Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera test

We put the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max through our rigorous SBMARK Camera test suite to measure its performance in photo, video, and zoom quality from an end-user perspective. This article breaks down how the device fared in a variety of tests and several common use cases and is intended to highlight the most important results of our testing with an extract of the captured data.

Please note that all images visible in the review have been converted to .jpg format for compatibility matters; the analysis has been done on .HEIC, the original file format of the device. For both photo and video the optimal visualization pipeline for optimal experience with HDR rendering is described in the review.

Overview

Key camera specifications:

• Primary: 48MP sensor, 2.44µm quad pixels, 24mm equivalent f/1.78-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF, OIS
• Ultra-wide: 12MP sensor, 13mm equivalent f/2.2-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF
• Tele: 12MP sensor, 1.12µm pixels, 120 mm equivalent f/2.8-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF
• A17 Pro chipset

The Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max is the best iPhone we have tested to date and secures itself a spot among the best devices in our SBMARK Camera ranking. Its performance stood out in terms of exposure, which consistently delivered remarkable image and video results across a range of shooting conditions. Notably excelling in portrait photography and videography, the iPhone 15 Pro Max captured intricate detail and rendered skin tones beautifully.

While its camera specifications may not look as cutting-edge on paper compared to some competitors, Apple’s engineers have managed to make improvements where it counts. The Quad-Bayer image sensor, like in last year’s iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, enhances image quality and enables seamless zooming to 2x. A dedicated 5x telephoto lens allows for better image quality and longer tele zoom factors and the iPhone 15 Pro Max surpasses its predecessors as the ultimate video recording smartphone. These improvements collectively establish it as an outstanding choice for mobile photographers and videographers.

Please note that in this article, we draw comparisons between the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and 14 Pro Max. The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models had similar camera module specifications and achieved identical results in last year’s tests.

In our tests, the iPhone 15 Pro Max excelled at capturing portraits, showcasing impressive skin-tone accuracy and face exposure across various lighting conditions, especially when viewed on an iPhone display. The camera usually maintained excellent contrast on faces, even in challenging situations, while preserving intricate detail, for example around the eyes. Its capability to capture a shot in the exact moment the shutter button is pressed reduced the risk of missing the decisive moment. In addition, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is still one of the best flagship phones for freezing motion, which is very useful for capturing amazing portraits of friends, children, and pets.

While the iPhone 15 Pro Max offered good exposure and maintained high levels of detail in low light conditions, high noise levels detracted from the overall image quality. When shooting at night, the device will automatically switch from its 24MP image size to 12MP, enabling better control of noise. However, the lower resolution is also responsible for the loss of very fine detail. Still, some specific effort has been made to significantly improve the texture and noise trade-off over its predecessor iPhone 14 Pro.

While the low-light performance in photo mode could have been better in terms of noise and detail, low-light video was better than on most competing phones. When filming in low light, the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max rendered a very pleasant and accurate exposure, and produced balanced and natural colors, along with good levels of detail. Video stabilization was effective as well.

Test summary

About SBMARK Camera tests: SBMARK’s Camera evaluations take place in laboratories and in real-world situations using a wide variety of subjects. The scores rely on objective tests for which the results are calculated directly by measurement software on our laboratory setups, and on perceptual tests in which a sophisticated set of metrics allow a panel of image experts to compare aspects of image quality that require human judgment. Testing a smartphone involves a team of engineers and technicians for about a week. Photo, Zoom, and Video quality are scored separately and then combined into an Overall score for comparison among the cameras in different devices. For more information about the SBMARK Camera protocol, click here. More details on smartphone camera scores are available here. The following section gathers key elements of SBMARK’s exhaustive tests and analyses. Full performance evaluations are available upon request. Please contact us  on how to receive a full report.

At this year’s keynote event, Apple put particular emphasis on portrait photography and a new feature called smart HDR, which appears to be a combination of an improved HDR algorithm at the capture level and a new file format that allows for specific image rendering on HDR displays. We evaluated the iPhone’s HEIC files with embedded HDR data using Photo App on macOS Sonoma and an XDR Display.

