Review: Six Months With the iPhone 15 Pro

[bigjnyc]

I'm already down to 99% after only 65 cycles and 80% max charge setting.

Do you use a wireless charger every day? limiting it to 80% doesn't help if you're exposing the battery to that extra heat every day tbh.

 

[Darren.h]

I love my DEX computer desktop off my Samsung S24. So called Innovator Apple has yet to introduce doing desktop computing from the power of your ARM CPU mobile device as well as having a Touch screen experience

I can also run Android APPS in DEX or on a regular Windows PC or my Mac thru an Emulator.

There is no way to run IOS APPS on your Mac or an Emulator.

Android is also built like a regular computer OS. It has a file system to which you can download and save files too.

IOS does not

iPhones are great if you just want to be ALL APPLE as iPhones do not play nice with Windows PC's unless you invest in 3rd party APPS. Would be nice if Windows 11 came with built in connectivity and software for the iPhone.

 

[The_Martini_Cat]

upgrading from an iPhone 11 Pro, I find that it is much more difficult to focus the camera when I am taking pictures of bees and flowers. I got a lot of great photos with the 11 Pro, but the bee movies with the 15 Pro Max are well… theyre just B movies.🍸🙀 I expected better focus lock not worse.

I set the special button to translate from English to Spanish. It has been very cool to have that, because I don’t speak Spanish, but so many people do.🍸😺

The phone is too heavy for me. I don’t use the case, and I thought it would be OK, but six months and I’ve got slight wrist problems. However, I’m very reconfigureable. Next time around, I’m gonna reconfigure myself to use a smaller phone.🍸😹

 

[tomchr9]

I was a small phone holdout for a long time, but the battery life on the 13 Mini was just killing me. I'd get off my morning train ride having used it for 45 minutes and find my battery down around 80% already.

Very happy with my 15 Pro. Battery life is very solid, and it's reporting 100% battery health at 198 cycles.

That sounds great. However, I'm on a brand new iPhone 15 Pro with iOS 17.3.1 and when I use Safari on the phone for 45 minutes, I find the 15 Pro battery is down around 80% already. What's going on?

 

[zubikov]

This thing still gets hot when charging on non-magsafe chargers. I have a 5W charger in my car, 7.5W charger on my desk, and the phone gets concerningly hot after 10-15 mins of charging.

Great phone otherwise. But man they have to figure out these thermal issues.

 

[Jimmy Bubbles]

Battery life is normal, capacity is 100% with 198 cycles.

 

[AlexESP]

My 15 Pro is at 118 charge cycles, 100% capacity. I have it set to the 80% limit to preserve health, but this means I usually have to do a mid-day charge for a little bit. Overall I really wish Apple would get serious about iPhone battery life rather than focusing on making the phone as razor thin as humanly possible, only to put a comically ridiculous-looking camera bump on the back.

Just make this phone/camera flush and use all additional space for battery. The solution is plainly obvious and now that Ive is gone I'm not sure who is still advocating for skinny phone over all usability.

I guess the whole market is advocating for thin phones with a camera module, and almost no one is doing so for a flush phone.

Making the iPhone flush would mean increasing its thickness by more than 50%. Latest years’ iPhones are in peak thickness since the iPhone 4. People like thin phones because they don’t want bricks in their pockets, they want devices which are easier to hold and use (4mm are more than what it seems, specially with current screen sizes) and they want light devices (which goes against just including bigger batteries).

They think they’ve reached a good balance, and it seems like customers agree. They want thin devices with great cameras and great battery life, and this is the obvious solution.

 

[Microtard64]

It's been a bit over six months since the iPhone 15 lineup came out in September, and MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera has been using an iPhone 15 Pro Max sans case since launch. Over on our YouTube channel, Dan did a long term review to demo how his phone has held up and his thoughts on the Action button, battery life, and camera features.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.​

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are Apple's first iPhones with a titanium shell instead of a stainless steel or aluminum shell, and titanium is supposed to be more durable. After suffering from several drops without a case, Dan's iPhone is scuffed and chipped, but there are no scratches. As for the screen, it has a minor scratch or two.

Battery health is at 98 percent and 174 cycles, and there have been some fluctuations in battery life with software updates. It's a little hard to get a solid read on battery because of day-to-day differences in usage.

