iPhone 15 Pro Impressions after upgrading from XR to iPhone 15 Pro

[saber32au]

That's a reason for any new phone, not specifically the new one.

There's no differences in the buyer (ataq) situation, given they purchased "the new one"...

I really don't quite understand why you can't comprehend ataq's point of view.

They purchased a brand new phone, and returned it...some of these reasons why they returned the phone are covered in the opening thread post...

That's fine, all good. Just accept it and move on with your life. It's just a phone...

 

[BadBuoy]

There's no differences in the buyer (araq) situation, given they purchased "the new one"...

I really don't quite understand why you can't comprehend araq's point of view.
They purchased a brand new phone, and returned it as it didn't suit them (some of these reasons are covered in the opening post).

That's fine, all good. Just accept it and move on with your life.

I don't understand why you can't comprehend my viewpoint. Just accept it and move on with your life.

 

[kyjaotkb]

The brightness level isn't the same on both phone.

It is, to the best of my ability. I'll admit that the pictures are crap. But in my experience, the 15 Pro is brighter from above and dimmer from the sides, at the same percentage of brightness. The pictures do not show it very well at all, I'll give you that. Now, perhaps I have a lemon...

 

[kyjaotkb]

It's jarring at first, but you quickly get used to it again. I switch back and forth between an iPad Pro and iPad mini and the difference is really noticeable at first. After using the mini for just a few minutes though you almost can't tell anymore.

I agree with that. Moving between my 14" M1Pro MBP and my old 2015 13" Intel MBP, I experience the same.

 

[kyjaotkb]

Yes, they're significantly useful to me considering I have 1 Gbps internet with a WiFi 6e mesh system to match. So anywhere around the house I'm getting, at the very least, 900 Mbps. I use and enjoy most of the things the OP doesn't care about.


Yeah. That was the general vibe I got after reading this.

I'm part thinking I might "need" the faster speeds down the line but I doubt it. I have 3 eeros around the (brick) house over three narrow floors, and a 500Mbps fiber broadband connection. My main issue is where to place the eeros and how to get signal throug the walls, rather than speed - if I get a stable 200Mbps around the house I'm okay, and IEEE802.11ax is more than enough for this. I can always go wired to get the full bandwidth (but so could I already with the XR). To each their own! Curious what you need 900MBps wireless for on your phone though?

 

[kyjaotkb]

Actually no, it is not a "great review" even though it is lots of words. I do not have the patience to respond to all the flawed observations, but some just jump out.
E.g. "- UWB, LiDAR, Bluetooth 5.3 vs 5, Wifi 6E vs AX, MagSafe vs Qi: these upgrades are not useful to me. Is there any cool app out there that uses LiDAR and that is not a home furniture seller's or kitchen designer's app?"

Such upgrades are useful. One person's inability to perceive them does not make BT 5.3, WiFi 6E, etc. less real. LiDAR, for instance, assists with image focus, not just "home furniture seller's or kitchen designer's app."

The review is like saying "A 2011 MBP is about as good as the 2023 MBP because I can type an email with either one."

Actually it's not trying to be a "review", more like a list of impressions. Of course there are more power users out there and I am curious to hear how they are benefitting in their daily lives from the newly added technologies.

You make a good point about LiDAR being used for focus, although it feels like the neural engine is pretty good these days at identifying objects and distance and the XR already did a good job at offering Portrait Mode without any physical tech being used.

My main computer is a 2021 MBP but I still use a 2011 MBA and a 2006 MB and both are still great for email and for most of my web browsing needs. I love the keyboard of the 2006 - soft, a bit mushy, but it's like travelling in an old Citroen or Mercedes from the 80s - a comfortable, slow boat. With 3GB RAM, an SSD and a fresh battery it's still doing amazing.

 

[saber32au]

I don't understand why you can't comprehend my viewpoint.

I have and can, that's why I can respond back...but don't you worry my little chunky face friend, I've moved on...thanks for your concern!

 

[bossy22]

So, I upgraded 5 days ago from a 5-year old iPhone XR to an iPhone 15 Pro. I am overall a little underwhelmed - here's why.

- Design: the 15 Pro is definitely nicer to hold and less slippery. It reminds me of the 5/5S/SE and feels nice in the hand. Alas it is now. in a silicone case (Ryan London leather case arriving later this month) and I can't see that design. The square sides make the silicone case bulkier than the one I had on my XR. However, the ginormous cameras are monstrous. This thing can't be used flat on a table without a case and the cameras are preventing me from using the (rounded square) Anker Qi charging case I have been using for 5 years at work. Big WTF moment when I tried charging it. Finally, I opted for Natural Titanium (which looks like the space grey of the iPhone 6) but I really wish they had fun colours. It's a boring colour. I still have so much regret over buying a black XR instead of a yellow or orange one.