Other important updates compared to the previous generation iPhones include the jump from 12MP to 24MP images by default in most light conditions. In our tests, this made for significantly improved texture quality, especially in close-up portraits. In addition, the device now offers various personalization options and the possibility to capture 48MP images in HEIC format. The “Pro” mode allows for RAW capture, opening up new possibilities for advanced users who prefer to work with .DNG files. For the purpose of this test, we used the default settings with automatic resolution switch in low-light conditions.

The combination of the 24MP HEIC image files with the embedded HDR data produced amazing results when viewed on a dedicated display. Image results were striking in Photo App on macOS Sonoma on an XDR Display and the photo app on the iPhone 15 Pro Max display alike, with brighter and more vivid rendering than ever. However, users of displays, devices or apps that do not support Apple’s photo HDR format will only see jpeg images without the HDR effect.

Close-Up

Close-up is the third new use case score introduced with SBMARK Camera version 5. It evaluates the camera’s ability to capture detail at subject distances below 10cm and magnifications as close possible to 1:1.

Using its ultra-wide camera module, the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max captured macro images with a very high level of magnification, thanks to a very close focus distance. Just like its predecessor, it also produced very pleasant color rendering, as well as a lot of fine detail at the center of the frame.

Compared to its predecessor, the iPhone 15 Pro Max has significantly improved in terms of dynamic range: Highlight clipping has been noticeably reduced, catching up with the competition. In our tests, subject exposure was accurate and very repeatable in most situations.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max did also very well in terms of contrast, particularly in portrait pictures. This was especially appreciable when viewing the images on an HDR display (on the iPhone screen, or a last generation iPad Pro, or a mac with Sonoma and XDR display for instance). With this kind of display the images appeared brighter than ever and with very nice contrast, not only on the subject but across the entire frame.

In high-contrast scenes, the difference to other devices was even more noticeable, with very bright highlights creating a much more natural effect to the human eye. Skin-tone rendering was especially nice, with very natural shadows and highlights on faces. The device also maintained the signature contrast rendering of previous iPhone generations that prioritizes bright and well-exposed faces, making for outstanding portrait shots.

The smart HDR feature helped produce very natural and pleasant colors, even in very challenging light conditions. Skin tones were improved compared to the already very good Apple iPhone 14 Pro, across all skin tone types.

On previous iPhone generations, we had often observed a color shift in high-contrast scenes. On the latest model, this has mostly been eliminated, thanks to the wide dynamic range and accurate color management in the highlight areas of the frame. In our tests, some slight color casts were still sometimes visible when shooting indoors or in low light. This was in line with Apple’s signature style, and otherwise color rendering remained largely neutral.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max largely maintained the level of autofocus performance that we already had seen on the predecessor, including zero shutter lag in most shooting conditions. This means that the camera is capable of capturing an image at exactly the moment the shutter is pressed, reducing the risk of missing the decisive moment.

Only in very challenging low-light conditions did our testers observe a slight delay to ensure good image all around image quality. In comparison, the iPhone 14 Pro provided a more repeatable shooting time down in low light. However, this might come at the expense of other image quality factors or frame selection.

The camera’s fast aperture creates a shallow depth of field, which made for striking macro shots but could be a drawback in other shooting situations. Without a variable aperture and no specific software solution to compensate for the shallow depth of field, texture and detail are lost in faces located in the background of a group portrait scene. In contrast, other top-end phones, such as the Huawei P60 Pro, are capable of maintaining more image information on background subjects.

The camera in Apple’s new flagship device comes with an entirely new texture rendering management, and in our tests the results were outstanding. With most lighting conditions resulting in 24MP images, finest details were preserved much better than on most competitors.

The difference was even more noticeable on fine skin texture in close-up portraits. The Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max provided very natural skin rendering with subtle local contrast and pleasant rendering of the finest details like hair, lips, wrinkles, etc.

At longer shooting distances and in dimmer lighting conditions, some loss of detail could be observed, but overall textures remained well preserved. In very low light, the camera uses pixel binning to maintain good overall image quality with accurate exposure and low levels of noise. However, a drop in texture preservation was noticeable on the resulting lower resolution (12MP) images.