Some people have had trouble finding a use for the Action button, but assigning it to the camera is one way to ensure that it gets used. With the camera setting, a quick press on the button launches the camera so there's no need to press on the Home Screen or open up the Camera app. Apple is rumored to be adding a dedicated Capture button for the camera with the iPhone 16 models, so the Action button might get less useful at that point for those who use it for the camera.

For iPhone 15 Pro owners, how's your battery life, and do you use the Action button? Let us know in the comments below.

Article Link: Review: Six Months With the iPhone 15 Pro

iPhone 15 Pro
Maximum Capacity 100%
Cycle Count 136

Your mileage may vary.

 

[surfzen21]

Do you use a wireless charger every day? limiting it to 80% doesn't help if you're exposing the battery to that extra heat every day tbh.

Nope.

I have never used, or even have, a wireless charger. Its only charged with the apple Usb-C cable that came with it, which is attached to a dual Usb-C charger that also charges my AWU. It outputs 20 watts max per connection.

 

[iamgalt]

100% capacity with 293 charge cycles and 80% limit enabled. I just wish there was an easy way to disable that mode for a day or week, rather than digging through settings.

Battery is 98% after 269 cycles. I’m looking forward to a battery that can last all day on one charge.

I wish the action button was just a press and not a hold.

Almost 300 cycles after +/-180 days? You do realize you can put your phone down once in a while, right? Like my quote profile quote says, "if your phone's battery is constantly about to die, maybe the problem isn't with the battery." I can't imagine using my phone so much, that I have to charge it every day, and sometimes multiple times per day.

 

[Egregius]

100% capacity with 293 charge cycles and 80% limit enabled. I just wish there was an easy way to disable that mode for a day or week, rather than digging through settings.

You could create a shortcut and assign it to the action button 🤣

 

[Yammabot]

My 8+ lasted all day had 100’s of cycles and I sold it recently with 86% battery life. I charged that phone every night to 100% too, hell sometimes I’d put the paddles to it for an extra jolt! 😃 I’d hope for twice the price we’d get more out of the new phones.

 

[Egregius]

Oh, and 100% with 60 cycles. Not bad for a day 1 15PM 😎

At night on a wireless charger, during the day connected to my iMac with 80% limit. Only running on battery when out of house. Hardly ever been below 60%.

 

[Suicidy]

100% with 135 cycles, 80% limit enabled. iPhone 15 Pro Max, using the action button as garage door opener by Shortcuts functionality.

I’m hoping that a future iPhone will do everything that The Doctor’s sonic screwdriver does.

 

[Elusi]

My 15 Pro is at 118 charge cycles, 100% capacity. I have it set to the 80% limit to preserve health, but this means I usually have to do a mid-day charge for a little bit. Overall I really wish Apple would get serious about iPhone battery life rather than focusing on making the phone as razor thin as humanly possible, only to put a comically ridiculous-looking camera bump on the back.

Just make this phone/camera flush and use all additional space for battery. The solution is plainly obvious and now that Ive is gone I'm not sure who is still advocating for skinny phone over all usability.

A pretty badly degraded battery has 80% of its original capacity left. Like heavy duty use or lottery unlucky.

You've enabled a setting that simulates the experience of having an old worn battery from day one.

I get it, in theory, if you sometimes disable it for like must-have long-days. Question is.. do you?

 

[Bkxmnr]

iPhone 15 Pro Max. 100% with 83 charge cycles. I have it set to charge to 80%.

 

[tomchr9]

I have been using my iPhone SE 1gen for a loooong time. Jailbreaked, of course, so I would get all the fuctionality from iPhone X and up. I would say, that the iPhone SE 1gen form factor is perfect. Small and NO camera bump.

Now I have an iPhone 15 Pro and I find the whole experience quite mediocre.

• iOS is mediocre, from stale apps to factory wallpapers and restrictions on customizing the lock screen. Options are far too limited such as the selection of only 6 boring fonts.
• Battery seems to drop a little too fast, just browsing with Safari. 15% in 45 minutes just browsing with Safari.
• iOS settings are unnecessarily cluttered and just customizing ringtones is a hassle.
• The PiP positioning is a real pain, when watching a movie while reading a webpage.
• I have big hands, but the 15 Pro is still too big for single hand use only.
• The capture button is useless as it is, the toggle button was superior.
• I really like the Dynamic Island, but it is far too underutilized.
• I like when the Dynamic Island disappears with the background. Unfortunately, most of the time the background around the Dynamic Island is grey.

