iPhone 15 Pro Max Is Anyone Returning the iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max?

[POWERPLANTHOMER]

Do you really take advantage of having 1TB of storage? I’ve been wondering whether anyone really needs that much storage on a phone.

I’ve run the mistake before about not getting enough. Granted this was 3GS and 4 days. My wife is actually harder on storage than I am. With having kids I don’t want to run out of storage when I need it. I could maybe get away with 512, just don’t want to take the chance again.

 

[Carlsberg69]

I returned my natural titanium and picked up a black on or grey actually. I think apple named the colors wrong
1. White is more starlight yellow
2. Natural is kind of gold
3. Blue is black
4. Black is grey

Must say I like your interpretation of the colours, know what you mean 😂

 

[kyjaotkb]

It looks like I might be one of these people returning my 15P when I receive it in a week. The only thing wrong with my XR is the battery and it’s a £85 solve… I might just do that. Anecdotally, the only ‘generations’ of iPhones for which I have seen zero remorse with buying the 15P are iPhone X and older. XR/XS owners are kinda on the fence. We get iOS 17, we have the neural engine already, the XR has a 6.1” screen and fantastic battery life… getting a 15P and spending over £1,000 feels a little overkill (especially since trade in value for XR is now low).

 

[Act3]

I am having second thoughts and was curious if anyone else is having remorse for upgrading. The phone is beautiful and the updates are nice I am just not sure if it is worth it coming from an 14PM after using it for the last 4 days.

I returned my 15PM and am back using my 12. Didn’t like the larger phone and now I think I’ll just keep the 12 for another year.

 

[zonai]

I wanted to upgrade to the 15 Pro from the 14 Pro and did not find it to be worth it. This is the first time I did not upgrade yearly since the differences have gotten so small. I tested the 15 Pro for a few days now.

- Camera on 15 Pro is essentially identical to 14 Pro (no, the sensor on the 15 Pro is not larger)
- Titanium frame feels lighter but also less premium. It is also less grippy without a case (I never use a case)
- Noticeable sharp edge on the back the device, also with the replacement unit (see other thread I opened)
- USB 3.0 speeds not as advertised. Restore process is USB 2.0 speed, even with Apple original cable. Feels like intentionally wrong advertisement to me
- Durability concerns with titanium frame

We have gotten to a point at which differences are very small, even smaller than in the past. But what really annoys me is when a company advertises e.g. USB 3.0 but you only get 2.0 speeds e.g. in the restore process. They are deliberately misleading customers – and yes, I tested it with multiple cables, all USB 3.2 certified, even the original Apple Pro cable.

Actually the way to check transfer speeds is to go into System Information from the Apple Logo and check what speed you are getting. Some cables that worked fine on 10Gb/s for SSDs are only getting 480Mbps with iPhone. And even the cable that does provide 10Gb/s may require a reconnect. I synced music to my phone and was getting transfer speeds around 120MB/s, more than 3x faster than USB 2.0 speeds. But I haven't quite seen full 10Gb/s speeds yet.

I got a 15 Pro Max as an upgrade from my 13 Pro and the only thing really bothering me right now is a red tint on the right side of the screen when the phone is on Night Shift and the brightness is low. So basically using the phone in bed at night. The Apple Store couldn't do anything to fix it and I couldn't exchange it because there's no stock and no display parts to replace it with right now.

 

[OJK]

I am having second thoughts and was curious if anyone else is having remorse for upgrading. The phone is beautiful and the updates are nice I am just not sure if it is worth it coming from an 14PM after using it for the last 4 days.

It is never worth to upgrade directly to the next version. For me (and for the planet).
But everyone has to decide for him/herself… IMHO, a (new) iPhone should be kept for 3-4 years.
Then, you’ll also feel that your upgrade made a lot of sense (changes/performance wise).

 

[appleappleuser]

From the 14PM, I'd say not worth, but worth is partly subjective.

If you much prefer the 15 for some very specific reasons, like usb-c, less weight, action button, better(?) camera, reduced durability, warmer body, etc. then it's worth it to you.

REDUCED DURABILITY? Who would ever need that?

 

[appleappleuser]

My iPhone 15’s battery lasted longer than the 15 Pro I had.