Like its predecessor, the iPhone 15 Pro Max comes with higher noise levels than some competitors, for example the Huawei P60 Pro. This said, images captured in bright light were typically free of noise, or only showed some pleasant fine grain in some image areas. In dimmer lighting conditions, fine luminance noise became more visible, especially in areas of plain color. When shooting night scenes, the device automatically switched to the lower image resolution in order to limit the amount of image noise. It is possible to deactivate this automatic switch in the photo app.

Most common image artifacts were very well under control on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but our testers observed some remaining ghosting, ringing, and color quantization effects in challenging shooting conditions.

The ability to automatically switch into portrait mode when faces are detected in the scenes is one of the key new features introduced with the iPhone 15 series. Users can also remove the portrait rendering in the photo app, if they later change their mind. The portrait effect applied by the iPhone 15 Pro Max is  an improved version of what we had seen on the iPhone 14 Pro. In our tests, the depth map was more precise, resulting in better subject isolation, especially around fine details, such as hair. The blur intensity remained pleasant and spotlights in the background were rendered with nice contrast, which was especially noticeable in night portraits.

Though the SBMARK protocol only tests the default zoom ratio available on Portrait mode, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is able to provide a very nice bokeh effect at 1x, 2x and 5x, switching to its tele camera module for the longest range.

Apple’s new flagship was among the leading devices in our preview test. Pinch control when zooming was especially smooth, and the preview image was representative of the final capture. In portrait mode, the simulated bokeh was rendered well in preview, with cohesive subject isolation and few differences to the final capture. Exposure and local attributes such as noise were usually in line with the final image as well. However, the preview struggled to keep up with the increased dynamic range in the iPhone 15 Pro Max images, showing higher levels of highlight clipping. Despite slightly more differences between preview and capture than on the iPhone 14 Pro, the new model provided significantly better preview quality than other top-end competitors, such as the Huawei P60 Pro and Google Pixel 7 Pro and remains one of the most reliable devices on the market in this respect.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max comes with a periscope design in its tele camera, a first for iPhones. The tele camera offers good zoom capabilities up to 5x, or 120mm equivalent, thanks to the unique tetraprism optical design. The lens also boasts an f/2.8 aperture, the brightest among 120mm phone cameras, as well as optical stabilization.

Video Zoom

In our video zoom tests the iPhone 15 Pro Max performed fairly well across a wide range of zoom factors, maintaining fairly high levels of detail from ultra-wide (15mm equivalent) to long range with its tele module (150mm). Noise was well under control as well, even in low-light conditions, and exposure was pleasant and accurate. Performance remained cohesive when zooming in, ensuring an overall pleasant experience for videographers and opening up lots of creative possibilities when filming with the new iPhone.

Like the iPhone 14 Pro, the new iPhone offers an ultra-wide camera with a 13mm equivalent focal length. When using this camera module, the device was capable of preserving a fairly high amount of detail at minimum focal lengths (13mm, 0.5x), with well-controlled noise and nice exposure. However, it was not quite on the same level as the best in class in terms of ultra-wide detail, despite improvements over the 14 Pro. When zooming in on the ultra-wide the camera applies simple digital zoom without any fusion algorithms. This resulted in a noticeable drop in image detail which means the ultra-wide is best used at its native focal length.

The addition of a periscope module represents a significant evolution for the iPhone series. It allows for the capture of long range (5x) tele shots with high levels of detail and very pleasant overall rendering. However, the lack of a hardware or software solution for intermediate tele zoom levels means that image quality was inconsistent across the tele zoom range.

Our measurements showed that the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max captured higher levels of detail than the iPhone 14 Pro for most zoom settings, especially at wide (13mm to 21mm) and long ranges (from 120mm to 200+mm), thanks to the dedicated 5x tele lens. However, between 35mm and 90mm, the level of detail dropped as zoom is achieved by cropping the primary camera image. At intermediate tele zoom settings the iPhone 14 Pro performed slightly better as it switches to its tele camera module already at around 75mm (3x).

