Review: Is Apple’s new iPhone 15 Pro Max really worth it?

For $2899, Apple’s most powerful phone yet has come a long way with computational photography and battery life. Just don’t expect the switch from your old phone to this one will be quick or easy.

The new iPhones have pros and cons which need to be weighed up. Picture: Getty Images

It’s new phone season, you’ve been waiting all year for the time to come and you’ve seen the iPhone 15 released – and are left wondering whether it is time to upgrade.

It’s a good question, and one every iPhone and every other mobile user should be asking before splashing increasingly larger sums of cash each year on the latest and greatest new device.

The Australian got its hands on the new iPhone 15 Pro Max last week. It’s a subtle upgrade from the iPhone 14 Pro I’ve been using for the best part of a year.

This particular model is the 6.7-inch in titanium white with 1 terabyte of storage, a device that retails for $2899.

On first inspection, there are a couple of noticeable differences. The first is it has a slightly shallower camera lens and a contoured edge which makes using the device without a case a little bit nicer than last year’s hard edge.

The Apple iPhone 15 Pro has subtle visual differences to its predecessor. Picture: Getty Images

Apple has come a long way with its camera this year and has put a major focus on computational photography.

What that means is no photo taken on the Pro Max is a single image; Apple’s camera takes multiple images which are combined to make the single best shot.

If you’ve taken a photo of a group of people, you’ll be able to toggle through portrait mode when editing and simply press on a certain person’s face to focus. The Australian tested this on a group image with 10 people and it worked surprisingly well – even on people whose faces were partially covered.

Both the Pro and Pro Max have a 48-megapixel main camera and Apple’s new A17 pro chip, which is pretty impressive and powers a lot of the new photo functionality. And the Pro Max has 5x telephoto which can be a helpful tool when trying to read things like street signs from a distance.

When it comes to editing those photos, users can now apply edits made on a single image to an entire album, which is one feature sure to impress the dedicated iPhone photographers among us.

Apple claims the 15 Pro Max can get through 29 hours of video playback – which is about 25 per cent more than the 15 Pro.

Apple’s camera takes multiple images which are combined to make the single best shot. Picture: Bloomberg

More on the battery life; The Australian is impressed with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. We’re heavy mobile users, as one can only imagine, and we’ve been able to get through a day and half without the need to charge.

That is vastly different to the iPhone 14 Pro which we found required charging sometimes twice per day on a busy day with lots of use.

For those who were sick of toggling between silent mode, Apple released the 15 Pro and Pro Max with what it calls an action button.

This is a fun shift away from the original slider used to put the device in silent mode and allows for some customisation so it can be used to take images, turn on the torch, record voice memos or even as a personalised shortcut.

Now over to the new titanium body on the Pro and Pro Max. The weight difference is quite noticeable to a heavy mobile user and, let’s be honest, the lighter the load on the wrist the better, especially for office workers who spend all day pounding their fingers into a keyboard.

What’s in the box? You’ll get a USB-C cable – the charging cable Apple has finally succumbed to using on iPhones – as well as a SIM card key.

What’s to consider? Well, changing phones is not as simple as most manufacturers would have you believe.

For those upgrading from an iPhone 14 Pro to iPhone 15 Pro Max, as we did, the process can take just under an hour.

People in line to purchase new Apple iPhone 15 at the Apple The Grove store in Los Angeles. Picture: Getty Images

While being able to migrate from iPhone to iPhone by just having them next to each other was great, it’s not as simple for each and every app.

Banking apps, for example, often only allow a user to have their application on a single device so there’s a requirement to remove a user login from the old device first. That’s something you need to keep in mind when migrating data from one phone to the next. Don’t wipe your old phone straight away or you might find yourself having to change your online banking passwords – as was the case for us.

Similar issues arise when it comes to transferring verification apps. Google Authenticator? No worries – you can offer up a QR code on your existing device, scan it on the new device and you’ll be off.

Okta is where you will run into trouble however, as some companies only allow two-factor authentication from a single device and, like us, you’ll be running around with two iPhones for a week until you get a hold of your IT team.

The verdict? If you’re an iPhone lover with an older model who has been waiting to upgrade then go for it. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the newer and improved features.

However, if you’re cruising along on an iPhone 13 or 14 and have no issues with battery life or any other damage for that matter, there’s always the 16 to come next year.

Oh and one last thing: yes the cases from the iPhone 14 do work with the 15 range but there will be a little extra space around the action button.

Originally published as Review: Is Apple’s new iPhone 15 Pro Max really worth it?