Apple iPhone 15 Plus vs iPhone 13 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Apple iPhone 15 Plus (with Apple A16 Bionic) that was released on September 12, 2023, against the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 2 years before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 15 Plus
  • Delivers 57% higher peak brightness (1656 against 1055 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • 32% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1527K versus 1153K)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
  • The phone is 2 years newer
  • Reverse charging feature
  • Weighs 39 grams less
  • 8% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2631 and 2427 points
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 13 Pro Max crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 11% Yes
No, we don't think this update is worth it.
Moving from Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max to Apple iPhone 15 Plus will likely not feel like a meaningful upgrade.
Main improvements: performance, connectivity, and battery life.
Be aware: the newer phone is weaker in display.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1290 x 2796 pixels 1284 x 2778 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 460 ppi 458 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes (10-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 2000 nits 1000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1600 nits 1200 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen-to-body ratio 88% 87.7%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.5% 99.9%
PWM 60 Hz 238 Hz
Response time 3 ms 8.5 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1656 nits
1055 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 160.9 mm (6.33 inches) 160.8 mm (6.33 inches)
Width 77.8 mm (3.06 inches) 78.1 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) 7.65 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 201 g (7.09 oz) 240 g (8.47 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Blue, Green, Pink, Yellow Black, Silver, Gold, Blue, Green
Fingerprint scanner No No
Repairability Average (2.94/5) -
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPhone 15 Plus and Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
SoC
Chipset Apple A16 Bionic Apple A15 Bionic
Max clock 3460 MHz 3230 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 3.46 GHz: Everest
- 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard
- 2 cores at 3.23 GHz: Avalanche
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics 5 core Apple GPU Apple GPU (5 cores)
GPU shading units 640 640
GPU clock 1398 MHz 1338 MHz
FLOPS ~1789.4 GFLOPS ~1712.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPhone 15 Plus and Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 21357
Single-core score 2631 2427
Multi-core score 6602 6142
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1527281
CPU 445436 276639
GPU 404027 369897
Memory 206014 116764
UX 471804 390373
Total score 1527281 1153673
Samples Less than 3 [3 tests]
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability - 75%
Graphics test - 14 FPS
Section 1 - 19 FPS
Section 2 - 14 FPS
Section 3 - 9 FPS
Graphics score - 3785
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 72% 73%
Graphics test 20 FPS 17 FPS
Graphics score 3340 2960
Sources: 3DMark [5]

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPhone 15 Plus
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-04-12 (Runnima)AnTuTu1527281
📘 2024-01-29 (Anshul Agrawal)GeekBench CPU2631 / 6602
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-12 (Simon)AnTuTu1146332
📘 2026-08-11 (encore)AnTuTu1335140
📘 2026-04-16 (Atomic)AnTuTu1147534
📘 2026-02-28 (d3adlinee)AnTuTu1153673
📘 2025-08-12 -> Lunuray1GeekBench GPU21357

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 3200 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iOS 17 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5)
OS size 18 GB 13 GB
OS updates 7 years -
Security updates 7 years -

Battery

Capacity 4383 mAh 4352 mAh
Max charge power 20 W 23 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (7.5 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes No
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (53% in 30 min) Yes (42% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:34 hr 1:46 hr
Battery cycles 1000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 13:13 hr 11:16 hr
Watching video 20:21 hr 17:03 hr
Gaming 07:01 hr 06:41 hr
Standby 122 hr 136 hr
General battery life
29:51 hr

Main camera

Matrix 48 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8064 x 6048 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Optical, 3x
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
4) Depth
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 48 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.6 f/1.5
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX904 Sony IMX703
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.66" (≈ 0.6 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.9 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution - 12 MP
Aperture - f/2.8
Focal length - 77 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX713
Sensor size - 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size - 1 micron
Stabilization - Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/1.8
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX633 Sony IMX772
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 80 75
Preview 84 81
Zoom 114 119
Samples Photo samples of Apple iPhone 15 Plus from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/1.9 f/2.2
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor Sony IMX714 Sony IMX514
Sensor size 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) Yes Yes
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 128
Video - 143

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.3 5
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C -
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* - 1
Type of SIM card eSIM Nano
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 18 18
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
90.6 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2023 September 2021
Release date September 2023 September 2021
Launch price (MSRP) $899 $1100
Successor - Apple iPhone 16 Plus - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
SAR (head) 0.98 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 0.98 W/kg 0.98 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included -
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the performance, gaming, battery life, connectivity, and sound are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 15 Plus. But if the display is more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
230 (50.8%)
223 (49.2%)
Total votes: 453

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