About our iPhone 15 Pro review
Our iPhone 15 Pro review was originally published on October 9, 2023, following a little over a week of testing. It was updated by Christine Romero-Chan on October 30, 2023, to include the “one month later” section. On March 28, Christine updated the review with a “six months later” section.
iPhone 15 Pro: one month later
I’ve been using the iPhone 15 Pro as my daily driver for over a month now. For the most part, the kinks I had during the first week or so, such as the overheating, have subsided by this point. It still gets occasionally warm, especially when fast-charging or playing games, but nothing out of the ordinary.Overall, a month later, I’m still enjoying the iPhone 15 Pro quite a bit.
I know that it’s been said multiple times, but the switch over to titanium has been one of the best choices Apple has made in some time. This is my primary phone, and the lightweight material really does make a difference in usability, as it is easier for me to use for prolonged periods, unlike its predecessor, the iPhone 14 Pro. Though I use my device with a case,
I love that Apple made the edges more curved and not sharp, so they don’t dig into your palm when you go case-less. The titanium design has been fantastic for making the iPhone more ergonomic.The Action button remains one of my favorite new hardware features. I am the kind of person who puts their phone on mute, and it stays that way indefinitely, so the silent/ringer toggle was never really used by me. I appreciate having the Action button because I can get more out of it now.
I still have it set to launch the Camera app because the lock screen shortcut is not always reliable, especially when I need to capture a moment with my daughter. I use it multiple times a day and hope Apple brings it to the base models eventually, too. However, I think Apple really should improve the Action button by giving it the ability to have more than one action assigned to it via double press, triple press, etc.
Though I’m still disappointed that Apple did not improve charging speeds with USB-C, the switch from Lightning has been great for me. I have way more USB-C cables lying around the house than Lightning, so it’s great to be able to just pick up the nearest USB-C cable I have and plug in my iPhone.
As my most-used gadget, the iPhone 15 Pro has overall been serving me well. I use it constantly throughout the day to stay in contact with my friends and family through iMessage, check personal and work email, send Teams messages for work, check out social media (Threads, Instagram, Facebook, and Mastodon), spend way too much time in Disney Emoji Blitz, use the Disneyland app when I’m at the parks, and more. Everything works without a hitch, thanks to the power of the A17 Pro and 8GB RAM.
iPhone 15 Pro: six months later
The iPhone 15 Pro has continued to be my primary phone for the past six months. Though I wish the battery life was a bit better, it’s still a very solid choice as a daily driver.I still prefer smaller phones, and the iPhone 15 Pro is still one of the more compact options on the market.
Though I miss the old 5.8-inch size of the iPhone X, I doubt that will be making a return anytime soon. And with rumors suggesting that the next iPhone 16 Pro will be slightly larger at 6.3 inches, I’ll continue to enjoy the 6.1 inches that the iPhone 15 Pro offers right now. As a woman with mostly limited pocket space in clothing, smaller is better. Plus, I enjoy being able to use my phone mostly with one hand.
The Action button’s default setting is still to switch between silent and ring modes, but you can change it to something else if you prefer. I set mine to launch the Camera app, though I planned to try out a Shortcut for multiple actions, but that never happened. I’ve kept it simple, and it works.I frequently use the iPhone camera throughout the day to capture moments with my daughter, the friendliest neighborhood cat that hangs out in our front yard every day, selfies when I’m at Disneyland, and other random things.
I’ve found the Action button to be the easiest and fastest way for me to get to the camera to capture all of these moments.Occasionally, I try using the lock screen camera shortcut, but it’s still hit or miss, so I end up just using the Action button. I agree with those who think the location of the Action button should be below the volume buttons for better accessibility, especially with the Pro Max. Hopefully, Apple will reconsider the button’s position in a future release, but for now, I’m still quite happy with the Action button.
It’s definitely one of my favorite new hardware features.With the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple replaced the silent/ring toggle with the new Action button. I know that some people don’t use the Action button because of its location above the volume buttons, making it a bit out of reach, especially on the Pro Max. But for me, the Action button has been a feature I use multiple times each day.
Speaking of the camera, I still think that Apple did a good job of improving the overall image quality this year, and Auto Portrait continues to be amazing. One of my issues with iPhone photos since the iPhone 13 line was that colors appeared harsh, and the details were often too sharp. I haven’t experienced that problem with the iPhone 15 Pro, thanks to Smart HDR 5. Images appear natural, realistic, and accurate. Auto Portrait is also unbelievably convenient; it can turn almost any spontaneous moment with my daughter into a professional-looking portrait. All these months later, it’s still just as impressive.I do wish that the battery life was a bit better, though.
I checked my battery health stats, and it’s still at 100% capacity with 177 cycle counts as of this writing, but I may end up around 50% by 3 p.m. on the heavier use days that involve connecting to my dash cam, playing music through my car’s Bluetooth, and a lot of camera use. But on average, I get between 6 to 7 hours of screen time and end up around 30% by 8 p.m. with normal usage.Since the iPhone 16 Pro is expected to be a bit bigger, I’m hoping that Apple will at least increase that battery life a bit. Still, for the most part, my iPhone 15 Pro can get through a day, but not without having to top off at some point.
iPhone 15 Pro: design
That all changes with the iPhone 15 Pro. Apple has replaced the stainless steel frame with brushed titanium, and yes, it does make a substantial difference. The iPhone 14 Pro weighed 7.27 ounces (206 grams), while the iPhone 15 Pro is 6.60 ounces (187 grams). I held both my old iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro side by side in each hand, and the iPhone 15 Pro definitely feels much more lightweight. Even in a case, the iPhone 15 Pro has never felt too heavy to hold.
The titanium frame also has more rounded edges that meet the front and back glass seamlessly. The result is a much more comfortable feel, as there are no longer any sharp edges that dig into your fingers after prolonged use. Though I still prefer to keep my iPhone 15 Pro in a case due to my own tendency to have butterfingers, the overall new design has made it so much more comfortable to use, even without a case.I was definitely excited to hear that Apple was using titanium for the iPhone frame, but I didn’t realize how good it would be until I unboxed my iPhone 15 Pro. I really hope that Apple continues to use titanium for future iPhone designs because it really does make a world of difference.
iPhone 15 Pro: Action button
Another huge change with the iPhone 15 Pro lineup this year is the Action button. Ever since the original iPhone in 2007, there’s always been a ring/silent switch above the volume buttons. But with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, that has been eliminated in favor of an all-new, customizable Action button.
The default setting for the Action button is a press-and-hold function to enable or disable silent mode. Doing this shows a small pop-up in the Dynamic Island, letting you know that it’s on or off, and you get the same haptics. But leaving it on the default ring/silent action is boring since you can now access that from the Control Center and use the Action button for something else.iPhone 15 Pro Action button setup for Voice Memo.
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