSMC’s entire line for 3 nm processors for now. Meaning that the Apple A17 may be the worlds’ first smartphone SoC built on a 3 nm process. Basically, that means better power-efficiency, we’ll get into it later.

Also, thanks to the EU now forcing a standard upon small electronics builders, Apple will have to be dragged out of 2014 and put a high-speed USB C port on its new iPhones, instead of the good old (emphasis on old) Lightning. 

iPhone 15 Pro Max Design & Colors

Attack on Titanium

The iPhone 15 Pro Max will most probably — no need for a drumroll — look much like the iPhone 14 Pro Max before it. A massive camera bump with three lenses on the back, a flat metal frame, and a screen with a Dynamic Island cutout on the front. The changes here will be subtle — supposedly, Apple is thinning the bezel around the display, giving us a slightly increased screen-to-body ratio. Also, the frame will supposedly not be made of stainless steel, but titanium. This should make the Pro Max lighter (it does need to lose some weight), while retaining the premium class feel.

The combo of power and volume buttons should remain untouched, though their shape may or may not see a revision. What’s interesting is that the staple of the iPhone — the mute switch — might get replaced by a new Action button. Just like on the Apple Watch Ultra, it would be a programmable button for app shortcuts. Supposedly, you’d still be able to use it as a simple mute toggle, too. But we wonder — is it going to be context aware?

As for that port on the bottom — the EU regulators have now said that small electronic devices need to adhere to a standard, that being the USB C standard. So, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will say bye-bye to Lighting. Supposedly, it will also give us USB 3.2 speeds, which will be about 10 times faster than the current Lightning. Yeah…
Though, some say that Apple may lock the fast transfer speeds and fast charging speeds behind an MFi certification — regular USB C cables may give you slow speeds and charging. But we’ll see if that can or will be done.

iPhone 15 Pro Max Display

The iPhone 15 Pro Max will stick to a 6.7-inch OLED panel, as before. And yes, it should still have the Dynamic Island cutout we first saw on the 14 Pro series. What would be new here is the bezel around the screen — supposedly, Apple is slimming it down, giving us a slightly smaller phone body and a better “all screen experience” up front.

We’ll get to enjoy that 120 Hz ProMotion refresh rate, the Always On feature (which used to be a bit too “on”, but iOS settings now let us tone it down), and super-high peak brightness for watching HDR video in any situation. Supposetly, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will be able to hit 2,500 nits peak, which is a bit overkill. But hey, let’s call that “headroom”!

The Dynamic Island should, supposedly, have more uses with iOS 17 — word on the street is that Apple is working hard to find different ways it can be incorporated into the multitasking experience. And, of course, it exists because it is the home of Face ID biometric locking, which has been working fantastically well over the past few years.

iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera

Up periscope!

The iPhone 15 Pro Max will have the familiar triple camera with a LiDAR system, and it seems that the main sensor won’t be upgraded this year:

  • 48 MP main/wide camera
  • 12 MP ultra-wide
  • 12 MP 5x to 6x zoom telephoto lens

Of course, that 48 MP sensor was introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro series and was a leap from the 12 MP of before. Rumor has it that, this year, Apple has its sights set on the zoom camera.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is said to have an exclusive periscope zoom lens that will reach up to 5x or 6x magnification levels. Yes, the actual level of zoom is still unclear, which makes us wonder if Apple will be giving us a variable zoom lens here. One rumor did state so and we do know that the tech exists, since Sony introduced a variable zoom lens with the Xperia 1 IV and again with the Xperia 1 V.

Of course, we also hope to see some fine-tuning to the camera processing, with less sharpening. But hey, we’ll wait and see. No word on improvements to the ultra-wide or selfie cameras just yet.

On the video front, rumors claim this might be the first iPhone to get 8K video recording, a feature that those in camp Android have had for a few years now.

iPhone 15 Pro Max Performance & Benchmarks

3 nm of goodness

Another year, another new chip for the iPhones — following convention, it should be called the Apple A17 Bionic this time around. And the leaksters are adamant that it will be built on a 3 nm process — TSMC’s new production line.

