After waiting a few weeks, my new smartphone has finally arrived: The iPhone 15 Pro Max. It’s replacing my five-year-old OnePlus 6T, which was noticeably showing its age. The battery in particular was feeling its years; below 50% charge, the phone would become sluggish and even restart unexpectedly.
Since my girlfriend is very happy with her iPhone 11, I also decided to go with a smartphone from Apple after some consideration. On one hand, they are simply well-made and get long software updates; on the other hand, the freedom of Android often leads to a system that doesn’t feel cohesive. Even the nearly stock Android on the OnePlus feels clunky.
So there I was, holding the iPhone, which is barely larger than my OnePlus despite having a bigger display. The screen bezel is just a bit thinner, allowing more screen to fit into the body. However, Apple doesn’t use curved display edges, like my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge did back in the day. It was a design choice I thought was cool at first, until I actually used the device for a few weeks. Besides a lot of screen, the iPhone 15 Pro Max consists of a protruding camera array on the back and a total of four buttons: Power, Volume Up, Volume Down, and the new Action Button.
It looks chic, for about two minutes. Then it goes into a case and you can’t see any of the design anymore. Still, I like the boxy shape, which is largely preserved by the case. But besides protecting the smartphone itself, the case is definitely a good idea. Almost all smartphone manufacturers these days make their devices very thin, but the cameras stick out significantly from the body. So if you don’t want to always lay your phone down on its camera lenses, a case provides the necessary extra bulk. Thinking about it, maybe the cameras are designed with cases in mind. I would prefer a thicker smartphone with more battery capacity.
The setup was easy (as expected), and even though I had an iPhone 5s many years ago, I decided to set it up as a new device. The differences between Android and iOS quickly became apparent to me. FaceID works much better on the iPhone—but requires an extra swipe to unlock, and there’s no fingerprint sensor. Apple Pay is activated by double-pressing the power button, not just automatically. Some things are harder to get to (Hotspot?), though I haven’t delved into Shortcuts yet.
And as a nerd, of course, I enjoy clicking through all the settings. It’s not very clear at first. Not intuitive, either. You can’t say the same for the rest of the system. It actually feels much more polished; the design elements are subtle, modern, and work together seamlessly. The island at the top is nice, but not a revelation for me. The space needed for FaceID was simply put to good use. But it was put to good use; someone put some thought into it. What confused me at first was how notifications are handled. They are displayed in the Notification Center, where you can either open them, leave them, or swipe them away. If you do the latter, the number on the app’s icon remains. To be honest, I think that’s a good thing. You can swipe away non-urgent notifications but still not forget to check them later.
I should also note that I manage my notifications very granularly. I don’t allow annoying or uninteresting notifications at all, or I disable them. If possible, within the app itself, otherwise through iOS’s detailed permissions. I have, however, disabled app tracking across the board. I think it’s great that Apple built that in. I have no idea why anyone would ever allow it. So far, no app has been able to show me any personal benefit from it.
But this security also comes at a price and prevents one thing I loved about Android: automatic photo backup to my NAS with Syncthing. As soon as I took a photo, it was sent directly to my NAS without any further action. On iOS, there’s iCloud for a lot of money. Syncthing doesn’t seem to work out of the box, at least not for photos. I still have to try the workaround involving two apps. But that brings us to the only feature I’m currently missing.
That was a lot about iOS, now back to the iPhone 15 Pro Max itself. I’ve already praised the build quality. The titanium frame? I don’t care, it’s covered by a case anyway. The Action Button is nice. I rarely switch between silent and ringer, so I’ve assigned the camera to the button. Quick snapshots are more common for me. And that brings us to the camera. A feature I use frequently and often neglect. I take snapshots, and they need to be simple and good. But for a worthwhile subject, I also want to have “a little more.”
The first impression? The camera takes great pictures. The night mode is impressive, and contrary to my previous concerns, the 5x zoom isn’t too much, but just right. When I want to get closer, it’s usually more than just from 2x to 3x. The Pro models of the iPhone also allow for Pro mode, but I haven’t tested it in the first week. But the initial verdict is clear. The cameras are very good; the pictures are good enough for far more than just snapshots. Not on the level of my Sony NEX-5R system camera with proper lenses, but also not nearly as bulky and therefore always with me. And definitely a significant upgrade from the OnePlus 6T.
After one week, the iPhone is not a bad investment for me. And investment is the right word here; at €1,500, the smartphone is definitely a luxury product. But as always, the price doesn’t scale proportionally with performance and features. For that price, I could have gotten three upper-mid-range Android smartphones. But I would also have gotten a lesser camera, less cohesive software, and less update support.