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iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro: Enough changes to upgrade?

iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are Apple’s latest high-end smartphones that come with a range of new capabilities. But are they worth the upgrade if you already have an iPhone 13 Pro? Read along for an in-depth look at the iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro for everything new and different.

Update June 2024: During the announcement of Apple Intelligence, we learned the new AI features will only be available with iPhone 15 Pro/Max and later. That marks a major new distinction between Apple’s smartphones.

We’ll focus solely on iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro below. But for a look at how the 13 compares to the 15, and 15 vs 15 Pro, check out our dedicated guides:

iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro

Screen sizes and design

The screen sizes between the 13 Pro and 15 Pro remain the same with 6.1-inches for the Pro and 6.7-inches for the Pro Max.

But differentiators for the 15 Pro/Max displays include Always-On, 120Hz ProMotion, the Dynamic Island, and an outdoor brightness up to 2000 nits.

Here’s the full look at the display specs for iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 15 Pro:

iPhone 13 ProiPhone 15 ProiPhone 13 Pro MaxiPhone 15 Pro Max
Size6.1-inches6.1-inches6.7-inches6.7-inches
Resolution2532 x 1170 pixels2556 x 1179 pixels2778 x 1284 pixels2796 x 1290 pixels
PPI460 ppi460 ppi460 ppi460 ppi
Super Retina XDR OLED
Dynamic Island
ProMotionadaptive refresh up to 120Hz
Always-On display
Typical brightness1000 nits max1000 nits max1000 nits max1000 nits max
HDR brightness1200 nits max1600 nits max1200 nits max1600 nits max
Outdoor brightness2000 nits max2000 nits max
True Tone
Haptic Touch
Wide color (P3)

The bezels on the iPhone 15 Pro are also slimmer than the 13 Pro, which is what allows the very slight increase in pixels.

Size, weight, design

iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro design

Overall, the physical design of iPhone 15 Pro remains very similar to the 13 Pro, but Apple has given the 15 Pro more rounded edges for a more comfortable feel.

And for the first time, Apple has used titanium for iPhone with the 15 Pro and Pro Max. That means new brushed finishes, high strength and durability, and lighter devices too.

The other major update for the 15 Pro and Pro Max is the change of the side switch to the new Action Button that offers customization.

For size, weight, and materials, here’s iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro:

iPhone 13 ProiPhone 15 ProiPhone 13 Pro MaxiPhone 15 Pro Max
Height5.78 inches (146.7 mm)5.77 inches (146.6 mm)6.33-inches (160.8 mm)6.29 inches (159.9 mm)
Width2.82 inches (71.5 mm)2.78 inches (70.6 mm)3.07 inches (78.1 mm)3.02 inches (76.7 mm)
Thickness0.30 inches (7.65 mm)0.32 inches
(8.25 mm)
0.30 inches (7.65 mm)0.32 inches
(8.25 mm)
Weight7.19 ounces (204 grams)6.60 ounces
(187 grams)
8.46 ounces (240 grams)7.81 ounces
(221 grams)
DurabilityIP68 (splash, dust, 6 meters of water up to 30 minutesIP68 (splash, dust, 6 meters of water up to 30 minutesIP68 (splash, dust, 6 meters of water up to 30 minutesIP68 (splash, dust, 6 meters of water up to 30 minutes
Ceramic Shield front
Back materialTextured matte glassTextured matte glassTextured matte glassTextured matte glass
EdgesSurgical-grade stainless steelAerospace-grade TitaniumSurgical-grade stainless steelAerospace-grade Titanium

Because the 15 Pro and Pro Max have slimmer bezels than the 14 Pro and Pro Max, the new phones are ever-so-slightly more compact – except for thickness.

Of course, the new iPhones also come in new colors, we’ll get into that in detail below. Here are some great options to protect the iPhone 15 Pro:

Performance – A17 Pro vs A15 Bionic

iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro chip

When unveiling the A17 Pro, Apple focused its comparisons against the A16 Bionic. Year-over-year performance improvements are becoming more minor but Apple says the A17 Pro is the “fastest mobile CPU.”

Here’s a breakdown of the iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 15 Pro chip specs: 

iPhone 13 ProiPhone 15 ProiPhone 13 Pro MaxiPhone 15 Pro Max
SoCA15 BionicA17 ProA15 BionicA17 Pro
CPU6-core: 2 performance + 4 efficiency6-core: 2 performance + 4 efficiency6-core: 2 performance + 4 efficiency6-core: 2 performance + 4 efficiency
GPU5-core6-core5-core6-core
Neural Engine16-core16-core16-core16-core
RAM6GB8GB6GB8GB
Apple Intelligence support

In real-world use, the A15 or A16 Bionic and A17 Pro are more than powerful enough for almost everyone. But here are a few A17 Pro stats vs the A16 Bionic:

  • Up to 20% faster GPU than A16 Bionic (with AV1 decoding, Pro Display engine, ProRes codec, hardware-accelerated ray tracing)
  • Up to 10% faster high-performance CPU cores than A16 Bionic
  • Up to 2x faster neural engine, up to 35 trillion operations per second

And game developers like CAPCOM say the new A17 Pro GPU has allowed console-exclusive games like Resident Evil 4 to come to iPhone.