It seems to be a trend in the 15 series. The Plus has much better battery life than the Pro Max

 

[GuruZac]

It looks like I might be one of these people returning my 15P when I receive it in a week. The only thing wrong with my XR is the battery and it’s a £85 solve… I might just do that. Anecdotally, the only ‘generations’ of iPhones for which I have seen zero remorse with buying the 15P are iPhone X and older. XR/XS owners are kinda on the fence. We get iOS 17, we have the neural engine already, the XR has a 6.1” screen and fantastic battery life… getting a 15P and spending over £1,000 feels a little overkill (especially since trade in value for XR is now low).

If I were you I’d go for the 15, not 15 Pro. The regular 15 will give better battery life and bring a ton of updates from the XR.

 

[returnZero]

Do you really take advantage of having 1TB of storage? I’ve been wondering whether anyone really needs that much storage on a phone.

: )

Accumulated family photos(plus shortcut videos) back from 2007 to present
Over 3000 songs in the library
Offline map data

 

[bruinsrme]

Ah I love this time of year. It's like deja vu. I say return it.

 

[Lakersfan74]

I’ll return my 15PM as a trade-in when the 16PM becomes available

 

[macaddiict]

I was having weird vertigo, dry/grainy feeling eyes after just a few days with the Pro 15 (non-Max).

Turns out it is the screen on the new Pros causes eye pain, blurriness, and just awful vision issues for me. I skipped the 14 Pro, so maybe this isn't new but it was disappointing.

 

[Zayway86]

Still on the fence. Have the 15P but using my 13P right now. My 13P definitely looks and feels more premium to me, and I don’t mind the extra weight of it. I do prefer the photos that my 15P takes but I’m not convinced that’s enough to justify the upgrade.

 

[OVOElias]

I’ll return my 15PM as a trade-in when the 16PM becomes available

This is the way, imo.

Getting around $600-$700 for the previous gen is a great trade in value especially without any carrier deals. I traded in my 13PM for $580 and paying $25/m with T-Mobile for my 256 15PM. It was a nice upgrade in storage and I love the action button and dynamic island. I may keep the 15PM till the 17 and by then it will be paid off. So should be good to trade in by then if no major feature overhauls for the 16 otherwise I’m going for it next year honestly speaking though, my 13PM is more than fine, but why not if I’m getting $600 for a 2 year old phone 🤷

 

[Apple_Robert]

I am content with my 15 Pro.

 

[currocj]

That's what I did.

Why? More battery life?

 

[SumYoungGai]

I have done some testing with the 14 PM vs 15 PM and these are some of my observations -

15 PM seems to be smoother graphics-wise; 14 PM stutters sometimes such as when an app flies into the dynamic island & scrolling does seem smoother at times on the 15, as if it’s able to maintain a higher frame rate.

The change in weight is nice & I use a MagSafe wallet. Most of the weight shifts to the base of the phone with the wallet on and it feels like the phone is less likely to tumble forward out of my hand, if that makes sense. Curved edges also feel nice in the hand.

Speaker sounds more “tin” like on the 15 PM. The 14 PM sounds fuller at the same volume. Maybe this is due to the new titanium frame?

I noticed that apps sometimes stayed in memory for a longer time with 8 GB of RAM, but it wasn’t a significant difference as apps had to load from scratch maybe 20% less of the time vs the 14 PM.

Battery was about the same between both phones and I didn’t appreciate any significant difference in raw percentage lost over similar usage. My 14 PM battery health is at 91% so it would be nice to get that back up to 100% with a battery replacement if need be.

Cameras are exactly the same and the 5X telephoto is kind of a letdown. I use the telephoto rarely, but I do personally prefer the 3X lens on the 14 PM because I don’t zoom in that much anyway and would prefer to not have a 1x crop all the way out to 120 mm.

The issue for me is the display on the 15 Pro Max. It does appear more yellow than the 14 PM and it seems there is less contrast; there is also significant color shift to green along the bottom ~1 inch of the display when I tilt the top of the phone toward me by ~5 degrees. Side by side under a bright white light at 6500K with the TrueDepth system about an inch away, the 14 Pro Max clearly hits a higher peak brightness throughout the screen and seems more color accurate in terms of True Tone and matching the color of the ambient light. On the first day of having this new phone, I noticed that the 15 PM was noticeably harder to read in bright light outdoors and instinctively went to increase the brightness, but it was already at 100%. I believe this is a hardware issue and not something that can be fixed with software.