Between 90mm and 120mm, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is not switching to the tele module yet but is instead applying detail-enhancement processing in order to try and render slightly sharper images. However, in our tests this resulted in strong oversharpening, unnatural detail rendering, noise and artifacts. At 120mm, the device eventually switches to it tele module. In our tests this improved the level of detail and overall image quality significantly.

At close range (~50mm, 2x), the device managed to maintain high levels of detail when compared to the competition. Color and exposure were pleasant in most conditions.

At medium range, (~80mm, 3x), the level of detail dropped significantly compared to close or long range tele settings. Some competitors, like the Huawei 60 Pro, fuse image information from the primary and tele camera modules to maximize image detail at intermediate tele settings. The Apple does not apply any such methods.

With its 5x tele module, the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max produced long range tele image quality that was previously unseen on Apple devices. At 6x, the level of detail was very high, challenging devices like the Google Pixel 7 Pro and Huawei P60 Pro.

Low-light tele shots were significantly improved over the iPhone 14 Pro, and some results even bested top performers like the Huawei P60 Pro.

We tested the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max video mode with 4K resolution, 60fps variable frame rate and Dolby vision activated for embedded HDR data. This configuration produced excellent results, securing the Apple flagship the top spot in the SBMARK video ranking and surpassing the previous generation Apple flagship. Video exposure and color rendering were very consistent in most conditions and the texture/noise trade-off was the best we have seen to date. The autofocus system also performed well down to low light and video stabilization was among the best in the market.

Just like for the iPhone 14 Pro and other HDR video enabled devices that we have tested previously, a compatible HDR display is required to see the full potential of the HDR rendering. Please note that YouTube only displays the original HDR rendering if videos are watched on a compatible HDR screen. Otherwise, a compressed SDR video is displayed.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max features a new ProRes Log mode, which is available at 4K and 60fps. There is now also the possibility to save footage on an external SSD. Add ACES color management compatibility to the mix and the iPhone 15 Pro Max becomes a serious option for professional videographers. Additional modes that were not tested under the SBMARK video protocol but could be important options for serious video shooters are:

• Video cinematic mode up to 4K HDR with 30fps
• Action mode up to 2.8K with 60 fps and emphasized stabilization capacities

The iPhone 15 Pro Max achieved the best score for video exposure to date, thanks to the very well-managed HDR format with a wide dynamic range, a very stable exposure and very smooth exposure transitions.

Color management is another area where the iPhone 15 Pro Max offered a significantly better performance than most competitors. While white balance remained slightly warm in indoor and low-light conditions, the device was able to render most skin tones accurately, and color rendering was overall very pleasant.

Thanks to improved tracking capabilities and a fast autofocus, the iPhone 15 Pro Max managed to improve on its predecessor in this category, too. The iPhone 15 Pro Max offered one of the most reliable video autofocus systems, with accurate tracking, even in low light, and very well-managed focus transitions for a pleasant cinematic effect.

In our video tests, the iPhone 15 Pro Max produced noticeably higher levels of detail than most competitors and was able to recover some fine detail on portraits and landscapes, especially when recording in bright light. Due to the iPhone 15 Pro Max being tested at a higher frame rate (60fps), texture results were slightly lower than on the iPhone 14 Pro. This was mainly noticeable in dimmer light conditions.

Video noise results were close to last year’s iPhone 14 Pro, with slight improvements noticeable in dimmer light conditions. Its well-controlled noise with an HDR video format is one of the strongest plus points of the iPhone 15 Pro Max video mode.

In terms of video stabilization, the iPhone 15 Pro Max managed to keep up with most flagship devices that feature a stabilized main camera module. Motion such as handshake was usually well compensated for, and sharpness between frames was even more consistent than on the iPhone 14 Pro.

Thanks to the good video quality at a high 60fps frame rate, the iPhone 15 Pro Max managed to reduce the impact of unwanted artifacts, especially the judder effects, which particularly impacts panning shots. Some common artifacts like aliasing, flare, and ringing were still visible on occasion, but their impact on overall quality was usually minor. Only flare could pose a slight challenge to videographers, but the iPhone did not differ much from other flagship phones in this respect.