GeekBench scores:

GeekBench offers a good look at how the performance has improved between the A15 Bionic and A17 Pro.

  • 27% faster single-core score
  • 31% faster multi-core score
  • 37% faster GPU
iPhone 13 Pro/MaxiPhone 15 Pro/Max
Single-core score22742894
Multi-core score54837190
Metal (GPU) score1979827109

Battery life

iPhone 15 battery specs life

When it comes to battery life, the iPhone 15 Pro has a one hour longer battery for video playback than the 13 Pro and the same rating for audio playback:

iPhone 13 ProiPhone 15 ProiPhone 13 Pro MaxiPhone 15 Pro Max
Video playback22 hours23 hours28 hours29 hours
Audio playback75 hours75 hours95 hours95 hours

For how that compares to iPhone 14 and more, check out our full post on iPhone 15 battery life:

Cameras

iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro cameras

Rear cameras

iPhone 15 Pro comes with a 48MP main rear camera, next-gen portrait with Focus and Depth Control, Smart HDR 5, and more.

A change this year is the 15 Pro Max gets the most capable camera with the telephoto lens having a 5x optical zoom (3x for 15 Pro like the 13/14 Pro).

The 15 Pro and Pro Max main cameras also have more powerful sensors and support shooting 24 and 48MP “super-high-resolution photos.”

iPhone 13 ProiPhone 15 ProiPhone 13 Pro MaxiPhone 15 Pro Max
Main lens12MP, ƒ/1.5 aperture48MP, ƒ/1.78 aperture12MP, ƒ/1.5 aperture48MP, ƒ/1.78 aperture
Main lens sensor1.9 µm pixel2.44 µm pixel1.9 µm pixel2.44 µm pixel
Main lens quick access focal lengths24, 28, 35 mm24, 28, 35 mm
Ultra Wide lens12MP, ƒ/1.8 aperture12MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture12MP, ƒ/1.8 aperture12MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture
Telephoto lens12MP, ƒ/2.8 aperture12MP, ƒ/2.8 aperture12MP, ƒ/2.8 aperture12MP, ƒ/2.8 aperture
StabilizationSensor-shift optical image stabilization2nd-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilizationSensor-shift optical image stabilization2nd-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilization
Optical zoom0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x
Digital zoomUp to 15xUp to 15xUp to 15xUp to 25x
FlashTrue Tone flash with Slow SyncAdaptive True Tone FlashTrue Tone Flash with Slow SyncAdaptive True Tone Flash
Photonic Engine
Deep Fusion
Smart HDR 4
Smart HDR 5
Next-gen portraits with Focus and Depth Control
Portrait Lighting with six effects
Night mode
Night mode portraits
Photographic Styles
Macro photography
Apple ProRAW
iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro cameras focal lengths

More new features for the 15 Pro models include the option to quickly change (and set a default) for different focal lengths for the main camera – 24, 28, and 35 mm.

Video recording

Video recording

There are a number of improvements for video recording between the 15 Pro and 13 Pro.

USB-C 3 support on the 15 Pro models means the ability to shoot ProRes directly to external drives – now at 4K60.

There’s also support for the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) plus the ability to capture Spatial video that can be viewed on Apple Vision Pro.

Two more differences are Action mode and log recordings.

iPhone 13 ProiPhone 15 ProiPhone 13 Pro MaxiPhone 15 Pro Max
4K recording✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps
1080p recording✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps
Cinematic mode✅ – up to 1080p at 30 fps✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps✅ – up to 1080p at 30 fps✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps
Action mode
HDR/Dolby Vision recording✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps
ProRes recording✅ – up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB capacity)✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps with external recording✅ – up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB capacity)✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps with external recording
Log video recording
Academy Color Encoding System
Macro video recording
Spatial video recording
Slo-mo recording✅ –1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps✅ –1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps✅ –1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps✅ –1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps
Time-lapse with stabilization
Night mode Time-lapse
QuickTake video
StabilizationSensor-shift optical image stabilization for video2nd-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilization for videoSensor-shift optical image stabilization for video2nd-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilization for video
Audio zoom
Stereo recording

Selfie camera

Apple’s TrueDepth front camera on the iPhone 15 Pro gets a range of upgrades found on the main rear camera.

