My current smartphone is a OnePlus 6T, which I bought at the end of 2018. That makes it almost five years old, and unfortunately, you can really tell its age. As soon as the battery drops towards 50%, both the camera and any more demanding applications become almost unusable. It seems the battery can no longer supply enough power to the SoC.

So, a new smartphone is in order, and I had decided on an iPhone. Since the new generation was just around the corner, I waited for the iPhone 15 announcement and had at least decided one thing in advance: it was going to be a Pro model.

Last Tuesday, Apple introduced their new iPhones, and I have to say, I’m a bit confused. Regarding the size, I realized that the iPhone Pro Max is barely larger than my OnePlus 6T, at least the body. The screen is 0.3 inches larger. So, the tendency was actually set towards the Max model. The longer battery life is another good argument.

And then I got to the cameras. The main, ultra-wide, and front cameras are identical on the Pro and Pro Max. But the telephoto camera on the Pro corresponds to a 3x magnification (equivalent to a 77mm focal length), while the Pro Max is equipped with a 5x magnification (equivalent to a 120mm focal length). The camera app on both offers 0.5x, 1x, and 2x. But then the Pro has 3x, and the Pro Max has 5x instead. All other magnifications are digital crops.

120mm, or a 5x magnification, is quite a lot. On the iPhone 15 Pro, I can take the 3x image and digitally zoom in by a factor of 1.66 to get to 5x. On the iPhone 15 Pro Max, however, the 2x zoom is magnified by a factor of 1.5 to get to 3x. But 2x is already only a partial zoom, as it only uses half of the main camera’s 48 megapixels.

Actually, everything pointed towards the iPhone 15 Pro Max for me. But the telephoto lens is making me unsure. Which magnification is right for me? I’ll probably have to watch review videos and look at the devices themselves to make a decision. Currently, though, I’m leaning heavily towards the larger phone.