I surely thought so too.

What I was expecting that the 15 Pro did not deliver:

• +20 or +40% bump in battery life vs. the aging battery of my 11 Pro.
  → I can’t really feel a difference, which means that the battery life feels actually worse since the 15 Pro is new and my 11 Pro was 4 yo. Apple’s official specs mention +25% battery life with video playback, +80% with video streaming and +15% with music playback…
• A huge gap in picture quality. Macro mode is amazing and most photos feature more details especially in daylight, but as I mentioned in my original post, the level of detail increased but no in dramatic proportions. And when it does, sometimes the AI messes up the details… I took several shots with 11 Pro vs. 15 Pro and sometimes I actually found the 11 Pro more accurate, despite the 4x lower pixel count. That was unexpected.
• I love the x2 zoom and expected a lot from the x3 zoom, but the image in x3 looks very bad even in daylight so I seldom use it.

The only reason I’m keeping the 15 Pro and didn’t go for a 13 Mini instead is the x2 zoom, which I can’t live without.

My dream phone would be a Mini with the current Pro features. Then I wouldn’t mind the specs stagnation, but the smaller, lighter, one-handed friendly form factor would make a huge difference in my daily use.

True, thanks for your correction. I meant to say that it’s really a gadget compared to other features (but then what is an iPhone…).
As a UX/UI designer I’m actually amazed at how smart and smooth it is; but I just don’t find it useful because I’m usually using my phone either in apps, or on the locked screen. Although I use Spotify and Youtube a lot, outside of the app I mostly interact with them from the locked screen.
The one thing I really use the Island for is to end phone calls.

You definitely made a big jump here!

From 11 to 11 Pro is a nice bump.
From 11 to 11 Pro Max is a nice jump.
From 11 to 14 Pro Max is a gap.

But had you upgraded from a 11 Pro Max, I’m not so sure that you’d feel that huge of an upgrade.

Same here with 11 Pro → 15 Pro “upgrade”, I can totally relate (in a slightly less concise way).

I can’t disagree with you. Coming from a 11 Pro, I upgraded to a 15 Pro, but I can’t say that it changes my life, at all.

(Grab a much and a blanket, heavy-hearted rang incoming.)

1. Initially I wanted a 13 Mini because I prefer the Mini format. But I didn’t want to give up on the x2 zoom, and I was excited for the x3 that only Pro models offer since 13.
   → I’m still happy with my x2 zoom, but the x3 zoom is absolute crap. It feels like a digital zoom of the x2 image. Barely use it.
2. The macro mode is a welcome addition as I love capturing flowers and insects. However, I can’t say that I feel a huge gain in photo quality since my 11 Pro. I did notice that the photos contain much more pixels, but on the other end, I found out that the AI smoothing algorithm tends to erase details completely. Some details that used to be pixellated are now simply blurry… It depends on the case but even for night mode, I can’t say I’m impressed with the photo quality. Too much AI going on. My X-T3 is nowhere near retirement, that’s for sure.
3. I was concerned that my 11 Pro’s battery, after 4 years of distinguished services, was becoming weak (the battery health indicator was bugged though, it’s been stuck at 92% for 2 years). And I read that with iPhone 12 and 13, the battery life had dramatically improved. It turns out that my 15 Pro feels it actually has the same if not less battery life. I’m really surprised by this, I was hoping that OS updates would fix it but… I’m still waiting.
4. I was curious about the Always-On Display. Turns out I find it annoying and distracting, because some notifications that you keep for later stay visible, which can be confused with new notifications.
5. Dynamic Island is a nice, well-executed gimmick, but still a gimmick. And I actually preferred the infamous notch: it sucked as well, but it was less distracting that this huge blob at the top of the screen.
6. Action button sounds great… but after experimenting a bit with it, I’ve reset it back to the default mode: Silence. Not sure that was worth the form factor update…
7. I never use cases because they’re annoying and I’m rarely clusmy. I thought 15 Pro would be more resistant than my unbreakable 11 Pro (almost no scratch after 4 years of good care with a few 1m-high drops on wood and asphalt). Turns out my first fall last week already left more marks than any of the falls from my 11 Pro. 11 Pro was the sturdiest phone I’ve ever seen, yet so elegant. 15 Pro feels like a precious, malleable thing.

What I did get in the end:

• Pro Motion sure is pleasant, and iOS does feel a bit snappier than it was on my 11 Pro. But that’s an improvement you mostly feel when you go back to your former device, which was fine as is.
• I like the fact that all pictures store “Portrait mode” data just in case. Having had use of it yet, though.
• Better Wi-Fi, and 5G compatibility. But I’m very happy with good 4G, so I didn’t care that much about it.
• USB-C! Finally. Can’t wait to retire my AirPods Pro and AppleTV remotes to throw away my last Lightning cables.

Seeing how big this post is, it sounds like I’m definitely heavy-hearted about this change!

But in the end I didn’t return the 15 Pro because I gave my 11 Pro to my mother, who upgraded from a 6, which is a monster upgrade for her and she enjoys it a lot.

So to me, the satisfaction in this purchase mostly comes from the warranty renewal, more than the phone itself.

I wouldn’t recommend anyone with an iPhone less than 4-5 years old to upgrade to a 15 Pro or even 15 unless theirs is in poor condition, or if they’re sure that they can really exploit some of the advanced features like the video features or the computing power, which 99% of users don’t need.

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A few years ago when the 8 and X came out, wanting to upgrade my own iPhone 6, I bought the 8 because the X didn’t appeal to me and sounded too expensive. I returned the 8 after 3 days, seeing absolutely no different except a +20% weight increase. I bought the first SE instead, going back to my favorite form factor (4/4S/5/5S), and was super happy with it. Sometimes you just have to listen to reason I guess.