iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 11 Pro: What has changed?
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Intro
What is new on the iPhone 15 Pro compared to the iPhone 11 Pro, a phone that launched four years prior? And is now finally the time for those still holding on to their old iPhone 11 Pro to finally upgrade to the new iPhone 15 Pro?
Well, four years is equal to an eternity in tech terms, so the list of changes is long, but at the same time... well, the fundamental iPhone experience has remained surprisingly similar!
The iPhone 15 Pro has new looks and styling, a new port, new button, larger screen, ProMotion, Dynamic Island, better cameras, faster processor, but it still has not grown legs and cannot make you coffee. So, let's just break down the new features and see if they are worth it, or if you should stick with that iPhone 11 Pro until it becomes a rare antique.
iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 11 Pro differences:
- A17 Pro is much faster than A13 Bionic
- More storage in base model 15 Pro
- 6.1" screen on 15 Pro vs 5.8" on 11 Pro
- 120Hz ProMotion on 15 Pro
- Dynamic Island
- Action Button
- USB-C port
- Camera improvements
- 5G connectivity
- Emergency SOS via Satellite connectivity
- Longer battery life on 15 Pro
- Faster charging speed
- MagSafe wireless charging
Table of Contents:
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Design and Size
All new design and new titanium finish on the 15 Pro
The iPhone 11 Pro is the last iPhone with that old styling and that smaller, 5.8-inch screen size. Many people love this more petite size and the curved sides, but the iPhone 15 Pro design has its advantages too. The flat sides make the phone easier to pick from a table and plain look cool to many people.
One thing that has changed with time is that newer iPhones just get heavier every year, but the iPhone 15 Pro adopts a new titanium frame, and it actually weighs the same as the 11 Pro, despite being a bigger phone! Really cool!
One exciting new feature on the 15 Pro is the Action Button that replaces the Mute Switch. This is a programmable button that you can use to set a custom action, and it's a neat little addition that many people will enjoy.
On the bottom, you will find a Lightning port on the iPhone 11 Pro, while the 15 Pro finally makes the jump to a USB-C port, same as on your laptor, headphones, speakers, drones, and every other modern gadget. Awesome, no more cable clutter!
Both phones have IP68 water and dust protection, so nothing much has changed on that front. The 15 Pro does use a slightly newer generation of the toughened glass on the back and front of the phone, though, so it should theoretically have better chances of surviving a drop.
Display Differences
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
When it comes to the screens, you have a 5.8-inch display on the 11 Pro and a larger, 6.1-inch one on the 15 Pro.
Both are OLED panels so colors look nice and vibrant with those typical deep blacks and excellent contrast. However, the 15 Pro is much newer and has improvements all around.
The most important differentiation here is the refresh rate. The older 11 Pro only supports 60Hz refresh rate, while the newer 15 Pro has 120Hz ProMotion for super smooth scrolling and swiping.
Another one is just the sheer size of the borders around the screen. At merely 1.5mm, this is probably the thinnest bezel ever used on a phone and it makes for one impressive and futuristic styling.
Also, the notch from the 11 Pro is now replaced with the so called Dynamic Island, which is a cool little feature. It's not quite the game-changer many were hoping it to become, but nice nonetheless.
The iPhone 15 Pro screen can also hit much higher peak brightness, which makes the phone so much easier to use outdoors on a sunny day.
No big difference in biometrics though. Both phones rely on Face ID for authentication and it works very well on both.
Performance and Software
The A17 Pro is faster, but it's also nice to have 128GB of storage in the base model instead of 64GB
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
Under the hood, the iPhone 15 Pro is powered by the new A17 Pro chip, the world's first 3nm processor. In comparison, the iPhone 11 Pro runs on the A13 Bionic, an excellent chip for its time, but not merely as fast as this newer one.
And then there is the upgrade in RAM: you have double the RAM in the iPhone 15 Pro! It comes with 8GB of fast LPDDR5 RAM, compared to merely 4GB of the slower type LPDDR4 RAM on the 11 Pro.
