iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: Are USB-C & Action button worth an upgrade?

Apple revealed the new iPhone 15 Pro at its annual fall event on September 12, replacing the iPhone 14 Pro as the company's best 6.1-inch smartphone. Though there are a few flashy upgrades that come with the newer model, like a USB-C port and a customizable Action button. However, you'll also find a lot of similarities between the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro, like identical displays and rear camera systems. Now that the iPhone 15 Pro is finally unveiled, you might be wondering whether one of Apple's best iPhones is worth the upgrade from the iPhone 14 Pro. To help you out, we've compared the two devices, and will have full reviews of the iPhone 15 series coming soon.

Price, specs & availability

The iPhone 15 Pro was just announced September 12, with pre-orders slated to begin September 15. It will retail for the same $1,000 starting price as last year's model, but it still comes with just 128GB of storage in the base model. You can upgrade to either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage at the time of purchase for an additional fee. The iPhone 15 Pro comes in a titanium body that can be configured in Natural, Blue, White, or Black colorways. The smartphone will be available September 22 at Apple and third-party retailers, including major cellular carriers, which are offering up to $1,000 off via an eligible trade-in.

Due to the release of the new iPhone 15 Pro, you can't buy the iPhone 14 Pro directly from Apple. It's difficult to find unlocked iPhone 14 Pro models in new condition, even on third-party retailers like Best Buy and Amazon. However, you can get carrier locked iPhone 14 Pro versions directly from your cellular carrier or through Best Buy. There are some offers available, but they aren't as valuable as the iPhone 15 Pro offers are, especially if you have a device to trade in. We expect stock of the iPhone 14 Pro to diminish soon, so if you're looking to buy a last-generation model, now is the time.

• 	Apple iPhone 15 Pro	Apple iPhone 14 Pro
  SoC	Apple A17 Pro	Apple A16 Bionic
  Display	6.1-inch OLED Super Retina XDR	6.1-inch OLED, 120Hz, HDR 10
  Storage	128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB	128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
  Battery	23 hours
  Ports	USB-C	Lightning
  Operating System	iOS 17	iOS 16
  Front camera	12MP TrueDepth camera	12MP, TrueDepth, AF
  Dimensions	5.77 x 2.78 x 0.32 inches (146.6 x 70.6 x 8.25 mm)	5.81x2.81x0.31 inches (147.5x71.5x7.85mm)
  Colors	Natural Titanium, Blue Titanium, White Titanium, Black Titanium	Space Black, Silver, Gold, Deep Purple
  Weight	6.6 ounces (187g)	7.27 ounces (206g)
  IP Rating	IP68	IP68

Design & build

Although you might not catch it from a quick glance of the smartphone, the iPhone 15 Pro brings a few design changes that might make a big impact during daily use. First, the phone is constructed out of titanium, which is as tough as steel but much lighter. That's how the iPhone 15 Pro is able to weight significantly less than the iPhone 14 Pro, scaling up at 187 and 206 grams respectively. There's also the Action button, which replaces the physical mute switch and is user-customizable on the iPhone 15 Pro. Finally, you'll notice that there's a USB-C port found on the iPhone 15 Pro instead of Apple's proprietary Lightning connector.

By comparison, the iPhone 14 Pro's steel construction will make it feel considerably heavier during daily use. The dimensions are different too, with the iPhone 14 Pro being slightly taller and wider than the iPhone 15 Pro. That difference will be negligible during typical usage, but it does mean that cases will be incompatible between the two generations, so you'll need a new iPhone 15 Pro case. Notably, the iPhone 14 Pro is slightly thinner than the iPhone 15 Pro by a difference of 0.4 millimeters. The iPhone 14 Pro also has a physical mute switch, which might be a benefit or a drawback depending on your personal preference. Overall, the design and build of the iPhone 15 Pro is similar to the last-gen iPhone 14 Pro, but the former has a few neat quality-of-life changes.

Display

This part of the showdown is quite easy, because the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro share identical display panels. Both feature a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display, which uses an OLED panel. The display can refresh as high as 120Hz thanks to ProMotion technology, but it can also slow to offer always-on display functionality. It's the brightest display panel to appear in a mainstream smartphone, boasting a 2,000-nit peak brightness rating in outdoor settings. Though this brightness has made its way to base-model iPhone 15 devices, it's still nice to have. However, it's worth mentioning that my iPhone 14 Pro's display has a tendency to dim significantly when the phone starts to overheat.

