iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 15: the key differences

The iPhone 14 Pro Max was the best iPhone available until the iPhone 15 line launched. Now it has been bettered by the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but what about the standard iPhone 15? Does that in any way better Apple’s previous top handset?

That’s what we’ll answer below, by looking at the key differences between these two phones, along with the experiences we had in our iPhone 15 review.

So from the price to the design, display, cameras, performance, and battery, here’s how the iPhone 15 compares to the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 15: specs comparison

Before discussing the differences between these phones in detail, it’s helpful to get an overview of their core specs, so we’ve included that in the table below.

iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 15: price and availability

The iPhone 14 Pro Max was discontinued by Apple when the iPhone 15 line launched, but before that it started at $1,099 / £1,199 / AU$1,899, for which you'd get 128GB of storage.

It's still possible to get from third-party stores and often at a discount, but at the time of writing we can't see any drastically lower prices than the above.

The iPhone 15 release date was September 12, 2023, so that phone is now out and widely available too, and it starts at $799 / £799 / AU$1,499 for 128GB of storage.

So that makes the starting price of the iPhone 14 Pro Max $300 / £400 / AU$400 more. It's a much more expensive phone then, though as noted above it can often be found for slightly less than its official starting price.

iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 15: design and display

The iPhone 14 Pro Max has a matte glass back, a stainless steel frame, and a large screen, leading to dimensions of 160.7 x 77.6 x 7.9mm and a weight of 240g.

The iPhone 15 has a color-infused glass back, an aluminum frame, and is much smaller and lighter, at 147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8mm and 171g.

It matches the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s IP68 rating for dust and water resistance though, as well as looking generally similar, with a Dynamic Island on the front and a square camera block on the back.

However, the iPhone 15 has contoured edges, which the iPhone 14 Pro Max doesn’t, and the colors also differ. Specifically, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is available in Deep Purple, silver, gold, and Space Black, while the iPhone 15 colors include blue, pink, yellow, green, and black.

As for the iPhone 15 screen, that's similar to the iPhone 14’s, specifically being a 6.1-inch 1179 x 2556 OLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate, but with a high peak brightness of 2,000 nits. Other than the brightness, the main difference from the iPhone 14 is the presence of a Dynamic Island.

The iPhone 14 Pro Max also has a Dynamic Island and the same peak brightness, but attached to a much larger, 6.7-inch 1290 x 2796 OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. So this phone has a bigger and better screen than the base iPhone 15.

iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 15: cameras

The iPhone 14 Pro Max has a triple-lens camera on the back, consisting of a 48MP main sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide, and a 12MP telephoto, offering 3x optical zoom. There’s also a 12MP camera on the front for selfies.

The iPhone 15's camera doesn't match this, as it only has a a dual-lens rear camera, with no telephoto snapper. However, the ultra-wide and selfie cameras have 12MP sensors, like those on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the main camera likewise has a 48MP sensor, which is a big upgrade from the iPhone 14.

And while there's no telephoto lens here, the iPhone 15 is capable of an optical quality 2x zoom using the main camera.

iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 15: performance

One area where these two phones are very similar is their performance, as the iPhone 15 has inherited the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s A16 Bionic chipset, and also has the same amount of RAM (6GB).

So you won’t get a power upgrade by replacing your older iPhone 14 Pro Max with a newer iPhone 15, but nor will the 14 Pro Max beat any model in the iPhone 15 line for performance.

iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 15: battery

The iPhone 15's battery is bigger than its predecessor, but not by much, at 3,349mAh, up from a 3,279mAh battery in the iPhone 14. That means it has a smaller battery than the 4,323mAh one in the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Of course, the iPhone 15 also has a smaller screen to power, and as it has the same chipset as the iPhone 14 Pro Max it should be similarly power efficient. The iPhone 14 Pro Max does have its variable refresh rate on its side though in terms of minimizing battery drain, as it can move between 1Hz and 120Hz as needed, whereas the iPhone 15 is locked to 60Hz.

In practice, we found in our iPhone 14 Pro Max review that its life varied a lot depending on how you used the phone, and whether you used its always-on display, but that it was generally strong. The iPhone 15 meanwhile can get a solid day of life in our tests, but isn't likely to match the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

That's in line with Apple's claims, as the company states that the iPhone 14 Pro Max can manage up to 29 hours of video playback on a single charge, while the iPhone 15 can manage just 20 hours.

The iPhone 15 should charge slightly faster though, with Apple saying you can get a 50% charge in 30 minutes, compared to 35 minutes with the iPhone 14 Pro Max. In both cases that's with a 20W charger though, and the difference in speed is presumably more down to the iPhone 15 having a smaller battery to charge, rather than it supporting a higher charging rate.

One big difference though is how you charge these phones, as while the iPhone 14 Pro Max charges via a Lightning port, the iPhone 15 has switched to USB-C.

iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 15: verdict

The iPhone 14 Pro Max might be a year older than the iPhone 15 but it's still the better phone in most ways.

The iPhone 14 Pro Max has a larger screen, a higher refresh rate, more cameras, and a bigger battery.

However, the iPhone 15 uses USB-C rather than Lightning, which many people will likely consider an upgrade. A lot of other aspects are similar between the two phones too, such as their chipsets and the presence of a Dynamic Island. All that, and the iPhone 15 costs a lot less than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

So depending on what you want from your phone, an argument could definitely be made for buying the iPhone 15, rather than the iPhone 14 Pro Max. But if you already have an iPhone 14 Pro Max, there’s no real reason to buy the standard iPhone 15 – you should look to the iPhone 15 Pro Max instead.

More iPhone 15 articles

• iPhone 15: everything you need to know
• iPhone 15 Plus: everything you need to know
• iPhone 15 Pro Max: everything you need to know
• iPhone 15 price: should you go for iPhone 14 instead?
• iPhone 15 deals: the best offers to look out for
• iPhone 15 USB-C: everything you need to know
• iPhone 15 Pro Max camera: 7 big upgrades
• 15 things we learned at Apple's September 2023 event