So the iPhone 15 Pro has been out for a minute now, and if you've been living under a rock—or, more likely, still rocking an iPhone 11 with a cracked screen and 47,000 unread emails—you might be wondering if it's finally time to upgrade.
Let's start with the obvious: this thing costs more than my first car.
We're talking $999 for the base model, and that's before you realize 128GB of storage in 2024 is basically a cruel joke.
You'll be deleting photos of your dog just to download one episode of a show you'll fall asleep to anyway.
The big selling point is the titanium frame, which is lighter and supposedly more durable.
My phone lives in a $12 case from Amazon that's held together by hope and one surviving corner.
The titanium is nice if you're the kind of person who uses their phone naked, which is a bold lifestyle choice for anyone who's ever dropped one on a sidewalk.
Then there's the Action Button, which replaced the mute switch that worked perfectly fine for 16 years.
Now you can customize it to do stuff like launch the camera or turn on a flashlight.
I could already do both of those things with a swipe or a tap, but sure, let's pretend this is innovation.
The camera is genuinely good, I'll give it that.
The 48MP main sensor takes crisp photos, and the USB-C port finally means you don't need a separate cable for your phone and your laptop.
That's the kind of practical upgrade that actually matters, even if Apple took its sweet time getting there.
Here's the thing though: if you have an iPhone 13 Pro or 14 Pro, there is almost no reason to buy this.
You'd be paying a thousand bucks to feel slightly better about yourself for about three weeks.
And if you have anything older than that, a used 14 Pro or even a 13 Pro will get you 90% of the experience for way less money.
The overheating complaints from early buyers have mostly been addressed through software updates, but it's worth noting that a flagship phone shouldn't need patches just to not cook your hand.
If you're on an older phone and you want the best camera and USB-C, sure, go for it.
If you're just chasing the new shiny thing because the internet told you to, maybe sit this one out and wait for the 16.
The honest take is that the iPhone 15 Pro is a great phone that's priced like a mortgage payment and marketed like it'll change your life.
It'll take nice pictures and let you text your group chat.
Final Thoughts
Buy it if you want it, but don't pretend it's a personality.