- Cameras: alright, the back cameras are a fair bit better. But compared to my partner's iPhone 13 Mini, I am not amazed. They still look by and large like smartphone photos. Nice to have a zoom but the 3x camera is of noticeably lesser quality. The front camera is... the same I guess? Very grainy in low light. I don't use video much but the XR already had great stabilized video so I am not appreciating the improvements of the Pro fully here.

- Screen: I did not notice 120Hz first but when going back to my XR I missed it. You got me, Apple. However, I think I prefer the "Liquid Retina LCD" over the "Retina XDR Oled". Big surprise as I was SO much looking forward to going OLED, having enjoyed having an OLED TV. The OLED has a greenish tinge, the colours don't pop as much as on the LCD (except for when I am watching HDR videos/photos) and the viewing angles are noticeably worse. I am going to attach photos to show how, at identical luminosity levels, an off-centre viewpoint sees a shift in light and colour. Disappointment. I also find OLED more tiring than LCD, which is also going against my expectations. There is also the fact that the iPhone 15 Pro screen, despite having the same diagonal as the XR and, apart from the slightly more rounded corners, about the same area, and of course a higher pixel density, shows less content. Now I remember that the XR was actually using the layout of the XS Max. I miss that extra line or two, it's like going for a smaller phone but not getting the benefit of a smaller size. Even lowering the font size to try and increase the amount of data shown, you cannot go as low as on the XR.

- Dynamic Island: it kind a takes more vertical space overall than the Notch so I don't really get it. It's slightly prettier but the phone doesn't display anything above the island and underuses the sides. Reader, I am not much impressed!

- Battery: meh. Hard to compare, but I remember being amazed by my XR when I got it. The 15 Pro does get hot (when setting it up it had to pause charging) and does use up battery at a faster rate, it seems. It's faring better than my XR at 82% battery health but It's probably not a significant upgrade compared to if I had replaced the XR's battery.

- UWB, LiDAR, Bluetooth 5.3 vs 5, Wifi 6E vs AX, MagSafe vs Qi: these upgrades are not useful to me. Is there any cool app out there that uses LiDAR and that is not a home furniture seller's or kitchen designer's app?

- 5G: haven't noticed a difference compared to 4G (I get 150-180Mbps in 4G here in London, which is more than enough for my needs) and I am on Wifi most of the time when in the office or at home.

- Speed: it's a bit faster but nothing like the increases in speed I had going from a 3GS to a 6 and from a 6 to an XR. The XR is still very comfortable with iOS 17.1. The main speed increases are felt when loading web pages, opening the camera app and dealing with a few badly programmed apps like Tesco (groceries). Otherwise, going through the home screen, Spotlight and system apps, it's more or less the same speed. Shocking, I know. I can still slow down the phone to a crawl (or my M1 Pro computer) by opening a big (>500MB) Excel file, reviewing a heavily modified Word document (e.g. a contract) with "tracking" on or receiving big attachments in MS Teams (thanks Microsoft for keeping Apple's CPU engineers on their toes). MS Office apps are consistently the most demanding apps on my computers (take that, games).

- Action button: I have tried various clever things (Shortcut that depends on the position of the phone etc) but I have settled on using it for the flashlight. I don't like that it has to be a long press. I'd prefer options to enable short press, double press etc. Not using it very often.

- USB-C: it's fine, and useful to be able to reuse the same charging cables as for my MBP 14, Logitech mouse and keyboard, etc. Now, my Apple keyboard at work and my Airpods still use Lightning, and my home chargers are Lightning (partner using a 13 Mini) so it will be a while before I ditch Lightning. I enjoy being able to plug the phone to my USB-C hubs at home and at work and using screen, keyboard and (through enabling Assistive Touch) mouse. But why didn't Apple enable an iPad-like interface on external displays? the narrow vertical area of the screen used is ridiculous. And iOS doesn't even let you fill a vertical display. Feels like a huge missed opportunity - I could almost leave the Macbook at home and just bring my iPhone to work! Feels like the potential of USB-C is far from being fully realized here.


