Quick thoughts on the iPhone 15 Pro Max

So, someone I know was upgrading his phone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and kindly offered to let me test it out first. I was mostly just curious about the gaming performance since Genshin and Honkai Star Rail were both mentioned in Apple’s launch event when they were talking about the gaming performance of the new A17 Pro chipset. Some initial hands-on looks pretty promising as well with trusted reviewers stating that their MetalFX upscaling in Genshin really does look quite nice.

But the thing is that I don’t think the current version of the Genshin has been updated to support that feature, since the graphics look like they did on the iPhone 14 Plus. And not sure if Honkai Star Rail will eventually get that feature or not. So while I can’t say for sure whether things will be better or worse once that happens, I can still somewhat compare my experience playing the current version of these games on this new iPhone, and see if there are improvements to its performance and thermals.

After spending some time testing both Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, I’m glad to see that there are some improvements, but from my anecdotal experience, the difference isn’t huge.

(Highest graphics is at around 740p resolution if my rough calculations are right)

For Genshin at the highest graphics and 60FPS, it does seem to run a bit smoother and is able to sustain 60FPS noticeably longer. But the phone will still dim the display and throttle the performance after a while in order to keep the phone temperature at a comfortable level. This does suggest to me that the A17 Pro might be a bit more efficient at this load, or maybe there are improvements to its thermals. But it’s still not quite as good as other Android phones I’ve tried like the OnePlus 11 for example. Since Apple likely wouldn’t move away from using their stacked motherboard design which is less efficient at dissipating heat, I really hope that they would improve on their thermals in the future.

(Taken using the in-game camera. File says 1620 × 747.)

For Honkai Star Rail, it’s known for being more demanding at the highest graphics 60FPS than Genshin, and performance on the iPhone 15 Pro Max is sadly more or less the same as on the iPhone 14 Plus. It is barely able to do 60FPS for a short while before you start seeing a lot of stuttering and the frame rate dropping. But it did feel like the stutters that I used to see while running around Luofu at certain areas (due to loading assets probably) seems to be mostly gone now. So I wouldn’t say that there aren't any improvements at all.

 In the end, in order to get a good gaming experience (meaning being able to play the game for long durations comfortably), I’ll still recommend lowering the graphics a little. For Genshin, “High” graphics at 60FPS seems like the sweet spot. It still looks pretty decent graphics wise, the phone only gets slightly warm, and it can maintain 60FPS the whole time. For Honkai Star Rail, simply dropping to 30FPS is actually all it takes to ensure a smooth performance even at very high graphics. Since it’s using turn based combat, it actually doesn’t affect the gaming experience too much in my opinion unlike Genshin.

The thing is, if you’re okay with playing at lower graphics like me, the iPhone 14 Plus is able to perform almost as well. So why even bother with the iPhone 15 Pro Max? This is how I feel at this point in time at least. BUT, since we know that MetalFX upscaling and whatnot are coming to Genshin in the near future for devices with A17 Pro, I’m taking a wait and see approach for now.

That said, even as it is, I think that it’s still one of the best options in the market if you’re looking for a phone that can play Genshin and Honkai Star Rail well. Even with the same slightly lowered graphics, both games seem to look a bit nicer on iOS compared to Android. Not to mention as well that they only support controller input for iOS and not Android. 

With the change to USB-C and the new charging limit feature, it’s easier than ever before to connect the phone to a larger display without the need to worry about overcharging the battery and reducing its lifespan. On top of all that, it has the potential to get even better with MetalFX upscaling in the future.

Anyway, if you want to know more about how the phone performs, I highly highly recommend checking out Geekerwan’s in depth analysis on the A17 Pro chipset so you understand its behaviour, as well as potential. This is the best way to avoid getting bamboozled by misinformation.

Now let’s talk a little bit about the other new things on the iPhone 15 Pro Max that I find interesting. As someone who cares a lot about the weight of their phone, the change to a titanium frame which reduced the weight of the phone by nearly 20 grams is a huge improvement to me. It’s still too heavy for my liking, so I’ll still probably still prefer the iPhone 15 Plus, but it’s more manageable for sure considering that it’s lighter than the S23 Ultra now, and it has more rounded corners which makes the phone feels nicer to hold.

Oh, it has an action button that replaces the old alert slider, and it’s great. I never really used the alert slider much on older iPhones because the way it works makes no sense to me. I always have my phone in vibrate-only mode, but if I use the slider to turn on silent mode, it turns off the speaker output from games as well. It would make sense if it’s just silencing everything, but then music output still works. Anyway, I digress. The ability to customise it to do almost anything I want is a fantastic feature. But on principle, I hate Apple for restricting such a useful feature on the Pro models only.

