Is the iPhone 15 Pro Max worth the $200 price increase?
The word on the street is it is believed that there is a rumour that the iPhone 15 Pro Max will receive as much as 200 dollars more when it launches later in the year. It will raise the cost to $1,299, but it could also mean that the upcoming Pro Max could be one of the priciest phones available, and possibly it could be the most costly iPhone.
Price hikes aren’t always good news, and no one likes being required to spend more money on things. However, the pain could be lessened if significant improvements accompany the price increase. It’s not likely that you’ll be thrilled about paying an additional 200 dollars; however, at the very least, there’s a consensus that you’re charged more with a reason.
It is contingent on the improvements being of sufficient quality to be worth the price. What sort of upgrades are the iPhone 15 Pro Max expected to get? And will the $200 worth of upgrades be worthwhile?
Titanium frame
One of the most significant iPhone 15 Pro Max rumours states that Apple plans to replace its iPhone 14 Pro Max’s stainless steel frame with titanium. Particularly grade 5 titanium, an alloy extensively used for aerospace applications.
Titanium is a very strong material. Its main benefit is its strong strength-to-weight ratio. This means that even though the material isn’t necessarily stronger than premium quality stainless steel, it provides similar strength levels for the same weight. This means you get lighter phones; however, it doesn’t suffer from a major reduction in durability, similar to what you’d get when using an aluminium phone. Titanium is also extremely durable against corrosion. That’s an important aspect of its appeal.
Titanium is rarer than the metal used to make stainless steel, meaning it’s more expensive. A portion of the $200 that you be required to shell out on the iPhone 15 Pro Max would be for the metal.
USB-C charging
The other major change reported to be that will be coming for every iPhone 15 model (not only those with the Pro Max model — is changing the Lightning cable to USB-C. Theoretically, it should be possible to charge the battery of your iPhone 15 with a cable that can be used with an iPad, MacBook, iPad, Android or any other device that’s not as expensive but still utilizes micro-USB.
Other benefits include that USB-C can provide more rapid charging and data transfer speeds than Lightning. This means we may get a boost in both specifications in the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Rumours suggest that the phone may be in the position of charging rates as high as 27W. It’s an enormous leap from the 20W charger currently available, even though it’s far less than the rates offered in other devices, like Samsung’s Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 45W charging.
The disadvantage is that Apple could adopt the “Made for the iPhone” software for USB-C, which would restrict accessories and chargers that Apple doesn’t approve. This means that cheaper chargers might not be able to reach the same speed as premium brands.
Periscope zoom camera
The camera is one of the iPhone Pro lineup’s major features, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max is rumoured to take things to new levels — even going beyond the iPhone 15 Pro’s capabilities. The main upgrade in this category is a rumoured new periscope lens, which will be able to boost the optical zoom to 6x magnification — double that of the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
Optical zoom requires additional lenses; the higher the zoom, the more you need. The problem is that stacking them horizontally means you run out of space quickly, especially if you’re as hyper-fixated on thickness as Apple. But by stacking them vertically and using a mirror mechanism similar to a real-life periscope, you suddenly have much more space to work with. However, the size of this new module is too big for the iPhone 15 Pro, which is why it’s exclusive to the Pro Max.
To top it off, Apple is expected to include a new hybrid telephoto lens, capable of variable levels of optical zoom in a single unit — rather than needing two separate lenses, like the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Unfortunately, production on the periscope lens is reportedly not what Apple was expecting, and that may lead to the iPhone 15 Pro Max being delayed — or another year of shortages in the months following release.
