I used to be an Android person for a few years, having transitioned from a venerable iPhone 4S to a Samsung Galaxy S6 in 2015. Since then, I’ve used a few of the finest Android telephones.
So, what I believed could be a quick flirtation with iOS and an iPhone 13 Professional on the finish of 2021 truly led to a dedicated relationship with an Apple smartphone. Positive, I nonetheless have entry to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely, however my SIM card (we nonetheless use them within the UK) sits in an iPhone.
Currently, the variation of Android and normal boredom with iPhones practically noticed me swap again to Google’s smartphone platform, however simply after I thought I used to be out, the iPhone 15 Professional Max pulled me again in.
And I’m happy with that, because it’s a implausible flagship-grade smartphone. Nevertheless, it is perhaps slightly too good – to the extent that I’ve no clear thought of the place telephones can go subsequent to be extra than simply iterative upgrades over their predecessors.
However let me first let you know why the iPhone 15 Professional Max has my consideration, regardless of me by no means actually being into the Max telephones.
The sum of its tweaks
First off, the titanium building is a recreation changer, taking what could possibly be a heavy and unwieldy 6.7-inch-display-equipped telephone into a tool that I can nearly use one-handed. And delicate tweaks to the edges, including a level of curvature on the edges means the iPhone 15 Professional Max nonetheless rocks the slick flat-edges Apple introduced again with the iPhone 12 sequence however makes them slightly extra snug to carry. The matte end of the telephone’s rear and the way in which the colours are blended with the titanium chassis can be very neat.
Whereas the Dynamic Island isn’t excellent, it is a welcome departure from the notch I begrudgingly acquired used to on the iPhone 13 Professional. And I don’t really feel it’s far more intrusive than the punch-hole cameras on Android rivals just like the Google Pixel 8 Professional; plus the added performance is appreciated if not at all times used to its full potential.
I like the brand new Motion button too, which I take advantage of to shortly set off the ‘torch’ – aka the rear digicam flash. USB-C connectivity could be very welcome. And I nonetheless love Apple’s tackle a 1Hz to 120Hz display screen with its ProMotion show. Mixed with slick software program, the iPhone 15 Professional Max feels very quick.
In fact, it is ridiculously quick with its A17 Professional chip, which may run console-quality video games on a tool that’s a heck of much more pocketable than an Xbox Sequence X. There’s scope for extra efficiency to assist these video games run slightly higher, however with how a lot Apple Arcade has to supply, you are by no means caught discovering a neat little recreation to play whereas surviving a tedious commute.
Lastly, the digicam suite on the iPhone 15 Professional Max is implausible. The transfer to a 5x telephoto optical zoom lens provides a much-appreciated diploma of flexibility to the digicam system, whereas the principle and ultrawide cameras can pump out constantly nice photographs time and time once more. I stand by the choice to place the Galaxy S24 Extremely on the highest spot of TechRadar’s finest digicam telephones listing, however I desire Apple’s computational images and picture sign processing over Samsung’s.
Video is just class-leading, and it’s dead-easy to document usable footage, even in case you have all of the digicam expertise of a dopey canine.
I’ve at all times rallied in opposition to what could be a sycophantic love of Apple and its units, feeling that Cupertino will get a cross for issues folks would crucify an Android telephone for lacking; I’m speaking a 60Hz show on the usual iPhone 15 and the glacially gradual adoption of USB-C. However whereas I can’t defend the usual or iPhone 15 Plus, I do imagine the iPhone 15 Professional Max is just about the top of smartphones proper now.
The place can we go from right here?
The factor is, this all has me involved that Apple received’t have a lot left within the tank to innovate additional. Positive, Tim Cook dinner’s crew will certainly observe in Google and Samsung’s footsteps and embrace generative AI instruments. And it’s not exhausting to forecast that the likes of the iPhone 16 shall be sooner and have higher battery life than earlier than, maybe with some correct quick charging added into the combo, too.
However when it comes to there being an enormous step-change for iPhones, and certainly Samsung’s Galaxy sequence, it appears like we’ve hit a plateau in smartphone evolution and innovation, no less than in {hardware} phrases.
I’m sufficiently old to recollect the times when every new smartphone felt like an actual step up from what got here earlier than, with cameras getting higher and higher, efficiency actually mattering from era to era, and all kinds of latest options getting added. Today, one era of telephones is basically much like what got here earlier than.
Granted, a collection of small modifications to the iPhone 15 Professional Max have made it my telephone of selection and one price upgrading to. However now I really feel Apple has nailed the components, I can’t see the iPhone 16 or iPhone 17 being a lot better: that’s until somebody comes up with massively completely different display screen tech or battery supplies.
So, am I now bored of telephones? Properly, not fairly. I believe my hope for thrilling iPhones shall be laid on the promise of a foldable iPhone, as I reckon Apple has the scope and savvy to nail a fantastic folding telephone expertise. Equally, I’m prepared to embrace the software program facet of innovation, of which AI is definitely going to play an element.
However for now, I’ll simply need to consolation myself with the concept that I’ve a near-perfect telephone for me at this second. And at a time when all kinds of issues look bleak, that’s no unhealthy factor.
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