Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 13 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max (with Apple A17 Pro) 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.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
  • Delivers 71% higher peak brightness (1805 against 1053 nits)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Shows 12% longer battery life (31:37 vs 28:08 hours)
  • The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • 27% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1467K versus 1153K)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • The phone is 2 years newer

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max 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 61% Yes
Yes, we think most users will notice the upgrade.
Updating from Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max to Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max makes sense and should feel noticeably better in daily use.
Main improvements: connectivity, performance, and camera.

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 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) 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 89.8% 87.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.8% 99.9%
PWM 240 Hz 238 Hz
Response time 1 ms 8.5 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1805 nits
1053 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 159.9 mm (6.3 inches) 160.8 mm (6.33 inches)
Width 76.7 mm (3.02 inches) 78.1 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 8.25 mm (0.32 inches) 7.65 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 221 g (7.8 oz) 240 g (8.47 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Silver, Blue Black, Silver, Gold, Blue, Green
Fingerprint scanner No No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
SoC
Chipset Apple A17 Pro Apple A15 Bionic
Max clock 3780 MHz 3230 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.11 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 3.78 GHz: Everest
- 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard
- 2 cores at 3.23 GHz: Avalanche
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics 6 core Apple GPU Apple GPU (5 cores)
GPU shading units 768 640
GPU clock 1398 MHz 1338 MHz
FLOPS ~2147.2 GFLOPS ~1712.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 28374 21357
Single-core score 2974 2427
Multi-core score 7533 6142
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1467470
CPU 374357 276639
GPU 463612 369897
Memory 184670 116764
UX 444831 390373
Total score 1467470 1153673
Samples [7 tests] [3 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 71% -
Graphics test 10 FPS -
Graphics score 1391 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability 73% 75%
Graphics test 23 FPS 14 FPS
Section 1 29 FPS 19 FPS
Section 2 23 FPS 14 FPS
Section 3 16 FPS 9 FPS
Graphics score 6089 3785
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 63% 73%
Graphics test 21 FPS 17 FPS
Graphics score 3655 2960
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-28 (Kuan.28)AnTuTu 111752198
📘 2026-09-23 (podsolnuh)AnTuTu 111357765
📘 2026-09-11 (Zabza)AnTuTu 111599694
📘 2026-09-10 (elio)AnTuTu 111445771
📘 2026-07-26 (Desss)AnTuTu 111323415
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-23 -> HotPowerAnTuTu 111184759
📘 2026-09-19 -> HotPowerGeekbench 6 GPU21284
📘 2026-09-19 -> HotPowerGeekbench 6 CPU2423 / 5985
📘 2026-09-12 (Simon)AnTuTu 111146332
📘 2026-08-11 (encore)AnTuTu 111335140

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 3200 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 256 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 17.6 GB 13 GB
OS updates 7 years -
Security updates 7 years -

Battery

Capacity 4441 mAh 4352 mAh
Max charge power 23 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 (46% in 30 min) Yes (42% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:49 hr 1:46 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 12:36 hr 11:16 hr
Watching video 22:07 hr 17:03 hr
Gaming 06:58 hr 06:41 hr
Standby 139 hr 136 hr
General battery life
31:37 hr

Main camera

Matrix 48 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8064 x 6048 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 5x 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) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
4) Depth
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
4) Depth
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 48 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.5
Focal length 24 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX803 Sony IMX703
Sensor size 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) 1/1.66" (≈ 0.6 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 1.9 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.78 - 2.8 f/2.8
Focal length 120 mm 77 mm
Sensor Sony IMX913 Sony IMX713
Sensor size 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 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 86 81
Zoom 142 119
Samples Photo samples of Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max 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 Optical Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) Yes Yes
DxOMark front camera
Photo 145 128
Video 156 143

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/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 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC 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* 20 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
92.3 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2023 September 2021
Release date September 2023 September 2021
Launch price (MSRP) $1199 $1100
Successor - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max - 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

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
923 (44.3%)
1159 (55.7%)
Total votes: 2082

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
🌐 Register your profile and become part of NanoReview community!
Avatar
Hilarious September 23, 2023 at 01:01 PM
20% for value it’s the same roughly.
+53 Reply