Performance Benchmarks:
Gamers should definitely consider this upgrade, because the GPU gets a really big boost on the 15 Pro.
The base version of the iPhone 15 Pro also comes with 128GB of storage, while the base iPhone 11 Pro had just 64GB of storage.
As for software: worry not, your old iPhone 11 Pro will receive the same iOS 17 software that the iPhone 15 Pro will launch with.
That’s one of the reasons why even used iPhones maintain their price for longer than other counterparts - the long software support.
iOS 17 brings quite a few new features with the Phone, Messages and FaceTime apps getting bigger updates than usual. Oh, and autocorrect is finally getting a lot better!
The Phone app is where changes are immediately noticeable. First comes Contact Poster which is basically a picture you set for yourself and others see full-screen when they get a call from you. Cool! Then you have NameDrop, another new trick where you bring two iPhones close to exchange contacts, without having to manually do anything. The Messages app now supports stickers and live stickers, which you can easily create from your own Live Photos, adding a personal touch.
Other iOS 17 novelties include Standby Mode, turning your iPhone into a mini home hub while it’s charging, and there is a bunch of other improvements too like interactive widgets, mood tracking in the Health app, a brand new journaling app, and more.
That’s one of the reasons why even used iPhones maintain their price for longer than other counterparts - the long software support.
iOS 17 brings quite a few new features with the Phone, Messages and FaceTime apps getting bigger updates than usual. Oh, and autocorrect is finally getting a lot better!
The Phone app is where changes are immediately noticeable. First comes Contact Poster which is basically a picture you set for yourself and others see full-screen when they get a call from you. Cool! Then you have NameDrop, another new trick where you bring two iPhones close to exchange contacts, without having to manually do anything. The Messages app now supports stickers and live stickers, which you can easily create from your own Live Photos, adding a personal touch.
Other iOS 17 novelties include Standby Mode, turning your iPhone into a mini home hub while it’s charging, and there is a bunch of other improvements too like interactive widgets, mood tracking in the Health app, a brand new journaling app, and more.
Apple updates its iPhones for at least five years and it has the best track record in the industry in that regard, so the iPhone 11 Pro likely has one or two more updates to come still, but of course the 15 Pro is more future-proof in that regard.
As for connectivity, the iPhone 11 Pro does not support 5G which is not much of a problem currently, but might be an issue in the future.
The 15 Pro also has the cool new Emergency SOS via satellite feature, which might be a lifesaver in critical situation where you have no cellular coverage.
Camera
48MP magic and new features like Cinematic Mode make a difference
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
On the back of both the 15 Pro and the 11 Pro you find a triple camera system, but just look at the size difference: those cameras on the newer 15 Pro are so much bigger.
That's because of the larger sensors used, but essentially, the systems are similar: you've got a main, an ultra-wide and a zoom camera.
The zoom camera is a 2X one on the 11 Pro, and 3X on the 15 Pro, but then you have a bunch of new focal lengths thanks to sensor cropping on the 15 Pro: you have 1.2X, you have 1.5X, and you do have 2X, all with excellent quality.
Main Camera
The big upgrade for most users however is that 48-megapixel main camera. It defaults to 24-megapixel photos, much more detailed than the 12-megapixel images from the 11 Pro. You can also shoot in the full 48-megapixel resolution, but those files are quite large.
Apple has also added quite a few new features and improvements.
Portrait Mode
Portrait Mode works better and you can shoot 2X and 3X portraits on the 15 Pro, while on the 11 Pro you only have 2X.
Ultra-wide
Colors from the iPhone 11 Pro ultra-wide camera appear a bit pale, and you don't have too much detail in the image compared to the improved photo on the 15 Pro.
There is a huge improvement in how much light the ultra-wide captures at night. The shot from the iPhone 11 Pro is practically unusable, while the image from the iPhone 15 Pro captures all of the detail in the scene.
Selfies
Video Quality
You have Cinematic Mode that blurs the background in videos and actually works very well on the 15 Pro. Again, not available on the 11 Pro.
