Why the Pro Max could be the iPhone 15 for you

And, still, we hadn’t turned the phone on, much less run the set-up app. This phone was off to a flying start!

And, just as promptly as all of that, we turned the phone on, ran the set-up, and the wonders did cease.

Mostly.

If you’re in the small minority of people who create huge files on your phone, then the new iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models still do have one last wonder up their sleeve for you: fast file transfers, thanks to their support of USB 3 transfers on that USB-C connector.

(Unfortunately the quickest USB-C cable doesn’t come in the box, and Apple’s WiFi-based AirDrop technology was actually marginally quicker than a transfer on the included cable in our tests.)

Why Apple doesn’t include a USB cable that actually supports fast transfer speeds is anyone’s guess (our guess is, they’re aware few people will need the feature, and those that do will already have fast USB cables), but, still, it’s nice to have the faster transfer speeds, and it will be life changing to people who actually need those speeds.

The USB-C port on the iPhone gives you another nice feature, too. You can use it to charge other devices, like the new USB-C Apple AirPods, directly from the iPhone’s own battery, just by plugging one end of the USB-C cable into the phone, and the other end into the AirPods.

Indeed, you can even use the iPhone 15 to charge other iPhone 15, or even Android phones, though the results are a bit rickety for those on Google’s software.

As I write this, I have the iPhone 15 Pro Max charging a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, for instance, even though the Samsung has more charge. It’s not a fast charge, and I wouldn’t bother with it very often, but as someone who carries around two phones, it could get me out of a jam one day.

But once you go beyond the switch to USB-C and the more comfortable size and shape, there’s not a lot about the iPhone 15 Pro Max that’s dramatically different to last year’s model. There are a few good improvements – the telephoto lens on the Pro Max is a little more powerful, for instance – but nothing that’s had us feeling we were using a totally new phone these past five days.

There is a new Action Button on the side, which replaces the traditional mute button, and we have mixed feelings about that.

On the one hand, the old mute button was our favourite button on previous iPhones, both from a haptic perspective – the tiny “clunk” on the old iPhones, when you switch the phone to mute, was so deeply satisfying – and because we’ve become so tired of our mobile phones constantly ringing and buzzing, muting the stupid things is our only way to stay calm.

On the other hand, the new Action Button is surprisingly versatile.

We set the Action Button to open the Edge browser at the AFR’s website, which was great. We set it to open the “lighting” page in our favourite home automation app, Home Assistant, to let us easily control the lights here in the Digital Life Labs. Brilliant!

And then someone had the temerity to dial the phone number attached to our iPhone 15 Pro Max, and that decided it. The Action Button went back to its default setting, as the mute button it replaced. We went on an entire journey to get nowhere.

Still, it’s nice to have the choice. The only nicer thing would be to have more choices. We’d like to see a double-press option, maybe even a triple-press option on the Action Button, too. Here’s how we’d set it: single press to mute; double press for airplane mode; and triple press to turn the blasted phone off completely, so we can finally get some peace.

Which brings me to the battery life on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. We haven’t had it long enough to know for sure, but it looks like we’ll be getting around 1.5 days of non-gaming usage on a charge.

That’s pretty good, though it doesn’t hurt that the phone is on mute most of the day, and rarely used to answer calls or reply to messages.

Which does make me wonder what battery life would we get if we left our phones switched off all day, only turning it on at night to, I don’t know, control the lights?

It would be weeks! I think I’m onto something.

Likes: Much easier to fit into your life thanks to new cable. Useful Action Button. Improved telephoto.
Dislikes: Still no reverse wireless charging. Don’t like the leather-replacement cases (but understand why Apple abandoned leather).
Price: $2199 for 256 GB storage, $2549 for 512 GB and $2899 for 1 TB