All in all it's an extremely nice but very incremental update, and I miss LCD and finally understand why micro-LEDs have the potential of being an interesting upgrade. Long gone are the days or needing to upgrade every year or two: every 6 years seems feasible and I could have rocked my XR for another year easily, in exchange for parting with just £85 for fresh battery.

What I am most excited about for the future of the iPhone is its ability to become what John Siracusa calls a "naked robotic core" that I can dock to a USB-C hub at work and at home, use as a computer and save myself the work of carrying 14-inch brick... MBP (sorry) on my 2x hour-long cycle commute. I am also excited about micro-LED and about future advances in battery technology.

I'm just not really excited with my iPhone 15 Pro, but that's okay, as it's hopefully going to last me 5+ years.

I have an Xr for two years now (got it from a friend for a job). Hands down, the best smartphone I've ever had. In for a new battery soon, but else than that, I'll keep it..

 

[reppans]

Thanks for the write-up, I keep my phones longer than Apple will support the iOS, not for budget reasons, rather more because I do a lot of customization with my gear/toys and find upgrading and setting-up new stuff to be rather painful, so I procrastinate it. My ex always leases cars, I always buy.

As a batt/efficiency hobbyist my XR batt is doing great after 4yrs and I too dislike PWM. My needs are pretty simple (mostly texted-based) so performance is fine for me.

No interest in the 15, maybe the 16, but most likely the 17 in 2yrs. As an avid UL camper, the big feature I’m holding out for is casual 2-way satellite messaging.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

What features are those?

Well from Apple, they include most of the detection modes inside of the Magnifier application.
However, I’m given to believe that third-party applications take advantage as well, I just haven’t experimented with that yet.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

You can get brand-new genuine Apple stuff on eBay for typically 1/4 — 1/2 the price.

while I agreed that you don’t necessarily need to buy the more expensive ones, I would *absolutely not* recommend buying bricks from EBay, or any cheep (too good to be true) deals.
I actually recently tried using a knock off 5W brick that from the outside looked absolutely identical to apples, and the thing started angrily hissing as soon as something was plugged into it.
Safe to say it won’t ever be used again.

 

[thadoggfather]

The XR was such a phenomenal phone. I loved the size for its time (5.8" too small, 6.5 not too big but the price was too big for me coming from just hunkering down on an X the year prior with lackluster battery life and wasn't ready for the weight increase back then)

I loved the blue one too, great battery life, and Max size scaling.

the LCD panels were easier to get a good one vs. OLED lottery iirc.

That's probably why you are adjusting to the scaling, 15 Pro is more scaled like a regular size iPhone than the Plus.

In a lot of ways, the regular 15 and to a larger degree 15 Plus remind me of XR: strikes a good balance of features for the price (within the space of Apple pricing at least)

 

[sparkinstx]

Wow, that's a huge jump, from the XR to the 15 Pro. What's your battery health been like on the XR? Has it had a battery replacement?

 

[asus389]

It's strange for me... when the iPad Pro with ProMotion came out, everyone raved about how huge of a feature it was, but I struggled to notice the improvement from my previous iPad. But on the iPhone, for some reason I saw it immediately, and can see a dramatic difference.

I think that for whatever reason, 60hz LCD scrolls smoother than 60hz OLED. So for people coming from previous OLED phones, they see a big difference with Pro-Motion. If your previous phone was an LCD, like the OP, the difference isn't as obvious. IDK why, but 60hz OLED is just kind of jerky when scrolling.

 

[OneSon]

I agree with you on lots of your points. I’m actually willing to sacrifice some form for better cameras though as I want to get good pics of my kids while their small.

Have you considered getting a mirrorless camera and a decent portrait lens? You'll probably get better pics of your kids that way and could save a lot of money updating your iPhone every year.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

while I agreed that you don’t necessarily need to buy the more expensive ones, I would *absolutely not* recommend buying bricks from EBay, or any cheep (too good to be true) deals.
I actually recently tried using a knock off 5W brick that from the outside looked absolutely identical to apples, and the thing started angrily hissing as soon as something was plugged into it.
Safe to say it won’t ever be used again.

But you can get genuine Apple or OEM products there— I’ve bought them and they’re sealed in their original packaging.

 

[ric22]

4G speeds like that in London? What area and what provider? Those are excellent speeds for 4G.

I wondered this too...

 

[ric22]

But you can get genuine Apple or OEM products there— I’ve bought them and they’re sealed in their original packaging.

You know that can all be faked, easily, right? Would be interesting dissecting some of those. If "new/genuine" Apple products are on sale for 1/4 the retail price they're either fake or fell off the back of a lorry...

