iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: worth the upgrade?

The iPhone 15 series has arrived, and you might well be considering spending money on an upgrade – but is it worth it? Specifically, is the shiny new iPhone 15 Pro all that much better than the iPhone 14 Pro that Apple launched back in September 2022?

We're here to try and help answer that question. If you bought the iPhone 14 Pro last year – with starting prices of £1,099 / $999 – then you don't want to be splashing out even more cash needlessly this time around. It's the right upgrade for some, but not for everyone.

Here we'll dive into all the key categories that matter to your user experience, from the battery life to the camera performance, to help you decide which of these handsets is the best phone for you when it comes to the iPhone 15 Pro versus the iPhone 14 Pro.

iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: what's new?

If you're looking for the headlines when it comes to what's new with the iPhone 15 Pro this year, here they are: USB-C rather than Lightning for the data transfer and charging port, Titanium rather than stainless steel for the frame, and in place of the old Mute button there's a more versatile Action button (that can do muting too).

Other than that, we have the usual incremental upgrades in terms of processor speed and camera performance, which we'll dig into in the sections that follow. 

There's plenty that hasn't changed too: the screen size is the same at 6.1-inches, and both phones can run iOS 17 (which was launched to coincide with the release of the iPhone 15 series).

iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: price & availability

The brand new iPhone 15 Pro is available now direct from Apple and from a host of other retailers as well. It'll set you back £999 / $999 and upwards, depending on how much storage you want inside (128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB).

Getting hold of the iPhone 14 Pro is a little trickier. Apple no longer sells it from its official store (though it does sell the standard iPhone 14), but there's plenty of stock left at other retailers, and at the time of writing starting prices are around £900 / $900.

iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: design

At first glance, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro look pretty similar, but there are subtle differences. Titanium has replaced stainless steel for the frame, which means the iPhone 15 Pro is lighter than its predecessor: 187 grams instead of 206 grams.

The iPhone 15 Pro is also a little thicker than the iPhone 14 Pro, coming in at 8.25mm as opposed to 7.85mm. The other dimensions are 147.5 x 71.5mm for the iPhone 14 Pro, and 146.6 x 70.6mm for the iPhone 15 Pro.

There are new colours as well. The iPhone 14 Pro offers Deep Purple, Gold, Silver and Space Black, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro can be bought in Natural Titanium, Blue Titanium, White Titanium and Black Titanium (did we mention it's made out of Titanium?).

iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: display

The display is one of the areas where there are the least amount of changes. The 6.1-inch screen is back again, with the always-on display and the ProMotion technology enabling refresh rates up to 120Hz.

Even the resolution and contrast ratio have started the same – 2,556 x 1,179 pixels and 2,000,000:1 respectively – and Apple says the 2,000 nits of peak brightness is the same on the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro too.

Don't upgrade from the iPhone 14 Pro to the iPhone 15 Pro if you're after a bigger or better display, because they're both exactly the same. 

iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: hardware

The iPhone 14 Pro is fitted with an Apple A16 Bionic chip, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro has an Apple A17 Pro chip inside. Ignoring the rather odd naming scheme that's going on, Apple is promising up to 10% faster performance overall with the new silicon, and gains of up to 20% - specifically in graphics.

That's quite substantial, and it helps that the new A17 Pro has switched to 3-nanometre architecture (more processing power in a smaller space, essentially). As for RAM, Apple hasn't revealed how much the iPhone 15 Pro is packing, and we don't yet have any third-party teardowns to tell us either, but the iPhone 14 Pro has 6GB of RAM inside, so anticipate a repeat of this.

There's not much else that's different in terms of hardware, aside from the switch to USB-C for the connection port. It's worth bearing in mind that the new port will enable much faster data transfers, with a USB 3 cable – although Apple is only bundling a USB 2 cable in the box with the iPhone 15 Pro.

And there's that new Action button in place of the old Mute button. You can programme it to do several 'actions', including taking a voice memo or launching the camera, as well as muting your phone.

iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: battery

Apple tends not to share battery capacities, but it does share predicted battery life, and it's identical when it comes to the iPhone 15 Pro versus the iPhone 14 Pro.

That's up to 23 hours for video playback, up to 20 hours for streaming video playback, and up to 75 hours for audio playback. Unless you've had your iPhone 14 Pro for a year and the battery has substantially degraded, we wouldn't upgrade to the iPhone 15 Pro if all you want is extra battery life.

As far as we can tell from Apple's listing, the switch to USB-C from Lightning doesn't change anything in terms of charging speed – with a 20W adapter you can still get up to a 50% charge in 30 minutes. Both the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro support MagSafe and Qi wireless charging too.

iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: cameras

On paper the cameras are the same on the back of the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro: a 48MP main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide sensor, and a 12MP telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom. On the front, both phones have a 12MP snapper.

Despite the megapixel rating being the same, the iPhone 15 Pro does have an improved main camera sensor though. The focal length can be adjusted to 24mm, 28mm, or 35mm, and Portrait mode can be selected automatically by the phone too.

Apple has also added a new anti-reflective coating on the iPhone 15 Pro's lens to help reduce lens flare. So, in summary, a few new tricks for the iPhone 15 Pro will please photographers – but it's not a massive leap from the iPhone 14 Pro. The iPhone 15 Pro Max, on the other hand, is a massive leap. 

iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: conclusion

The iPhone 15 Pro versus iPhone 14 Pro comparison is an interesting one. The iPhone 15 Pro is slightly faster, it has marginally better cameras, it's made of Titanium, and it has the USB-C port which means compatibility with a broader range of chargers and accessories.

So the iPhone 15 Pro is clearly the better phone, yet you could argue that these upgrades aren't significant enough to justify buying it. The performance increase isn't huge, nor is the jump in the quality of captured images and videos. The Titanium finish, however, is a very nice touch - and means a lighter device. 

A key factor is how much the iPhone 14 Pro is selling for while you're weighing up your purchase. If the price difference isn't great – and iPhones tend to hold their value very well, as we've outlined further above – then you might as well get the newer, better iPhone.

On the other hand, if you already own an iPhone 14 Pro, it's going to be a question of what sort of trade-in or resale price you can get for it when you're thinking about whether or not to get the latest iPhone 15 Pro instead.