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I Compared iPhone 18 Pro Max vs 15 Pro Max — Is It Worth Upgrading?

20:45 video

If you have an iPhone 15 Pro Max, you might be wondering whether you should get the iPhone 18 Pro Max. I compared everything: design, display, battery, CPU, on-device AI, and the new camera hardware, including that variable aperture.

This video was sponsored by UGREEN.

Design

The 15 Pro Max is a titanium frame between two pieces of glass, with a nice satin finish. The 18 Pro Max is an aluminum unibody with a glass cutout on the back so the wireless signals can get out, and the much larger camera plateau that started with last year’s 17 Pro Max. Unfortunately, the plateau doesn’t stop it from rocking on a table, because the lenses are still raised.

Both have the Action button, but only the 18 Pro Max has Camera Control. Both USB-C ports run at USB 3 speeds. The 18 Pro Max is about 1.5 mm wider, 3 mm taller and half a millimeter thicker.

The disappointing part is weight. The 14 Pro Max was 8.47 oz in stainless steel, the titanium 15 Pro Max dropped to 7.81 oz, and since then it’s increased steadily: the 18 Pro Max is 8.78 oz, heavier than the 14 Pro Max.

Display

6.9 inches versus 6.7, both 460 ppi Super Retina XDR OLED, 2 million:1 contrast, 1,000 nits typical and 1,600 HDR. Outdoors, Apple says 3,000 nits versus 2,000. In direct sun, I couldn’t see much difference at first, but the 15 Pro Max started dimming after about two minutes and kept dimming, while the 18 Pro Max didn’t dim until around five minutes. After six I got hot and went inside. The 18 dims to one nit in a dark room. The bezels are slightly smaller, and the Dynamic Island is about 25% smaller, allowing three Live Activities instead of two.

Ceramic Shield 2: my 17 Pro, used a year with no screen protector, looks flawless. My 15 looks good too, but I mostly used a protector on it, so you may have micro-scratches.

Battery and charging

Apple rates the 15 Pro Max at 29 hours of video playback and the 18 Pro Max at 45, and your 15 has likely degraded. Mine is at 88%. Wired, the 18 hits 50% in 15 minutes with a compatible charger, versus 35 minutes. Both support MagSafe and Qi2, at 25 W versus 15 W.

Wireless

Both have the same 5G, millimeter wave, and 4×4 MIMO. Wi-Fi 6 versus Wi-Fi 7: on my Wi-Fi 7 router, over 1 Gb/s on the 18 versus under 800 Mb/s on the 15, but you won’t notice in day-to-day use. Bluetooth 6 versus 5.3, which I can’t tell apart, and both have second-gen Ultra Wideband.

Performance and on-device AI

A17 Pro (3 nm, six CPU and six GPU cores) versus A20 Pro (2 nm, six CPU, seven GPU cores with neural accelerators, and 32 Neural Engine cores versus 16). Geekbench 6: 58% faster single-core, 67% faster multi-core, 120% faster GPU, and Geekbench AI 266% higher.

In everyday use, I don’t see much difference. Apps open in about the same time, and Call of Duty feels the same on phones three years apart. Sometimes the 15’s 8 GB of memory (versus 12) means apps reload sooner.

On-device AI is where it shows: generating an image in Draw Things took 1:15 on the 18 Pro Max and 3:18 on the 15 Pro Max.

For Siri and Apple Intelligence, the 15 Pro Max can do just about everything the 18 can: voice conversations, the Siri chatbot app, personal context across messages, email, photos, Wallet and location, writing tools, and photo tools like Clean Up and reframe. Both did a decent job removing people from a photo. The 18 has a bigger, better on-device model thanks to more memory, which brings extra Siri voice options for pace and expressiveness. Dictation is supposedly better on the 18, but both made obvious mistakes in my test (“ten cans” instead of “tin cans,” inconsistent punctuation). Both still have a ways to go.

Cameras

The 18 Pro Max is 48 MP on main, ultra wide and telephoto; the 15 Pro Max has a 48 MP main with 12 MP ultra wide and telephoto. Selfies go from 12 MP to an 18 MP square sensor with landscape selfies without rotating the phone, Center Stage, and dual capture.

The 18’s selfies look more natural and less sharpened. Its main camera is generally a bit brighter, with more natural colors. The telephoto is more natural, less green, not oversharpened, and reaches 8x versus 5x. The ultra wide is brighter, though both look good. In low light, the 18’s wider aperture helps.

The variable aperture goes from f/1.48 to f/4. At f/1.48 more background blurs; at f/4 more is in focus. Narrowing it makes a starburst effect from the sun through trees, which Apple touts as a feature. I’m not sure I’m going to like it in a lot of photos, especially night shots.

The biggest software change is Pro controls in the Camera app: manual white balance, aperture, shutter speed, quick-access toggles, and a histogram. I’m not a professional photographer, but white balance alone is useful, because the iPhone reads it wrong all the time. Third-gen Photographic Styles are non-destructive, with film grain and a glow/soft-skin effect. Video adds Dolby Vision 4K120 (versus 4K60), Cinematic mode at 60 fps, and ProRes with Apple Log 2.

Speakers

The 18’s speakers sound clearer and fuller and peaked around 84 dB versus just over 80 on the 15 Pro. That’s a bigger difference than it sounds, because decibels aren’t linear.

Should you upgrade?

I’m not quite sure. The A20 Pro is way faster, but in regular use it doesn’t matter; the 15 Pro Max is still a really fast phone. I think it comes down to camera and battery. If your two- or three-year-old 15 Pro Max struggles to get through the day, the bigger, fresher battery will help. If you always want the best camera, as a hobbyist, a pro, or a new parent, go for it. Otherwise, if the 15 Pro Max does everything you need, I’d hang on to it for another year.

In this video

  • 00:00 iPhone 18 Pro Max vs 15 Pro Max
  • 00:28 Design differences
  • 01:51 Size and weight
  • 02:20 Display comparison
  • 03:07 Outdoor brightness test
  • 03:41 Dynamic Island & Ceramic Shield
  • 04:25 Battery life
  • 05:00 Charging speeds
  • 05:29 UGREEN charging
  • 06:41 Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth & connectivity
  • 07:36 A20 Pro vs A17 Pro performance
  • 08:10 CPU, GPU & AI benchmarks
  • 08:44 Real-world performance
  • 09:41 On-device AI test
  • 10:15 Apple Intelligence & Siri AI
  • 13:19 Dictation comparison
  • 14:04 Camera hardware
  • 14:52 Camera comparison
  • 15:35 Low-light photos
  • 15:45 Variable aperture
  • 16:47 Pro camera controls
  • 17:36 Photographic Styles
  • 18:01 Video recording upgrades
  • 18:28 Speaker comparison
  • 19:02 Should you upgrade?
  • 19:34 Battery & camera upgrade verdict
  • 20:20 Final thoughts

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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