iPhone 15 Plus vs. 15 Pro Max Buyer's Guide: 35+ Differences Compared

The iPhone 15 Plus and ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max are among Apple's newest iPhone models and follow 2022's iPhone 14 Plus and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Now that Apple offers two iPhones with 6.7-inch displays, how different are the two larger models, and what exactly does upgrading to a "Pro" device offer?

iPhone 15 vs 15 Pro Buyers Guide
Last year, the biggest new differences between the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro were an always-on display, the Dynamic Island, the A16 Bionic chip, and a 48-megapixel main camera, but they shared Emergency SOS via satellite, Crash Detection, Action mode, 6GB of memory, Photonic Engine, and an upgraded 12-megapixel TrueDepth front camera with autofocus for the first time. With ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus and ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max, both devices share features like the ‌Dynamic Island‌, a 48-megapixel main camera, and a USB-C port. Even so, Apple's "Pro" and non-Pro ‌iPhone‌ models remain highly differentiated, with over 30 key differences that prospective buyers should be aware of.

Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two ‌iPhone‌ models is best for you, and serves as a way to clearly see what additional features and upgrades the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max brings to the table.

‌iPhone 15‌ Plus ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max
Aluminum and glass design Titanium and glass design
Slightly smaller due to slimmer borders around the display
Weighs 201g Weighs 221g
Ring/Silent switch Action button
ProMotion with adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz
Always-on display
A16 Bionic chip (5nm) A17 Pro chip (3nm)
6-core CPU 6-core CPU (up to 10% faster)
5-core GPU 6-core GPU with with hardware-accelerated ray tracing (up to 20% faster)
16-core Neural Engine 16-core Neural Engine (up to 2x faster)
Dedicated AV1 decoder
6GB memory 8GB memory
"Advanced" dual-camera system "Pro" triple camera system
48-megapixel Main camera with ƒ/1.6 aperture 48-megapixel Main camera with ƒ/1.78 aperture and larger sensor
12-megapixel Telephoto camera with ƒ/2.8 aperture, folded tetraprism design, and autofocus 3D sensor-shift module
0.5x, 1x, and 2x optical zoom 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 5x optical zoom
Sensor-shift optical image stabilization Second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization
True Tone flash Adaptive True Tone flash
LiDAR scanner
Night mode portraits
Macro photography
Apple ProRAW
Shoot and instantly transfer 48-megapixel ProRAW images to Mac via USB 3
Record video directly to an external drive
ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30 fps (60 fps with external recording)
Macro video recording, including slo‑mo and time‑lapse
Log video recording
Academy Color Encoding System
Record spatial video for Apple Vision Pro
USB 2 transfer speeds (up to 480Mb/s) USB 3 transfer speeds (up to 10Gb/s, 20x faster)
DisplayPort support for up to 4K HDR video output
Wi‑Fi 6 connectivity Wi‑Fi 6E connectivity
Thread networking technology
26-hour battery life 29-hour battery life
128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage options 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options
Yellow, Blue, Pink, Green, and Black color options Natural Titanium, Blue Titanium, White Titanium, and Black Titanium color options
Starts at $899 Starts at $1,199

The ‌‌iPhone 15‌ Pro‌ Max offers a large number of upgrades over the ‌‌iPhone 15‌ Plus‌. With $300 difference to obtain a display with ProMotion and always-on functionality, the Action Button, and longer battery life, some customers will be able to justify getting the ‌‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max‌ over the ‌‌iPhone 15‌ Plus‌. Other differences, such as the A17 Pro chip and 2GB additional memory are notable, but most significant are perhaps the devices' fundamentally different rear camera setups. The ‌‌iPhone 15‌ Pro‌ Max unlocks 10 additional camera features and offers four additional or different pieces of camera hardware. Due to the scale and breadth of the ‌‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max‌'s improvements and features, most customers will be happy to choose the high-end model.

It is worth noting that if you need 256GB of storage, the price difference between the two models shrinks to $200, since there is no 128GB configuration for the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max.