 

[headlessmike]

4G speeds like that in London? What area and what provider? Those are excellent speeds for 4G.

I’m not in London, but I get similar speeds with my iPhone 11 on 4G in Stockholm. My 4G speeds are faster than my wife’s 5G speeds on her iPhone 12 where we live which I find amusing.

 

[kc9hzn]

Of course. Despite equipping Macs with USB-C seven years ago and the iPad gradually from about five years ago, they were forced down this route on the iPhone by the EU. So, like disgruntled employees who might 'work to rule' in protest of a change they object to, they've implemented USB-C on the iPhone the most basic way they could feasibly get away with. Its transfer speed is even limited to USB 2: you know, that technology from 23 years ago.

That’s just the standard 15. The 15 Pro and Pro Max have USB 3 speeds.

 

[Dylan33x]

When I switched from the 11 to the 12 Pro I also had a hard time with fact that it displays less content. I’ve adapted since; but I still personally would greatly prefer how much content the XR/11’s displayed. I have an overall gripe about how as phones get bigger, apps & services keep updating their designs to show less and less content per page. (Seperate issue)

That same year I was also really excited to upgrade to an OLED screen, and yet I had a similar issue of being a hit dissapointed due to viewing angles, as well as the 12 Pro having a REALLY warm color preference overall. I proceeded to upgrade every year since, and the 13 pro was much less warm, and the 14 pro even slightly less warm. With that being said, after you stare at your 15 pro for about a week and then go look at the XR it will look more dull in most ways. That’s been my experience every time I look at my mom’s 11, although it has been 3 years.

 

[Motionblurrr]

Love the down to earth review. These are the real reviews that we actually need! Not tech Youtubers, not Twitter tech heads, not tech blogs, etc. Real people who have stuff going on in their life and eventually will need an upgrade and we can see what reality really looks like.

I have to say, if you came from an XR, a jump to the Pro Max would've made more sense than the standard Pro size. I understand though, big phones can be unweildy but once you go big, it's hard to go back!

 

[kyjaotkb]

I wondered this too...

EE central / north / east / west London has been stellar!

 

[kyjaotkb]

Love the down to earth review. These are the real reviews that we actually need! Not tech Youtubers, not Twitter tech heads, not tech blogs, etc. Real people who have stuff going on in their life and eventually will need an upgrade and we can see what reality really looks like.

I have to say, if you came from an XR, a jump to the Pro Max would've made more sense than the standard Pro size. I understand though, big phones can be unweildy but once you go big, it's hard to go back!

Ha, I thought about it but I really couldn’t. The 6 was already too big for me. Still hoping for the return of the 4” form factor one day. I was a Siemens SL45 and Nokia 8310 guy back in the day (connecting my Palm V to the 8310 via IRDA when I needed internet access on a bigger screen) so there is a special place in my heart for small phones.

 

[DesertRoads]

So, I upgraded 5 days ago from a 5-year old iPhone XR to an iPhone 15 Pro. I am overall a little underwhelmed - here's why.

- Design: the 15 Pro is definitely nicer to hold and less slippery. It reminds me of the 5/5S/SE and feels nice in the hand. Alas it is now. in a silicone case (Ryan London leather case arriving later this month) and I can't see that design. The square sides make the silicone case bulkier than the one I had on my XR. However, the ginormous cameras are monstrous. This thing can't be used flat on a table without a case and the cameras are preventing me from using the (rounded square) Anker Qi charging case I have been using for 5 years at work. Big WTF moment when I tried charging it. Finally, I opted for Natural Titanium (which looks like the space grey of the iPhone 6) but I really wish they had fun colours. It's a boring colour. I still have so much regret over buying a black XR instead of a yellow or orange one.

- Cameras: alright, the back cameras are a fair bit better. But compared to my partner's iPhone 13 Mini, I am not amazed. They still look by and large like smartphone photos. Nice to have a zoom but the 3x camera is of noticeably lesser quality. The front camera is... the same I guess? Very grainy in low light. I don't use video much but the XR already had great stabilized video so I am not appreciating the improvements of the Pro fully here.