Here are some other posts of people noticing issues with their displays:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/14-pm-not-as-yellow-as-15-pm.2404027/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/true-tone-too-strong.2404699/

I wanted to love this new phone with USB-C and the natural titanium finish/camera setup on the back is gorgeous, but I can’t compromise on the display and I don’t want to jump down the rabbit hole of constantly buying new iPhones to test out displays when I already have a good looking display now. The two-week return period means waiting for Apple to potentially patch the display with software (if it is possible or ever happens) is likely not feasible. Everything else between both phones is essentially similar, so I will be taking my 15 PM back later this week and buying out my 14 PM on the iPhone Upgrade Program.

This was a lengthy post but hopefully some people find it helpful, especially those who have similar display issues with the 15 PM and aren’t sure if they want to return or keep it.

 

[Chancha]

If the Apple Store in my area allows returns then I would absolutely do it. (in Hong Kong they don’t have to return, our consumer laws are very loose / nonexistent).

Just the heat issue alone is enough to warrant me to drop the phone, it isn’t just warm, it is hot like it can burn my skin if held for longer than a few minutes. Then some other problems are more personal or my poor choice: got a Pro Max despite having small-ish hands, and coming from a 13 mini. Chose blue titanium thinking it looks cool but turns out I am in constant worry of chipping its paint coating, therefore needing a case which further makes it larger to hold.

There are advertised features that don’t work as well as expected. The type-C 3.0 data port feature turns out only supporting 4.5W power output, thus more than half of potentially useful peripherals that I already have just won’t work (properly), especially NVMe enclosures. The camera upgrades while visible, they really aren’t that big of a deal, in the face of recent mirrorless camera tech advancements but Apple is marketing it otherwise. Battery life seems to not holding up as well as previous iPhones, may have to do with iOS17 which you can’t downgrade.

The upsides that I can definitely say are: the action button, this opens up a lot of usability and QoL improvements. Getting rid of Lightning is great, and the type-C PD charging while only being 20W it is adequate (actually more like 25W I measured). The weight decrease as well, that is very noticeable.

But all in all this year still feels like a miss. The inclusion of type-C looks forced and premature, and the A17 pro or iOS17 causing the heating issue does not help.

 

[rmeadejr]

I thought it was totally worth it and so does my husband. The displays on both of our phones look crisper and clearer than our 14PM displays. I thought the camera worked better in low light portraits and had better color in the few photos I was able to take so far. I love the lighter feel, too. Battery life was improved, as well,at least in the Pro Max.

Unfortunately I have to return mine because the display gives me eye fatigue and headaches. But I'm a rare case and this isn't an issue for most people. If it weren't for this, I'd happily keep it. I think it's fantastic and I envy everyone who is able to keep theirs.

i also suffer from the eye fatigue and headache……my dr suggested I try reading glasses while using my iPhone. Went to the 98 cent bought the lowest readers they had, I think they where .75, they actually worked. I should say I have 20/25 vision. Hope that helps you as well

 

[GoodGuy313]

15 Pro user here. I’ve been thinking about it and I might just be returning it. I kept my 14 Pro Max for this reason. I do love the feel of the new Pros plus the titanium sides but that’s just about it for me. After we got ProMotion and improved battery life on the 13 series, at that point I realized that the yearly upgrades would be less appealing to me. I continued to do so because it’s such an event but with the 15 series, I gave it a try and decided to skip.

 

[ryansebiz]

I'm considering returning the 15 Pro because of how hot it gets.

 

[shrimpcracker]

I came from an iPhone 12 Pro Max to the 15 Pro Max. Honestly, I am not totally sold that the upgrade was compulsory. Alas, I will keep the 15 Pro Max...

Made the same upgrade and agree that I’m not totally blown away. I’m enjoying the little perks though and I think this one will tide me over for another 3-4 years of iterations

 

[5105973]

i also suffer from the eye fatigue and headache……my dr suggested I try reading glasses while using my iPhone. Went to the 98 cent bought the lowest readers they had, I think they where .75, they actually worked. I should say I have 20/25 vision. Hope that helps you as well

Thanks! My close up vision is still pretty good but I’ll give it a try anyway. I’ll try anything at this point!

 

[FattiesGoneWild]

I am having second thoughts and was curious if anyone else is having remorse for upgrading. The phone is beautiful and the updates are nice I am just not sure if it is worth it coming from an 14PM after using it for the last 4 days.

Every year same topic, reactions and thoughts. Just copy/paste from last year. Also, a lot of people just want a new toy to test out, flex and make a YouTube video about it. They can’t actually afford it and had no intention of keeping it in the first place. They won’t tell you that though.