I can understand reserving USB 3.0 ports for the Pro models only, since most regular users, including myself, probably don’t care as much about the faster transfer speed. It still supports DisplayPort video output, and it’s still USB-C. That’s good enough for me. But the action button is a feature that would be useful to basically every user, and I think shouldn’t be restricted to the Pro models only.

Anyway, last but not least, the Pro Max model has a new 5X telephoto lens instead of the usual 3X lens on the smaller Pro model, and it’s fine. Like most telephoto cameras, it’s pretty great with good lighting, but just okay in low light. And 5X still isn’t as far as what Samsung is offering with their 10X lens. 

(5X telephoto)

Also do note that while you get a better 5X range, something in between like 3X will still be using the main camera sensor, so the quality might not be as good as a hardware 3X telephoto camera even with Apple’s processing magic. Personally, after spending some time with the Xiaomi 13, if given the choice between 3X or 5X, I’ll pick the 3X.

The main camera is pretty good as usual, and seems to have a bit less sharpening which is nice, but Apple’s default processing still isn’t quite my cup of tea. But I can edit the output style, so it’s fine. Same goes for the ultrawide camera. 

(left: macro from ultra wide angle camera, right: digital zoom from main camera)

Also, I still stand by my opinion that even macro capabilities on ultra wide angle cameras aren’t that great. I don’t like the distortion, and needing to be so close to the subject makes it easy to cast unwanted shadows. I very much prefer using telephoto for macro instead. In fact, with how good image processing has gotten, just using digital zoom takes nicer looking macro shots than using the ultra wide angle camera most of the time already (since it uses a slightly inferior sensor).

I don’t think I need to talk about this too much since almost every review says it too, but video capture is of course still the best you can get on a phone. And for the Pro models this year, the ability to shoot 4K60FPS ProRes videos (including in log) directly into an SSD is probably going to be an amazing time saving feature for anyone who creates video content using their phone. This is largely thanks to the change to USB-C and support for USB 3.0 speeds of course. This is a pretty niche feature that most people including myself probably would never use, but I think it’s still worth mentioning because it’s a pretty unique and useful feature.

Well, that’s about it for me. I don’t have much to say about iOS 17 as well aside from how I still dislike the lack of a universal back gesture, how hard the UI is to use one-handed on a large and heavy device, and how it seems like most recent versions of iOS always seems a bit buggy. I’m sure Apple will fix a lot of the bugs very quickly, and I’m pretty sure they won’t bother with a UI revamp anytime soon. So not going to waste any time talking about it.

(had to reboot the phone to bring the status icons back)

In the end, if you're like me, and wondering about how the iPhone 15 Pro Max performs in games like Genshin and Honkai Star Rail (especially since they were mentioned in Apple's launch event), well... keep wondering. Since they haven't been updated to include the new stuff that Apple talked about, notably MetalFX upscaling, there's no way of knowing whether it will live up to the hype or not. As it stands, the performance of the chipset is still being hamstrung by the weaker heat dissipation just like previous iPhones. So I would just wait and see how it goes.

If it can really let you play the game at lower graphics settings, then make use of the upscaling to make the game looks as if you're on a higher graphics settings without using more power, without introducing too much latency, without making the phone run hotter, and can maintain 60FPS consistently, then it's going to be amazing for anyone who wants a better gaming experience on the go, but don't want to lug around another devices like an ROG Ally for example. 

But if it doesn't live up to the hype and end up being not very useful, you might still have to lower the graphics to play the games smoothly, which like I mentioned, would be similar to the experience on an older iPhone 14 Plus anyway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Anyway, about the rest of the phone, while it might not sound like there is a ton of new stuff I'm interested in, I do think that it's a pretty significant upgrade compared to what we've gotten in previous years. New materials, slightly new body, new USB-C port, new 5X telephoto, ability to shoot ProRes 4K60FPS video in log format directly into external storage, an A series chipset with the "Pro" moniker made with a new 3nm process, more RAM, smaller bezels on the screen, etc. So if there's anything on this list of new features that appeals to you, and money is of no concern, then it is a pretty good time to upgrade your phone. 

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One last thing. I just want to chime in a bit about all the “right to repair” stuff and how Apple is totally evil for asserting their control over third party repairs. I get their point of view, but I also think that there are merits to the way they have been asserting their control over hardware repairs. 

(this new feature that lets user see the charge cycle is great too)

From the point of view of someone who buys pre-owned devices from time to time to save money, having a way to quickly find out if a phone has been repaired or not is super convenient. The way that Apple does things makes it harder for sellers to hide things when they sell their devices. It also to some extent prevents unscrupulous repair shops from using poor quality parts, or even degraded/damaged batteries when doing a battery replacement (this could even be dangerous).

If the world was a utopia where human greed didn’t exist, and you can trust everyone to always do the right thing and not fuck someone else over for a little bit of profit, I’m all for “right to repair”. I’m a cheapo, so I’m all for cheaper repairs. But unfortunately that’s just not how things are in reality.