- Screen: I did not notice 120Hz first but when going back to my XR I missed it. You got me, Apple. However, I think I prefer the "Liquid Retina LCD" over the "Retina XDR Oled". Big surprise as I was SO much looking forward to going OLED, having enjoyed having an OLED TV. The OLED has a greenish tinge, the colours don't pop as much as on the LCD (except for when I am watching HDR videos/photos) and the viewing angles are noticeably worse. I am going to attach photos to show how, at identical luminosity levels, an off-centre viewpoint sees a shift in light and colour. Disappointment. I also find OLED more tiring than LCD, which is also going against my expectations. There is also the fact that the iPhone 15 Pro screen, despite having the same diagonal as the XR and, apart from the slightly more rounded corners, about the same area, and of course a higher pixel density, shows less content. Now I remember that the XR was actually using the layout of the XS Max. I miss that extra line or two, it's like going for a smaller phone but not getting the benefit of a smaller size. Even lowering the font size to try and increase the amount of data shown, you cannot go as low as on the XR.

- Dynamic Island: it kind a takes more vertical space overall than the Notch so I don't really get it. It's slightly prettier but the phone doesn't display anything above the island and underuses the sides. Reader, I am not much impressed!

- Battery: meh. Hard to compare, but I remember being amazed by my XR when I got it. The 15 Pro does get hot (when setting it up it had to pause charging) and does use up battery at a faster rate, it seems. It's faring better than my XR at 82% battery health but It's probably not a significant upgrade compared to if I had replaced the XR's battery.

- UWB, LiDAR, Bluetooth 5.3 vs 5, Wifi 6E vs AX, MagSafe vs Qi: these upgrades are not useful to me. Is there any cool app out there that uses LiDAR and that is not a home furniture seller's or kitchen designer's app?

- 5G: haven't noticed a difference compared to 4G (I get 150-180Mbps in 4G here in London, which is more than enough for my needs) and I am on Wifi most of the time when in the office or at home.

- Speed: it's a bit faster but nothing like the increases in speed I had going from a 3GS to a 6 and from a 6 to an XR. The XR is still very comfortable with iOS 17.1. The main speed increases are felt when loading web pages, opening the camera app and dealing with a few badly programmed apps like Tesco (groceries). Otherwise, going through the home screen, Spotlight and system apps, it's more or less the same speed. Shocking, I know. I can still slow down the phone to a crawl (or my M1 Pro computer) by opening a big (>500MB) Excel file, reviewing a heavily modified Word document (e.g. a contract) with "tracking" on or receiving big attachments in MS Teams (thanks Microsoft for keeping Apple's CPU engineers on their toes). MS Office apps are consistently the most demanding apps on my computers (take that, games).

- Action button: I have tried various clever things (Shortcut that depends on the position of the phone etc) but I have settled on using it for the flashlight. I don't like that it has to be a long press. I'd prefer options to enable short press, double press etc. Not using it very often.

- USB-C: it's fine, and useful to be able to reuse the same charging cables as for my MBP 14, Logitech mouse and keyboard, etc. Now, my Apple keyboard at work and my Airpods still use Lightning, and my home chargers are Lightning (partner using a 13 Mini) so it will be a while before I ditch Lightning. I enjoy being able to plug the phone to my USB-C hubs at home and at work and using screen, keyboard and (through enabling Assistive Touch) mouse. But why didn't Apple enable an iPad-like interface on external displays? the narrow vertical area of the screen used is ridiculous. And iOS doesn't even let you fill a vertical display. Feels like a huge missed opportunity - I could almost leave the Macbook at home and just bring my iPhone to work! Feels like the potential of USB-C is far from being fully realized here.


All in all it's an extremely nice but very incremental update, and I miss LCD and finally understand why micro-LEDs have the potential of being an interesting upgrade. Long gone are the days or needing to upgrade every year or two: every 6 years seems feasible and I could have rocked my XR for another year easily, in exchange for parting with just £85 for fresh battery.

What I am most excited about for the future of the iPhone is its ability to become what John Siracusa calls a "naked robotic core" that I can dock to a USB-C hub at work and at home, use as a computer and save myself the work of carrying 14-inch brick... MBP (sorry) on my 2x hour-long cycle commute. I am also excited about micro-LED and about future advances in battery technology.

I'm just not really excited with my iPhone 15 Pro, but that's okay, as it's hopefully going to last me 5+ years.

Such a great review! Thank you for sharing your experience in your upgrade with us. I went from an XR to a 12 Pro, and will likely hang onto my 12 Pro until I "have" to upgrade. I don't game on my phone, or need the telephoto feature of the camera. I've taken some really great photos with my 12 Pro, and don't feel the 15 Pro is much of an upgrade for my needs. Hopefully your 15 Pro lasts you for at least 5+ years! Cheers