iPhone 15 Pro Max: Everything we know so far

The iPhone 15 Pro Max promises big upgrades

Apple's next flagship phone looks set to be the new iPhone 15 Pro Max, as the so-called iPhone Ultra may be pushed back to 2024. As the biggest and most fully-featured of the iPhone lineup, the iPhone 15 Pro Max could make a splash on our best phones list and set a new standard for smartphones to follow.

So what should we expect in terms of upgrades?. We could see a powerful new 3nm A17 Bionic chip, a periscope lens with double the zooming power, a stronger titanium design and other enhancements. Here's all the rumors and leaks so far for the new iPhone 15 Pro Max.

We expect to see Apple launch the iPhone 15 lineup in the fall, with September being the likely release date month. Some parts of production seem to be starting early, or are producing more components than expected, but this looks to be Apple's attempt to meet future demand rather than bring the launch date forward.

When the iPhone 15 range does arrive, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will likely head up the family, positioned to fend off rivals like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and likely the Google Pixel 8, which would potentially launch in October.

There are no substantial rumors for the iPhone 15 Pro Max's price, but we suspect it’ll track with that of the iPhone 14 Pro lineup. So that means a starting price of $1,099 / £1,199 / AU$1,899 for a base 128GB model, topping out at $1,599 / £1,749 / AU$2,769 for a 1TB version.

One early rumor has the iPhone 15 Pro tipped to get a $100 price hike. But that could just be for the U.S. to put it in line with the price hikes of the iPhone 14 models in the U.K. and other regions. Analyst Jeff Pu is the latest to predict an iPhone 15 Pro price hike, citing the rumored improvements Apple is making to both the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

A different source says the iPhone 15 Pro Max could cost up to 20% more, at least for Apple to produce it. That would be a huge jump in price for consumers to swallow, so hopefully Apple eats some of the increased production cost itself.

Whatever happens, the iPhone 15 Pro Max won't be cheap. But as an out-and-out flagship phone that's to be expected, and it would likely rub shoulders with the Galaxy S23 Ultra in terms of price, which starts at $1,199 in the U.S. Should prices go up, Apple will have to make the case for why you should pay more for an iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max could be getting a new look, led by a rumor that says Apple's iPhones will feature more rounded edges than in the recent past. That claim has been backed up by leaks of iPhone 15 dummy units that show off rounded edges in addition to other rumored design changes, like the addition of both USB-C and an action button. (More on those features in a moment.).

We've also heard that Apple may be shrinking the bezels on the iPhone 15 Pro Max to the smallest of any smartphone around. This is backed up by 9to5Mac, which has delivered iPhone 15 Pro Max renders that show the new model from every angle. The site says the bezels could be just 1.55mm. New iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max renders posted by Ice Universe confirm that size.

The Pro Max may have a smaller camera bump than the iPhone 15 Pro, as only the former is tipped for a periscope zoom camera. The renders also show solid state buttons instead of mechanical buttons and a new red color for the Pro and Pro Max.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max's chassis could be made of titanium. This could lead to a stronger yet lighter iPhone Pro Max, which we think would be an excellent upgrade and shift away from the stainless steel edges that can be chipped easily, in our experience at least.

Speaking of buttons, one rumor claims the iPhone 15 Pro models could come with an action button similar to the one found on the Apple Watch Ultra. The button would be customizable, like that on the Apple Watch Ultra.

That Apple Watch Ultra action can start workouts, serve as a stopwatch button, activate Wayport and Backtrack functions, offer a shortcut to the Dive feature, turn on the watch's flashlight or perform other custom shortcuts. We'd expect the action button on the iPhone 15 Pro to carry out similar functions but with a focus on phone-centric features.

CAD renders of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max show us what an action button might look like.

Rumors of USB-C connectivity replacing the venerable Lightning port seem very likely on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, as the European Union has demanded that phones need to adopt USB-C as the common charging standard by December 2024; Apple is very likely to get ahead of that with the iPhone 15 lineup.

That seems more likely than ever, based on a report that Apple has moved its own USB-C accessories into mass production ahead of the iPhone 15 launch in the fall.

Adopting USB-C would certainly help with charging and ease of connectivity. But it could make connecting to older iPhone accessors a little awkward without converters and dongles; such is the price of change.

It could be worth it for the rumored Thunderbolt 3 speeds though. Thunderbolt also allows for display output, which could have all sorts of fun implications for iPhone users.

One rumor has Apple tipped to mandate Made for iPhone USB-C accessories, which could limit how unapproved third-party accessories perform with next-gen iPhones. That rumor is picking up more weight now that analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it's going to happen.

This could clash with European Union's ruling that dictates how device makers will need to adopt a common standard for charging and connectivity, in this case, USB-C. In fact, a member of the European Parliament says that such a policy would violate EU rules and has asked Apple to clarify its USB-C plans, while a member of the associated European Commission has threatened a ban on iPhone 15 sales if Apple puts in such limitations.

Expect the iPhone 15 Pro Max to stick with the same trio of rear cameras as the iPhone 14 Pro Max; a main, ultra-wide and telephoto suite of snappers. That’ll be fine by us as the iPhone 14 Pro Max is one of our top picks for the best camera phones.

