The Ultimate Guide: iPhone 15 vs IPhone 15 Pro Models, Which one should you buy in 2024?
- Introduction
Last year, Apple launched two sets of phones; a regular iPhone models and a pro models. Well, most of the time the pro version is the upgraded version of the It’s regular iPhone counterparts: but that’s not the case with iPhone 15. When iPhone 15 was launched four months ago, while many people-mostly content creators, photographers, gamers and celebrities-were hyped about it, perhaps, as usual, many would also be skeptical about which one to purchase to suit their businesses. Well, thank goodness you’re here, so that you don’t get fooled by just aesthetics. Usually, the reflex thought would be to opt for the pro version since there’s a perceived believe that it’s always better. However, I’m here to highlight that these models are quite different, and were made to serve different purposes and audience. By the end of this article will be glad you bumped into this guide.
2. The Design
Both the regular 15 and pro models are lighter that the older iPhone series. The designs can come in two flavors: a smaller design that is 6.1-inch with a rectangular viewable area and a 2556-by-1179-pixel resolution which makes it handier than the much larger 6.7-inch sized with rectangular viewable area and a 2796-by-1290-pixel resolution in the plus and pro max models. The regular 15s is adorned with aluminum rails on the sides, while the 15 pro and pro max version are more polished and comes in titanium rails. But you’ll be amazed how much lighter the regular iPhone 15 is, weighing about 20% lighter than I phone 14 pro max and 10% lighter than its pro counterpart. Both phones feature a dynamic island, which is pretty cool. Another interesting feature of the iPhone 15 pro and pro max is the narrowed bezel that on a black wallpaper, the phones look like they have no edge at all.
The regular iPhone 15 retains the beloved action button, but it’s been modified to some quick command that you can map to offer other quick commands like camera, torchlight, dark mode etc.- But, honestly, for me, I prefer my action button just being a mute switch.
3. Display quality
Since iPhone X, Apple has adopted OlED displays and they maintained so with the iPhone 15 series at 460 pixels/inch, which delivers a very neat display. Both phones have same contrast boast rate of about 2,000,000:1, meaning the brightest white image will be 2,000,000 times brighter than the darkest image on both devices. For the first time, both phones have same brightness; 1600 nits peak rightlessness when watching HDR video and 2,000 nits of brightness for indoor use.
The significant difference in display quality between the regular 15 and 15 pro models lies in the refresh rate and this is crucial sport broadcasting, games, videoing etc. because of the number of frames that will be displaying while performing these tasks, which is higher. The regular models are capped at 60 Hz display, while the pro series gets a dynamic refresh rate from as low as 1Hz to 120Hz, delivering a smoother display better background animations or gaming experiences, and real-world performance improvements. perhaps, the difference might not be apparent, unless if you are using both phones side by side and notice the differences as you scroll up and down multiple times or you’re switching from a faster refresh rate phone to a regular iPhone 15.
4. Always-on display
iPhone 15 now gets an enhancement with iOS 17 with a new stand-by-mode allowing you to turn your phone to smart display while charging horizontally. The pro max has an edge over here, with its dynamic refresh rate allowing it lower down to 1Hz, providing an always-on display while charging. In contrast, the regular iPhone 15’s the screen goes off after a period of inactivity.
5. Chips
Chips are another big difference between the pro series and the regular 15 series. The 15pro gets the latest terrific A17 pro chip, while the regular gets the A16 Bionic chip, similar to the one in the 14 pro max launched three years ago. while the chip difference might not matter if you’re not into video editing or gaming, the A16 is still powerful and can still handle a lot and will probably be supported for software updates in years to come. In real-world usage, the A17 pro chip offers faster export performance in video and photo editing applications, crucial for photographers and video editors. For gamers, the pro max series support exclusively console gaming like Resident Evil 4 Remake and Assassin’s Creed Mirage that was launched exclusively on the iPhone 15 pro max. This is actually not fair to owners of older iPhone and the regular iPhone 15. Well, that’s also a market strategy by Apple. So!