Long story short, the nm here signifies transistor size. Smaller transistors means you have more room on the chip. Plus, the pathways between them are much shorter. So, you get more transistors that can do more work, but transfer information to one another with less energy needed. That’s why we say it will be more energy-efficient — more calculations for less battery drained. In theory.

Supposedly we are getting 8 GB of RAM now — a small bump over the 6 GB in the iPhone 14 Pro. iOS is pretty efficient at freezing background stuff, which is why Apple rarely pushed the RAM envelope. In 2023, 8 GB isn’t that insane a number, but it does “catch up” with what Android flagships will have at a baseline.

As for storage, we expect a 128 GB base variant, and then upgrade options of 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB (with +$100 per tier, of course).

You also have a new modem on board, Qualcomm’s X70, which should help get better and more consistent signal. Apple is developing its own modems to one day replace Qualcomm, but that day has not yet come.

iPhone 15 Pro Max Software: iOS 17

Apple just showed us what iOS 17 is going to look like and, of course, its first official build will launch with the iPhone 15 series.
This year, we will get new Contact Poster, with which we choose how we appear on the phone of the person we are calling. Apple has also went back and improved the autocorrect and predictive typing with the keyboard — it should now remember your style of expression and adapt to you better. There’s also a new Journal app, which will help us figure out what to actually write in it with suggestions and questions. And cool stuff like transcripting voicemails or audio messages in iMessage, so you can just glance at what is being said.
Of course, these features will also be landing on any phone that support iOS 17 (that’ll be iPhone XS era and newer).

Apple’s iPhones are known to get iOS updates for years on end — commonly 5 years of support is what you should expect. So, the iPhone 15 Pro will launch with iOS 17 in 2023 and should get:

  • iOS 18 in 2024
  • iOS 19 in 2025
  • iOS 20 in 2026
  • iOS 21 in 2027
  • iOS 22 in 2028, end of life

iPhone 15 Pro Max Battery

Pro Max battery for a Pro Max life

Considering the design info about the iPhone 15 Pro Max, it should have a battery about the same size as the one in the iPhone 14 Pro Max. That’ll be about 4,323 mAh, which doesn’t sound massive when compared to other premium large phones out there. However, with iOS’ optimizations, the iPhone 14 Pro Max was already a marathon runner when it comes to battery life. We expect nothing less from the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Of course, we may get some fluctuations due to the new processor — that energy efficiency may give us better battery endurance, but on the other hand, if the chip is noticeably more powerful than before, then the power draw and efficiency might even out to give us about the same results.

iPhone 15 Pro Max Charging Speeds

The iPhone 15 Pro Max may be getting USB Type-C but Apple is in no hurry to add some kind of crazy-fast charging. Supposedly, we’ll get the same 27 W power draw on the wire and 15 W charging with a MagSafe puck. Any other wireless Qi charger will be 7.5 W slow charging.

iPhone 15 Pro Max Audio Quality and Haptics

The iPhones always have a clear, detailed sound, with a noticeable bottom end and a V-shaped EQ. They sound good, but have been beaten out by other premium devices like Asus’ excellent ROG Phones, or even the Xperia 1 V, which may sound a bit boxy but doesn’t distort in the high end like the iPhones sometimes do.

All that said, we don’t see Apple changing direction with the iPhone 15 Pro Max speakers, but we’ll be happy with any sort of small tweaks.

As for haptics — don’t fix what’s not broken. In the case here, it’s the Taptic engine, which has been excellent for years now, and has been the standard in “how phone feedback should feel”.

iPhone 15 Pro Max Summary

At the end of the day, it’s another upgrade cycle in the tick tock style (not to be confused with TikTok). It’s not huge if you are coming from an iPhone 14 Pro Max, it’ll be noticeable if you are on an iPhone 13 Pro Max (battery, performance), and it will be a leap for people coming from the iPhone 12 Pro Max (refresh rate, camera, battery life, and performance).

iPhones are predictably solid and we don’t expect many surprises from the iPhone 15 Pro Max. All that said — who knows, maybe Apple is holding an ace up their sleeve!

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Nick Heyman