As far as display quality goes, the two smartphones feature 2556x1179 with a pixel density of 460 pixels per inch. Both phones also include the Dynamic Island, which is Apple's clever way of disguising the front-facing camera and Face ID sensors. It's a pretty intuitive way to make the otherwise-obstructive camera cutout interactive, but it isn't the game-changing feature some of us thought it was last year. Some types of notifications come through the Dynamic Island as it expands and contracts, but not all of them. Typically, these tend to be system notifications, like low battery warnings or status indicators.

There are also third-party uses for the Dynamic Island, like viewing scores of sporting events or tracking an Uber ride. Especially since the feature has made its way to the base-model iPhone 15, the Dynamic Island isn't a reason to grab either of these smartphones. However, it is something that is nice to have on the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro, and it helps make iPhone displays unique.

Performance and software

Apple has started limiting chip upgrades to its "professional" smartphones, so there will be a performance gap between the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro. The latter shipped with an A16 Bionic system-on-a-chip featuring 6B of unified memory, and there were no performance qualms with the iPhone 14 Pro as a result. By comparison, the iPhone 15 Pro features an A17 Pro system-on-a-chip, which is the next-generation version of the A16 Bionic. Although Apple changed its silicon nomenclature to become consistent with that of M-series chips on the Mac, the A17 Pro name doesn't mean this SoC is a different type than the A16 Bionic. We'll have to test this chip out for ourselves, but for now, Apple is touting graphical performance as a key advantage of the iPhone 15 Pro.

The iPhone 15 Pro will ship with iOS 17, the upcoming software release for iPhones. The update will be available for all compatible devices soon, including the iPhone 14 Pro, with a worldwide release slated for September 18. This means that although the iPhone 15 Pro will likely get an extra year of software support, feature set should be consistent as of now. Both smartphones will get all the benefits of running iOS, including great optimization and key features within the Apple ecosystem.

One area where Apple didn't focus on upgrading the iPhone 15 Pro was in terms of battery life. It has the same 3,200 mAh battery as the iPhone 14 Pro, which has earned a myriad of complaints on social media from device owners. My day-one iPhone 14 Pro has just 88% of its capacity remaining, and I frequently need to charge it more than once to get through a full day of use. That isn't entirely promising news for the iPhone 15 Pro, but Apple says the A17 Pro chip should bring increased efficiency. Regardless, Apple says that both models will get 23 hours of video playback, so don't expect many improvements on this side of things. Notably, the switch to USB-C doesn't bring any charging advancements, as both models are limited to 20W fast charging.

Cameras

Apple made some key upgrades to its camera system, but those were only found on the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max variant. On the standard iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro models, the rear camera systems are identical across the two generations. It's a triple-camera system that features a main, ultra-wide, and telephoto lens. The main camera is a 48MP sensor with an f/1.78 aperture, while the telephoto and ultra-wide lenses are both 12MP sensors. The ultra-wide lens has an f/2.2 aperture, while the telephoto lens has an f/2.8 aperture. This makes four optical zoom options possible: 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 3x.

However, the iPhone 15 Pro should offer slightly better camera performance due to improved computational photography features. Specifically, the iPhone 15 Pro has Smart HDR 5 support, while the iPhone 14 Pro was limited to Smart HDR 4. Apple also says that portraits taken with Focus and Depth Control should turn out better on the newer models. This is due to the inclusion of the A17 Pro chip on the iPhone 15 Pro, but we'll have to wait and see just how influential this chip is to camera performance. It's important to note that since the iPhone 15 Pro has a USB-C port capable of USB 3.0 data transfer speeds, it'll be much better for moving Apple ProRAW content to a computer or storage device.

The same goes for the front-facing camera, which takes 12MP photos with an f/1.9 aperture on both the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro. Specs and features are once again identical between models, except for the newer computational photography features. Like the rear camera system, you also get Smart HDR 5 and improved portrait mode features with the front-facing camera.

Which is right for you?

If you currently own an iPhone 14 Pro, there might not be enough here to make you want to upgrade after just a year of use. However, if you're looking to upgrade to either the iPhone 14 Pro or the iPhone 15 Pro, the latter is clearly the better choice. With features like USB-C and the Action button, you get a lot more flexibility by choosing the newer model, and it's one of the best phones you can buy. Plus, the new titanium finish looks great and will make the phone feel lighter during daily use. Surprisingly, you can even get the iPhone 15 Pro for cheaper than the older iPhone 14 Pro with select trade-in deals.

However, due to the similarities between the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro, you won't miss out on too much by choosing the older model. If you can find it at a discount, you might be able to get the iPhone 14 Pro without a carrier contract as well, which is a good benefit. Still, the iPhone 14 Pro has the newest display and camera system, which are two of the most important parts of the smartphone experience. The A16 Bionic still holds up in 2023, and it'll get the upgrade to iOS 17 next week.