And for video, you get a new Spatial video option that combines footage from the ultra-wide and main cameras for a video with built-in depth recording. You can then use these video files and view them imersively using the Apple Vision Pro headset.
Audio Quality and Haptics
Apple has made huge leaps in audio quality with the last few generations of iPhones and those switching from the iPhone 11 Pro will definitely notice.
The loudspeaker setup is still practically the same with a bottom firing main speaker and a helper speaker in the earpiece, but the quality you get out of it is improved with richer, boomier sound on the newer generation with a lot better coverage of the lower frequencies.
As for the haptics, no changes! The Taptic Engine might be old, but it is still the industry standard for pleasing, well-balanced vibration feedback on a phone.
Battery Life and Charging
Both still require overnight charging, but the 15 Pro lasts longer
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
The larger size of the iPhone 15 Pro allows Apple to use a larger battery.
The iPhone 15 Pro comes with a 3,274 mAh battery size, roughly 7% larger than the 3,050 mAh battery on the iPhone 11 Pro.
We also have the official battery life numbers for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro (coming from Apple):
| Battery Life | iPhone 15 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Battery Size | 3,274 mAh | 3,050 mAh |
| Video Playback | 23 hours | 18 hours |
| Video Streaming | 20 | 11 |
| Audio Playback | 75 | 65 |
As you can see, the 15 Pro indeed lasts longer, but the difference is not quite massive and both need to be charged overnight most days.
Let's take a look at what we have measured with the actual devices though.
PhoneArena Battery Test Results:
As you can see, there is quite a substantial difference in the battery life in favor of the newer 15 Pro.
Speaking of charging, you've got the new USB-C port on the iPhone 15 Pro, a welcome change as most other electronics also use the very same port. However, charging speeds have not really improved much: you get 23W speeds on the 15 Pro, and 18W speeds on the 11 Pro.
Both phones also have wireless charging support, but the 15 Pro uses magnets and is faster, at up to 15W speeds, compared to half that on the 11 Pro.
Specs Comparison
Curious about every individual spec of these two phones? Check out our in-depth iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 11 Pro specs comparison, or just look at the quick highlights in the table right below.
| iPhone 15 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Size, weight | 146.6 x 70.6 x 8.25 mm 188 g | 144 x 71.4 x 8.1 mm 188 g |
| Screen | 6.1" OLED 120Hz ProMotion | 5.8" OLED 60Hz |
| Processor | A17 Pro 3nm | A16 Bionic 5nm |
| RAM, Storage | 8/128GB 8/256GB 8/512GB 8/1TB LPDDR5 | 4/64GB 4/256GB 4/512GB - LPDDR4 |
| Cameras | 48MP main 12MP ultra 12MP 3X zoom 12MP front | 12MP main 12MP ultra 12MP 2X zoom 12MP front |
| Battery | 3200 mAh* | 3046 mAh |
| Charging | USB-C 23W wired MagSafe | Lightning 18W wired 7.5W wireless |
Also take a look at our in-depth iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 11 Pro specs comparison where we go into a lot of detail about all those individual hardware components and specs.
Summary and Final Verdict
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
At the end of the day, the iPhone 15 Pro is clearly a massive upgrade, but at the same time the essence of the iPhone experience remains roughly the same and it has a welcome familiarity to it.
The main changes you should care about are the new A17 Pro chip, the 120Hz ProMotion, the camera improvements and higher resolution photos, as well as a bunch of other quality of life improvements like a USB-C port, Action button and more.
You probably already know it if you are using the iPhone 11 Pro: it's time to upgrade. The iPhone 15 Pro is a great time to do so. However, if you only care about battery life and the fundamental iPhone experience, and don't care too much about photo quality and faster refresh rates, well, we guess you can keep on rocking that iPhone 11 Pro which still runs on up-to-date software.
So... are you upgrading? And what is the number one feature that you are looking to see Apple improve in an iPhone?
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