Apple iPhone 15 vs iPhone 13 Pro Max
74
out of 100
VS
73
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.1-inch Apple iPhone 15 (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
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 15
- Delivers 57% higher peak brightness (1657 against 1053 nits)
- 45% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1672K versus 1153K)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
- The phone is 2 years newer
- Reverse charging feature
- Weighs 69 grams less
- Better grip in hands – the body is 6.5 mm narrower
- 8% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2612 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
- Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
- Comes with 1003 mAh larger battery capacity: 4352 vs 3349 mAh
- Shows 10% longer battery life (28:08 vs 25:31 hours)
Review
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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.1 inches | 6.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1179 x 2556 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 | 86.4% | 87.7% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.6% | 99.9% |
| PWM | 306 Hz | 238 Hz |
| Response time | 2 ms | 8.5 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
iPhone 13 Pro Max
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
iPhone 15
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~20% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 147.6 mm (5.81 inches) | 160.8 mm (6.33 inches) |
| Width | 71.6 mm (2.82 inches) | 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) | 7.65 mm (0.3 inches) |
| Weight | 171 g (6.03 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 (2.96/5) | - |
| Drop resistance | Good (C) · 90 drops | - |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| 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 |
| 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
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 22764 | 21357 |
| Single-core score | 2612 | 2427 |
| Multi-core score | 6705 | 6142 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 462812 | 276639 |
| GPU | 453603 | 369897 |
| Memory | 222511 | 116764 |
| UX | 533367 | 390373 |
| Total score | 1672293 | 1153673 |
| Samples | [9 tests] | [3 tests] |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 74% | 75% |
| Graphics test | 15 FPS | 14 FPS |
| Section 1 | 20 FPS | 19 FPS |
| Section 2 | 15 FPS | 14 FPS |
| Section 3 | 11 FPS | 9 FPS |
| Graphics score | 3979 | 3785 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | - | 73% |
| Graphics test | 17 FPS | 17 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2868 | 2960 |
Recent User Tests
Apple iPhone 15
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-19 (Bear lover) | AnTuTu 11 | 1714105 |
| 📘 2026-09-14 (ZUSEPRO) | AnTuTu 11 | 1603687 |
| 📘 2026-08-15 (Julian Ludwig) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 24336 |
| 📘 2026-08-15 (Julian Ludwig) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 2615 / 6477 |
| 📘 2026-08-12 (j0elz) | AnTuTu 11 | 1638319 |
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-23 -> HotPower | AnTuTu 11 | 1184759 |
| 📘 2026-09-19 -> HotPower | Geekbench 6 GPU | 21284 |
| 📘 2026-09-19 -> HotPower | Geekbench 6 CPU | 2423 / 5985 |
| 📘 2026-09-12 (Simon) | AnTuTu 11 | 1146332 |
| 📘 2026-08-11 (encore) | AnTuTu 11 | 1335140 |
Memory
| RAM size | 6 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| 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 | 3349 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 (58% in 30 min) | Yes (42% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:50 hr | 1:46 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1000 cycles | - |
| Web browsing | 10:47 hr | 11:16 hr |
| Watching video | 16:55 hr | 17:03 hr |
| Gaming | 05:36 hr | 06:41 hr |
| Standby | 112 hr | 136 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#89th place)
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 |
| Image resolution | 48 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.6 | f/1.5 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX703 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.5" (≈ 0.67 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 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 |
| 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
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | September 2023 | September 2021 |
| Release date | September 2023 | September 2021 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $799 | $1100 |
| Successor | - Apple iPhone 17 | - 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, connectivity, and design are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 15. But if the display and battery life are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 1108