iPhone 13 ProiPhone 15 ProiPhone 13 Pro MaxiPhone 15 Pro Max
TrueDepth front camera12MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture12MP, ƒ/1.9 aperture12MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture12MP, ƒ/1.9 aperture
Retina Flash
Photonic Engine
Deep Fusion
Smart HDR 4 for photos
Smart HDR 5 for photos
Next-gen portraits with Focus and Depth Control
Portrait Lighting with six effects
Animoji and Memoji
Night mode
Photographic Styles
4K recording✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps
Cinematic mode✅ – up to 1080p at 30 fps✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps✅ – up to 1080p at 30 fps✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps
HDR/Dolby Vision recording✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps
ProRes recording✅ – up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB capacity)✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps with external recording✅ – up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB capacity)✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps with external recording
Slo-mo recording✅ – 1080p at 120 fps✅ – 1080p at 120 fps✅ – 1080p at 120 fps✅ – 1080p at 120 fps
QuickTake video
Cinematic video stabilization✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p

iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro I/O

iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro I/O

The major change for iPhone 15 Pro I/O is the switch from Lightning to USB-C. And the 15 Pro and Pro Max offer much faster transfer speeds with USB 3 support at up to 10Gbps.

USB 3 on the 15 Pro enables some neat new capabilities like shooting video straight to an external SSD and more.

More differences with the iPhone 15 Pro vs 13 Pro include WiFi, Bluetooth, and UWB upgrades, plus Thread support.

iPhone 13 ProiPhone 15 ProiPhone 13 Pro MaxiPhone 15 Pro Max
Lightning✅ – with speeds up to 480Mbps✅ – with speeds up to 480Mbps
USB-C✅ – USB 3 up to 10Gbps (20x faster than Lightning)✅ – USB 3 up to 10Gbps (20x faster than Lightning)
Face ID
WiFi66E66E
Bluetooth5.05.35.05.3
Ultra wideband✅ – gen 1✅ – gen 2✅ – gen 1✅ – gen 2
NFC with reader mode
Thread
CellularGSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPAGSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPAGSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPAGSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPA
5GSub-6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMOSub-6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMOSub-6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMOSub-6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMO
GPSGPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDouPrecision dual-frequency GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou, and NavIC)GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDouPrecision dual-frequency GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou, and NavIC)
Audio playbackSpatial audio/Dolby AtmosSpatial audio/Dolby AtmosSpatial audio/Dolby AtmosSpatial audio/Dolby Atmos
Video playbackHDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLGHDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLGHDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLGHDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG
SIMTwo active eSIMs or nano-SIM and eSIMDual eSIM in US – physical included for most other countriesTwo active eSIMs or nano-SIM and eSIMDual eSIM in US – physical included for most other countries
MagSafe
Qi and Qi2Yes and uncertainYes and yes?Yes and uncertainYes and yes?

On the question of whether the new iPhone 15 Pro devices will support Qi2, Apple is saying yes but it’s a bit confusing:

So it’s also unclear if iPhone 13 Pro will support Qi2.

Safety

iPhone 15 Pro has three more advanced safety features than iPhone 13 Pro:

iPhone 13 Pro/MaxiPhone 15 Pro/Max
Emergency SOS
Emergency SOS via satellite
Crash Detection
Roadside Assistance via satellite

iPhone 15 Pro colors

iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are available in:

  • Natural titanium
  • Blue titanium
  • White titanium
  • Black titanium

Storage and pricing

iPhone 15 Pro/Max comes in at:

  • 128GB – $999 (only 15 Pro available in 128GB)
  • 256GB – $1,099 / $1,199
  • 512GB – $1,299 / $1,399
  • 1TB – $1,499 / $1,599

What’s in the box?

What's in the box

iPhone 15 Pro/Max just comes with the iPhone and a USB-C cable in the box.

If you need a power adapter, go with at least a 20W so you get fast charging for your iPhone. Good options include:

iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro: Buyer’s guide

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are powerful and capable devices, but whether upgrading from the 13 Pro is worth it will depend on how you want to use your iPhone and what features you find valuable.

Top comment by JustNeedItForDev

Liked by 21 people

The simple answer is no. My wife has the 15 Pro I kept my 13 Pro and while the 15 Pro is a little nicer, overall if feels like the same device overall. I'm also not sold that the dynamic island is better. The animations are cool, but it also protrudes further down into the display.

I'll probably upgrade next year, but I don't see any good reason to jump from a 13 Pro to a 15 Pro for the average pro owner.

View all comments

Reasons to consider upgrading to iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max

  • Apple Intelligence support
  • Most powerful and capable cameras for photos and video
  • Titanium build with slim bezels
  • USB-C with 10Gbps speeds, WiFi 6E support
  • Fastest chip, most powerful GPU for mobile gaming
  • Always-On display, ProMotion refresh rates up to 120Hz, and Dynamic Island

What do you think? Are the upgrades enough to switch to iPhone 15 Pro? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks for reading our guide on iPhone 13 Pro vs 15 Pro!

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Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.


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