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I made this exact leap. In day-to-day use, there’s not a revolutionary difference. But the evolutionary changes do make it more enjoyable to use.

Honestly, though, after a week (and after having traded in the 12 Pro) I do pause to wonder, “Was it worth it? Will I regret it next year, when something even cooler comes out on the 16?”
same here!

After 4 days, I'm questioning HARD whether it was worth to upgrade. Yes, it's faster but the battery is the same and the overheating that I have on mine sucks.
 
I'm feeling about the same as well, but my battery is shot. I might just pay the $80 or whatever it is to swap the battery and hold out another year.
That’s my plan. Was going to do the battery swap when picking up my wife’s 15, but the Apple Store wasn’t taking any service appointments on launch day (understandable).
 
I had a 7 and it's night and day between my 13 Pro in every aspect, so the 15 Pro is in a different Galaxy compared to the 7.
Not to mention the battery lasts twice as long eh
Maybe I need to power up my 7 again to feel some annoyance and subsequent appreciation of the larger screen and processor, but I likely swapped that battery at the right time, as not seeing a tremendous improvement. 'all day' battery on both. Appreciate not needing to use my thumb multiple times with MS Authenticator to sign in to systems. Suspect I'm just not using the phone in a way to appreciate the improved specs. I'll await iPhone 21 Pro, with a few battery swaps again in between.
 
I did upgrade from a 12 Pro to a 15 Pro Max. I upgrade about every 3 years, making this a meaningful upgrade.
 
Upgraded my 12p to 15p and am astonished at just how much better some things are. Especially night mode pics. Truly remarkable. Very happy! Ymmv

Things I noticed:
Screen looks better with better colors and a bit crisper. Definitely way brighter in direct sunlight but close to the same in non sunlight. Direct sunlight viewing is so so much better it’s worth saying again. Overall I would say this is a great improvement!

Dynamic island is neato and cool but nothing critical.

Phone feels great in the hand. Better but with a case this is not important at all.

Battery life is a very small improvement, was hoping it would be better. As is it’s hardly worth mentioning.

USBC is meaningless to me. Ymmv

Camera in daytime is only very slightly better but night pics are absolutely way, way, waaaay better! Incredible upgrade!

CPU/GPU - literally cannot tell even a minor difference. Games and everything runs exactly the same to me.

HDD same speed as far as I can tell.

Action button is kind of neat, I guess, but honestly is a complete non factor.

Camera bumps much bigger on the 15p. Bummer but it is what it is.

Can’t think of anything else. But the screen (in direct sunlight) and camera (in night mode) make it worth it to me. Those are incredible upgrades. Everything else in minimal at best.

This is basically a free upgrade with trade in with tmobile/att/verizon. Being locked in for 2-3 years sucks but again it’s basically free so I did the upgrade and am happy I did.
 
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I have a 12 Pro and just got my battery replaced. It’s still a great phone with everything I need with no slowdowns or lag anywhere. The bump from 4GB to 6GB of RAM, which is what the 14 Pro and 15 have, was a huge future-proofing feature.

The camera on the 12 Pro is more than enough for my total lack of photography skills.

Many of the features of the 15 Pro would be nice to have, but none of them are crucial to a usable phone. I simply can’t justify the upgrade when my current phone still is performing nearly perfectly.
 
That’s my plan. Was going to do the battery swap when picking up my wife’s 15, but the Apple Store wasn’t taking any service appointments on launch day (understandable).
I replaced all of our 11 Pro Max batteries in January before Apple jacked up the replacement price. We'll upgrade in the iPhone 16 release cycle, having maximized the utility of our phones.
 
Camera pretty good, battery now it has settled down pretty good, but never had a 3G signal so much since switching to the 15pro.
Just seems really poor connecting to the internet when out and about, sometimes even with 5G seems really slow compared to my 12pro.
 
I'm also doing this exact leap. 12 Pro Max ==> 15 Pro Max... I waited a bit to order so I don't have the 15 yet, should be here in a week or so...

I really had a hard time pulling the trigger this time... because the truth is that the 12 does everything I need it to. Honestly, the only reason I am upgrading is for the camera. I do take a lot of photos and a lot of kids sports pics so the 5x zoom will be a big upgrade.

The carrier deals are what make it hard to pass up. AT&T offers a $1,000 trade-in for the 12 Pro, so after tax and a new case and all that, the upgrade really only costs me about $300. The only rub of course that I am now locked into this phone for 3 years... which is annoying, but at the same time, year over year upgrades are so small now it almost doesn't matter.

...even the changes over three years hardly seem worth it to me. This will represent the smallest upgrade as far as features go in my phone buying history. This is also the first time I've bought a new phone that didn't come with a larger screen.

My timeline so far... 3GS > 5 > 6 > 8 Plus > 12 Pro Max > 15 Pro Max
 
The real iPhone 12 Pro is the 13 Pro. The worst iPhone in history after the 6. Why? 60Hz, bad battery, micro issues, yellow tint oled display.
Glad I not buy this corona supply chain issue phone.
I had no such issues with my 12 pro max and quite enjoyed it when I got it. Ofc thr 120hz the generation after sucked to miss out on but otherwise it was great.
 
I agree there is a lot of improvements but I was hoping for the zoom camera from the pro max on the standard 15 pro. I will hold out one more year with my 12 pro for hopefully the biggest upgrade yet on 16 pro.
 
On an iPhone X, maxing out with the one year of security updates remaining for iOS 16. Battery is shot and I have to charge throughout the day, but I am still surviving. Lets hope I make it to November 2024. Will likely need a battery pack to take with me on my next vacation.
 
Still using my iPhone 13 Pro Max until it's dead.

Why?

Because it's the last iPhone to have a SIM tray in the USA. ;)
 
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Sticking with 12 Pro for another year. Nothing compelling for me in 15 Pro to justify the upgrade. I really dislike that huge camera bump and I consider dynamic island as just a gimmick and lazy engineering. In terms of design and usability, I consider iPhone XS my favourite (still using it for work).
 
Lots of difference. I am upgrading from 12 Pro Max. Waiting for my 15 Pro Max to be delivered.
 
I guess this is a good argument for refreshes being spaced over 2 to 3 years rather than smaller iterations every year.

That way they can focus on making the best hardware possible, and more testing!

It makes sense from a business and environmental sense in that there would be a bigger incentive to upgrade on the refresh. Better hardware released, fewer products for Apple to support with repairs etc, and a bigger incentive for people to upgrade when the refresh does arrive. They could then have more focus on optimizing the software for the two to three years that a product is out.

More and more people are keeping their phones longer.
Apple created this problem for themselves by making the yearly release an event, though that has shown diminishing returns. I would imagine a certain amount of their continuing an annual refresh is tied to stock prices so I can't see them moving away from this, as much as I agree with your 2-3 years. I'm still on the 11 Pro which seems to have not slowed down and am only looking to upgrade once the smaller Pro (reportedly) gets the 5x zoom next year.
 
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