Apple: iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro Max: Initial impressions

It’s been exactly a week since Apple unveiled the iPhone 15 series at an event in Cupertino. A lot has been said, dissected, judged, appreciated, criticised by a lot of people on the basis of what Apple showcased. The iPhone experience becomes dramatically different once the iPhone is in your hand. And that’s what we are going to delve into as we got our hands on the two power packed iPhones — the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple has beefed up the camera prowess on the iPhone 15 Pro models and given it an all-new eye-catching titanium finish. We got our hands on the all-new iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max and spent some time with the two devices and here are our initial impressions:

Design and display

The first thing that catches your eye — and it certainly will — is the beautiful titanium finish. Our review units came in Blue Titanium and Natural Titanium and both look exceptionally good. The NaturalTitanium finish on the iPhone 15 Pro Max will undoubtedly be the most sought after colour. And there’s a good reason for it. It looks elegant, classy and different from any other colour you will see on any other smartphone.
Apple’s fascination with blue colour continues and the iPhone 15 Pro looks quite good. It’s a very different shade of blue than the one seen on iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series. It is quite reminiscent of the Midnight Blue on the MacBook Air.
In terms of in-hand feel and ease of use, it takes a few minutes to get used to the titanium finish in your hand. It’s not slippery but feels very different from the iPhone 14 Pro series. The edges are much smoother and there were actually almost zero fingerprints registered on the back of the devices.
The Type-C port is not really noticeable till you see the cable or actually charge the iPhones.

The display is really eye-catching because of how Apple has reduced the bezels. Over the years, Apple has shrunk the bezels on the Pro phones but the difference is significant on the iPhone 15 Pro series. The ProMotion display ensures that scrolling is super smooth and there’s absolutely no lag when switching between apps. The colours look sharp and vibrant and the brightness levels also seem to have improved on the iPhone 15 Pro series.
There’s one other big change — the action button which is now a multitasker in itself. Setting up the customisable actions is quite easy but let us warn you: it takes time to get used to. The muscle memory is so strong for us that it felt odd not to be able to silence the iPhone the ‘regular’ way.

Camera, performance

Of all the images, we clicked from the iPhone 15 Pro Max, it’s the portraits that stood out. The HDR also looks much better than the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Apple has added a special coating on the lens which has resulted in you saying adios to the flares that were ubiquitous in certain types of iPhone photos. The portraits we clicked came out really well and left us quite impressed. However, we still need to put the iPhone 15 Pro cameras to test to give a final verdict on how they stack up against competition.

The A17 Pro processor powers the new iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The iPhones have always been ahead in terms of performance and these two are no different. Apps open in a jiffy and multitasking was a breeze. We haven’t had the chance to test the gaming prowess of the A17 Pro processor, which will detail in our full review.

What we think

Both the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max look like solid upgrades but come at an extra cost. The iPhone 15 Pro starts at Rs 1,34,900 whereas the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at Rs 1,59,900. The aspirational value of the iPhone will ensure that there will be more than many takers for both these devices. Apple does seem to have put in all the right ingredients in the iPhone 15 Pro series for them to become bestsellers. How much value they really offer? Or whether you should be upgrading from the iPhone 14 Pro series? We will answer all these questions and more in our detailed review, which should be out soon.