The standard ‌‌iPhone 15‌‌ Plus still offers many of the ‌‌iPhone 15‌ Pro‌ Max's most compelling capabilities, such as USB-C, ‌‌Dynamic Island‌‌, and a 48-megapixel main camera, at a lower price point. It will only be worth getting the ‌‌iPhone 15‌‌ Plus over the ‌‌iPhone 15‌ Pro‌ Max if you want a lighter device, do not care for the "Pro" rear camera setup or features like ProMotion and the always-on display, or cannot justify the $300 to upgrade to the high-end flagship model. In this instance, you will still benefit from the device's generous roster of advanced features. The ‌‌iPhone 15‌‌ Plus is still a very well designed and balanced device, especially for average customers and those coming from a much older model with a smaller display.

If the 6.7-inch displays of the ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus and ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max are too big for you, there is the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, which start at $799 and $999, respectively. With the exception of longer battery life and 5x optical zoom, both of these smaller devices share all of their larger siblings' features at lower price points.

Related Roundup: iPhone 15
Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

mac mini thermal architecture feature

New Mac Mini Has Modular Storage, 256GB Model Will Have Faster SSD

Friday November 8, 2024 7:06 am PST by
Apple has returned to using two 128GB storage chips in the new Mac mini with 256GB of storage, according to a partial teardown video shared on social media today. This means the base-model Mac mini with the M4 chip will not have significantly slower SSD speeds compared to higher-end configurations of the computer with 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage, as multiple NAND chips allows for faster SSD...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.2 Beta 2

Monday November 4, 2024 12:34 pm PST by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 updates to developers, and Apple is continuing to refine the Apple Intelligence capabilities. There are also a handful of smaller features that are worth knowing about. Find My Find My has a new option to Share Item Location with an "airline or trusted person" that can help you locate something that you've misplaced....
iphone passcode green

Cops Suspect iOS 18 iPhones Are Communicating to Force Reboots, Making Unlocking Harder

Thursday November 7, 2024 2:20 pm PST by
Law enforcement officials in Detroit, Michigan are warning other police officers about an alleged iPhone change that causes Apple devices stored for forensic examination to spontaneously restart, reports 404 Media. iPhones that are undergoing examination have apparently been rebooting, which makes them harder to unlock with brute force methods, and Michigan police think that it's due to a...
early apple watch black friday

The Best Early Black Friday Apple Watch Deals

Wednesday November 6, 2024 6:33 am PST by
Black Friday is just around the corner, and Apple Watch deals have begun appearing ahead of the shopping holiday on November 29. In this article, we'll take a look at all of the best early Black Friday Apple Watch deals, including the new Series 10 models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small...
iCloud General Feature

Here's What's New in Apple's Updated iCloud Terms and Conditions Taking Effect Next Week

Friday September 13, 2024 7:39 am PDT by
Apple has started notifying users about an upcoming revision to its iCloud Terms and Conditions, which takes effect on Monday, September 16. We compared the text of the upcoming iCloud Terms and Conditions with the current U.S. version from September 18, 2023 and identified four key changes: "Apple ID" references have been changed to "Apple Account" throughout. iCloud users must agree to ...
M4 MacBook Pros Thumb

M4 MacBook Pro Reviews: Processor Benchmarks Impress, New Nano-Texture Option Worth the Extra $150

Thursday November 7, 2024 6:14 am PST by
The first wave of reviews of Apple's new M4-powered MacBook Pro models were published this morning. We've collected some of the latest impressions from YouTube channels and select media outlets below. Apple last month announced the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, adding next-generation M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, with Thunderbolt 5 ports on higher-end models, display and camera ...
best buy holiday

Best Buy Reveals Black Friday Plans With Sitewide Sales Available Now

Friday November 8, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Black Friday sales are continuing today with Best Buy kicking off early Black Friday deals that will last for the next few days. Similar to other retailers, Best Buy's early Black Friday event includes sitewide savings on Apple products, headphones, TVs, monitors, video games, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may...
High Power Mode Feature 2

Apple Expands High Power Mode to MacBook Pro and Mac Mini Models With M4 Pro Chip

Thursday November 7, 2024 12:15 pm PST by
High Power Mode is available on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini models with the M4 Pro chip, according to Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham. The feature was previously limited to Macs with Apple's highest-end "Max" chip, so this is the first time it is available on Macs with a "Pro" chip. This is the second time that Apple has expanded availability of High Power...

Top Rated Comments

Hot Apple Cider Avatar
15 months ago
More importantly, the Pros colors match men's underwear better and the Plus colors match women's underwear better.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)