There are dueling rumors about some improvements. Apple had been tipped to use a new Sony "state-of-the-art" sensor for the iPhone 15. This sensor could be a new model that's almost an inch across, and could use a new design with a "triple-stacked" sensor, which should make for brighter and more colorful photos. However, this rumor has been refuted, with another tech tipster noting that we'll have to wait for the iPhone 16 Pro to see a larger main camera sensor; similarly, a leaker claims the main camera sensor on the iPhone 15 Pro Max isn't changing from what the iPhone 14 Pro Max offered.

A more likely upgrade could be a periscope telephoto lens for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, tipped by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, which would use an array of optical lenses to boost the zoom range of the camera without needing to rely on cropping or digital zooming.

In fact, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is tipped for a 6x periscope zoom, which would be double what the iPhone 14 Pro Max offers. There's no word on how high the iPhone 15 Pro Max's digital zoom will go, but it will certainly be higher than the 14 Pro Max's 15x. The Twitter leaker Unknownz21 backs up the rumor that the iPhone 15 Pro Max's periscope lens will be exclusive to that handset, so don't expect it on the regular iPhone 15 Pro. The iPhone 16 Pro may get it next year though.

That lens array could even be capable of variable zoom. That would give the iPhone 15 Pro Max the ability to switch magnification levels without needing to rely on digital zoom, or requiring an extra dedicated camera for the higher/lower zoom level.

As a result of the new periscope zoom lens, Apple is reportedly swapping the position of the ultrawide and telephoto cameras on both the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max — even though the periscope is supposed to be a Pro Max exclusive.

Another Kuo rumor claims that the iPhone 15 Pro will sport an 8P main lens to reduce distortion in wider-angle shots. But considering that Apple just moved to a 7P lens for the iPhone 14 Pro, this tidbit is one we’re a little skeptical about.

In addition, the iPhone 15 Pro models could sport an upgraded LiDAR sensor to bring in more performance and better power efficiency. Not only could this be a boon for iPhone battery life, but it could make for better portrait photos with improved depth sensing, as well as boosted augmented reality apps, which can benefit from better room scanning sensors.

Like many Pro iPhones before it, the iPhone 15 Pro Max looks set to bring in a new A-series chip, likely in the form of the A17 Bionic.

Expect more CPU and GPU power, but also an upgrade in machine learning and neural processing to better power smart features, from computational photography to Siri. The new chip could be built on a 3-nanometer process from TSMC, theoretically by giving it more power but also greater efficiency.

A bump in memory is also being rumored, with the iPhone 15 Pro Max tipped to get 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM. Given the iPhone 14 Pro Max is far from slow, this extra performance isn't likely to be obvious but could be a welcome boost.

In terms of connectivity, Wi-Fi 6E could come to the iPhone 15, with this rumor being backed up by Ming-Chi Kuo.

Allegedly leaked benchmarks for the iPhone 15 Pro show off how much faster the A17 Bionic chip could be over its predecessor as well as the chipsets of the best Android phones.

In the single-core test, the iPhone 15 Pro reportedly hit 2,317 and delivered a multi-core score of 6,750 in Geekbench 5. This resoundingly beats the mighty Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, hinting at the next Pro Max iPhone being a powerhouse.

We have also explored all the things the iPhone 15 could fix, and one of them is higher base storage, which is something that would make a lot of sense for the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

There have been no rumors about the iPhone 15 Pro Max's battery life. But with a new 3nm chip, we’d expect it to be more energy efficient even if it sticks with a 4,323 mAh battery.

The iPhone 14 Pro Max lasted 13 hours and 39 minutes in our battery test, which involved surfing the web continuously until the battery ran out. That's good enough to make our best phone battery life list. So we could expect around that or better for the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

We’d still like to see a bigger battery pack, especially as the Galaxy S23 Ultra makes use of a 5,000 mAh cell.

The iPhone 14 Pro Max charges at 20 watts, which is fine, but isn't up to the likes of the Galaxy S23 Ultra and is miles behind the OnePlus 11 with its superfast 100W charging speeds (this is limited to 80W in the U.S.). We hope Apple finds a way for its next iPhones to juice up a little faster thanks to USB-C, as the rumor for 27W charging is suggesting.

According to one rumor, the iPhone 15 family could get boosted Qi2 wireless charging, which could see the phones charge at 15W speeds. That would be double the 7.5W the iPhone 14 models charge at. Such a boost could make wirelessly charging the iPhone 15 Pro Max a good bit faster and closer to some of the charging speeds offered by the best Android phones.

Like the other iPhone 15 models, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will likely debut with iOS 17 as its software. We should see our first glimpse at the new version of Apple's iPhone software at WWDC 2023, which gets underway on June 5. Expect a public beta of iOS 17 to appear shortly after that — here's when we think the iOS 17 public beta will arrive.

Yes, iOS 17 will run on older iPhones, too, but it's also going to be an important part of the iPhone 15 experience. Initial reports suggested that iOS 17 would be a fairly minor update, but lately we've heard talk of more significant changes.

Specifically, there's rumors of iMessage improvements as well as big changes to the look of the Wallet and Health apps. A journaling app could come to the iPhone in iOS 17, and Apple may even open up the iPhone to third-party app stores, giving you the ability to side-load apps onto the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Based on the rumors and leaks, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is shaping up to be an impressive smartphone. It might not be a massive step up from the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but a lot of the smaller changes tipped could all add up to make it one of the best phones to buy.

And it's almost certainly going to be the best iPhone you can buy in 2023. It’ll need to be good, given the Galaxy S23 Ultra has really impressed us and is arguably now the phone to beat.

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Roland Moore-Colyer a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he's also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.

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