I wish I had bought the iPhone 13 mini. I really miss the smaller form factor.

What is there to look forward to in the iPhone 16 Pro other than the addition of the 48-megapixel Ultra Wide lens?

For the love of God, Apple, please use your vast R&D budget to remove the F#¤king camera bump. Or provide an Iphone option with smaller camera optics.

 

[Zapski]

15 Pro Max, Battery 100%, 60~odd charging cycles, nearly all done via mag safe. I never run out of power on this thing… ever. Like it rarely goes below 70%. On Monday it got the lowest it’s ever been because I was using it outside all day with it in bright sunlight awaiting the eclipse, so the screen brightness was all the way up, and even then it only got down to 40%

Still haven’t found a real use for the action button.

 

[SyrOrange]

I was a small phone holdout for a long time, but the battery life on the 13 Mini was just killing me. I'd get off my morning train ride having used it for 45 minutes and find my battery down around 80% already.

Very happy with my 15 Pro. Battery life is very solid, and it's reporting 100% battery health at 198 cycles.

As far as everything else goes, love the camera, love the general responsiveness, love the smoothness and brightness of the display. Coming from that 13 Mini, it still feels a bit large at times, but it's not quite as heavy as I'd feared.

The Action button, I just have mapped to the default mute/ringer function. I need quick access to that, as much as I'd love a shortcut button for other uses. I kind of wish the Action button had been an additional button so I could use it for something fun or useful.

Yeah my 13 mini was at 89 percent but I had to switch because the battery was too small plus it was either switch to USB-C now or later. I opted to do the switch now so I don't have to worry about it.


I'm deaf myself so I just assign camera to the action button. Besides I can just access flashlight via the lockscreen and if I want to mess with the ringer I can do that via the settings panel.

 

[211]

Mine has been going well. 100% with 184 cycles. I charge Qi and cable (not at the same time).

I wish there was a way to disable all the other camera shortcuts as I use to Action Button for that.

No complaints, but for some reason I still prefer the iPhone 13 Pro.

 

[dlim1027]

Still on my launch day 11 pro. Got the battery replaced last year, and it lasts a day and a half with moderate usage. I like that the 11 pro doesn't overprocess images, and its 5.8" size with rounded edges is perfect. Only downside so far has been the cellular modem. Sites/apps require more data, so things just take longer to load. I will upgrade to the 16, assuming it isn't gargantuan.

 

[jnc]

The buggiest iPhone I can remember using. I've never had so many camera app freezing, unresponsive screen, dropped calls, "I can't hear you", ghost typing, incidents as I have on this. But hey, USB-C, though!

Action button is useless. takes too long to be of any use. Forgot about it. Also the camera just isn't as impressive as I expect. Washed out shots I have to instantly adjust before I'm happy sharing. Always have to adjust the green tint level. So jealous of the Samsung cameras... but I'm all Apple'd up so iPhone it is.

I'll not be keeping this 2 years like I did the 11 Pro and 13 Pro.

Launch day purchase, 277 cycles 94%

 

[Guischmitt]

Launch day 15 Pro - 97% health, 224 cycles. Coming from an iPhone 13 Pro I’ve been disappointed with the battery. Everything else about the device is great, I love the weight. Sometimes the “processing” of the 24 MP photos takes quite a while (like 10 seconds) it’s a bit weird.

 

[jnc]

Very curious what you do with your iPhone every day that causes you to have to charge it that much? I assume since you have high battery life requirements that you got the Max. I have the Max and I'm on 98% capacity after 148 cycles. At the end of most days, I'm almost always above 30% remaining unless I've been hitting it hard while traveling, and many times it's still in the 40-50% range. Especially on work days when I'm mostly on my Mac. I got up at 8am today and my battery is currently at 86% as of 1:42pm.

Social media's gotten pretty video heavy lately. Plus camera usage, streaming Spotify etc over data... I carry a MagSafe power bank daily.

 

[dk001]

Thanks for the update.
Personal opinion: the iPhone has become … dated. Both in appearance and in OS design. Between the rumors and lawsuits, maybe we will get something new. Not holding my breath but I am hoping.

Looking forward to your next take.