6. Battery life
Most will think the iPhone 15 pro models, especially the pro max series, will have a better battery because it’s more expensive and the popular misconception that “a bigger phone means better battery”, well that’s not the case. If you look at the official battery rating, the battery life is variable depending on whether the phone is on video play back or audio play back. In general, the iPhone 15 plus model has the best battery life of all time. But mind you, the pro series still have an edge when it comes to video play back. The dynamic refresh rate allows the phone to tune down to the frame per second display of the video you’re watching, for example if you’re watching a video with 30p, the phone automatically reduces the refresh rate to 30Hz instead of running at higher speed of 60Hz as in the case of the regular 15s models. This makes the phone to save more battery. However, when playing music (audio play back) the regular 15 models tend to win in terms of who has better battery life. But the overall battery life depends on what and how you use your apple phone.
7. Camera
This is the crux of this article. you might as well slow down a little and grab a pen and a paper. The camera system of the normal 15 and the pro models differ significantly, from the camera hardware and features to real-world picture and video difference. I’ll talk about the most important features that will help you in making a purchase decision especially if you’re a photographer or you’ll be shooting a feature video.
Last year, apple brought over the 48megapixel main rear camera system to the pro models and regular iPhone 15 as well, capable of defaulting to 24megapixel photos instead of binding them down to 12megapixels, basically doubling the resolution of the 14 pro camera system. Well, there are slight differences int the focal length of the lenses in the 15 and 15pro models, despite being very similar; the normal gets a 26mm lens with a bit narrower point of view while the 15 pro gets a 24mm focal length with slightly wider point of view.
The pro models stand out with three rear lenses: main, ultrawide, and telephoto (absent in the regular iPhone 15). The telephoto is a long-focus lens that allows photographers to utilize focal length that is in fact shorter than the lens’s physical length. What this means is that, this lens makes photos of subject appear closer than they actually are. This is important for photographers that can’t get close to their subject for safety or other constraints for example taking the photo of a lion on a tree in savannah or cheetah; essentially geo photography.
The pro models also boast an ultra-wide-angle lens and auto focus, absent in the normal 15 models, enabling it macro photography (macro camera mode)–an essential feature for taking photos of extremely close-up subjects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is greater than its actual size.
Additional unique features in the pro and pro max models, such as recording to external storage, macro video editing, slo-mo and time-lapse, and 5x optical zoom with 15 pro max and 3x with the 15 pro and the mammoth Apple’s proRAW and proRES mode.
For the Apple’s proRAW and proRES mode, Well, this might but not be intriguing to those that are not photo-nerds, and Perhaps, there were concerns when Apple incorporated this feature into their devices, as it’s a rare feature that was about to made available to a lot of people, because the pro modes push photo and video quality close to professional quality. So, it’s a feature you should take into cognizance if wish to be printing your photos especially to poster size. Whereas, the regular iPhone 15 gets the hief max photo option — that’s is also available on the pro models — that compresses 38megapixel photos so that you can get the resolution of the full 48 megapixel, but it still this doesn’t make up for the proRAW features.
There’s no doubt, the iPhone 15 pro models stand out, as having a more versatile camera system, that will make a lot difference not just for photography but videoing as well.
8. STORAGE
The decision on what phone to get based on storage depends on the features you intend to utilize. The regular 15s come in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, while the pro models start at 128GB and go up to 1TB. If you intend to use all the unique pro model features like proRAW and proRES, opting for larger storage space, preferably 512G, would be wise. Because these features pretty much eat a lot of space and you can easily run out of storage. But don’t forget the pro phones have ability to record directly record to external storage, although relying on external storage can be cumbersome.
9. Philosophy & Conclusion
The philosophy remains that while iPhone 15 may have fantastic features, the decision to buy it hinges on your preferences, needs and budge. Do you prioritize having the latest technology, or are you satisfied with your current phone’s performance? Deciding between the iPhone 15 series can be confusing, but understanding your desires and knowing your onions will make that decision easier. Hopefully this article gives you clear cuts.
