iPhone 15 Pro Max vs OnePlus 15T

iPhone 15 Pro Max

Apple

8.8

Best iPhone of 2023, transformative titanium + 5x periscope + USB-C

OnePlus 15T

OnePlus

8.2

Compact battery champion

iPhone 15 Pro Max

What Reviewers Agree On

Grade-5 titanium frame makes it ~20g lighter than the 14 Pro Max — most-praised in-hand feel of any iPhone yet (221g)
A17 Pro 3nm chip with hardware ray tracing — fastest mobile silicon at launch, future-proofs for Apple Intelligence on iOS 18
5x Tetraprism periscope telephoto (120mm) is Pro Max exclusive — first iPhone to break past 3x optical, with computational zoom to 25x
USB-C 3.0 finally arrives on iPhone (10Gbps on Pro/Max only — standard 15 caps at USB 2.0 speeds)
Customizable Action Button replaces the mute switch — opens camera, shortcut, focus mode, voice memo, magnifier and more

Pros & Cons

iPhone 15 Pro Max

Pros

Grade-5 titanium frame makes it ~20g lighter than the 14 Pro Max — most-praised in-hand feel of any iPhone yet (221g)
A17 Pro 3nm chip with hardware ray tracing — fastest mobile silicon at launch, future-proofs for Apple Intelligence on iOS 18
5x Tetraprism periscope telephoto (120mm) is Pro Max exclusive — first iPhone to break past 3x optical, with computational zoom to 25x
USB-C 3.0 finally arrives on iPhone (10Gbps on Pro/Max only — standard 15 caps at USB 2.0 speeds)
Customizable Action Button replaces the mute switch — opens camera, shortcut, focus mode, voice memo, magnifier and more

Detailed Comparison

Design & Build

iPhone 15 Pro Max

Grade-5 titanium frame drops weight ~20g to 221g — the headline change of the year. Slimmer bezels, contoured edges, USB-C port and customizable Action Button replace the mute switch. The most refined iPhone in-hand feel yet.

Grade-5 titanium frame replaces stainless steel — drops weight from 240g (14 Pro Max) to 221g (~20g lighter, ~10% lighter).
Slimmer bezels make the 6.7-inch display almost edge-to-edge; contoured edges with a slightly thicker frame around the back camera bump.
Customizable Action Button replaces the mute switch — opens camera, focus mode, voice memo, shortcut, magnifier, accessibility tools.
USB-C port replaces Lightning — Pro Max specifically gets USB-C 3.0 (10Gbps), enabling faster file transfers from connected SSDs/cameras.

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OnePlus 15T

What Reviewers Agree On

The 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon 'Glacier' battery is unprecedented in a 6.32-inch body and delivers roughly 1.5 days of real-world endurance — easily the longest battery life in the compact-flagship class.
Build quality is genuine flagship-grade: metal frame, IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K dust + water resistance, ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, and a 91% screen-to-body ratio with ~1.1 mm symmetric bezels.
The 6.32-inch 165 Hz 1.5K AMOLED reaches the advertised 1,800 nits in standard measurement and is marketed up to 3,600 nits peak — making it the only true 165 Hz compact-flagship display on the market.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 + 16GB LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM hits Geekbench multi-core ~10,976 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited ~29,901 — top-tier flagship synthetic performance in a sub-200g chassis.
100W wired SuperVOOC and 50W wireless charging mean even the giant battery refills fast.
The new 3.5x periscope telephoto with OIS is a meaningful step up from the OnePlus 13T's limited 2x zoom and is well-suited to portraits at the classic 85 mm focal length.

Deal Breakers

China-only launch with no confirmed global release — ColorOS instead of OxygenOS, no eSIM support, no WearOS support, and missing European LTE band 20 and band 32 make it a compromise outside China.
Notebookcheck measured pronounced sustained-performance throttling of over 50% in 3DMark stress tests, with surface temperatures climbing past 46 °C; SuperSaf hit 50 °C on the back during Wildlife Extreme and saw scores drop from 6,990 to 3,743 inside a single loop.
No ultrawide camera at all — the 'triple camera' is just main + 16MP front + 3.5x periscope telephoto, which is a downgrade versus the OnePlus 15 for anyone who shoots landscapes, group photos or wide-angle video.
Charging port is still USB 2.0 in 2026, which SuperSaf calls 'a choice and not a good one' on a flagship-tier device at this price.
No built-in MagSafe-style magnets — wireless-charging accessories require a separate magnetic case to align properly.

OnePlus 15T

Pros

The 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon 'Glacier' battery is unprecedented in a 6.32-inch body and delivers roughly 1.5 days of real-world endurance — easily the longest battery life in the compact-flagship class.
Build quality is genuine flagship-grade: metal frame, IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K dust + water resistance, ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, and a 91% screen-to-body ratio with ~1.1 mm symmetric bezels.
The 6.32-inch 165 Hz 1.5K AMOLED reaches the advertised 1,800 nits in standard measurement and is marketed up to 3,600 nits peak — making it the only true 165 Hz compact-flagship display on the market.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 + 16GB LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM hits Geekbench multi-core ~10,976 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited ~29,901 — top-tier flagship synthetic performance in a sub-200g chassis.
100W wired SuperVOOC and 50W wireless charging mean even the giant battery refills fast.
The new 3.5x periscope telephoto with OIS is a meaningful step up from the OnePlus 13T's limited 2x zoom and is well-suited to portraits at the classic 85 mm focal length.

Cons

China-only launch with no confirmed global release — ColorOS instead of OxygenOS, no eSIM support, no WearOS support, and missing European LTE band 20 and band 32 make it a compromise outside China.
Notebookcheck measured pronounced sustained-performance throttling of over 50% in 3DMark stress tests, with surface temperatures climbing past 46 °C; SuperSaf hit 50 °C on the back during Wildlife Extreme and saw scores drop from 6,990 to 3,743 inside a single loop.
No ultrawide camera at all — the 'triple camera' is just main + 16MP front + 3.5x periscope telephoto, which is a downgrade versus the OnePlus 15 for anyone who shoots landscapes, group photos or wide-angle video.
Charging port is still USB 2.0 in 2026, which SuperSaf calls 'a choice and not a good one' on a flagship-tier device at this price.
No built-in MagSafe-style magnets — wireless-charging accessories require a separate magnetic case to align properly.

OnePlus 15T

OnePlus inherits the design language of the OnePlus 15 — metal frame, glass back, micro-arc oxidation finish on the rails — and shrinks it into a 6.32-inch, 194g body that's roughly iPhone 17-sized but with more than twice the battery capacity. IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K rating, ultrasonic fingerprint sensor and ~1.1mm symmetric bezels are unambiguous flagship moves. Reviewers debate whether 6.32-inch genuinely counts as compact in 2026.

Same premium design as the OnePlus 15 — metal frame, glass back, IP69 water resistance — feels high-quality in the hand at just 194g.
Dimensions and weight are similar to an iPhone 17, but the 15T packs more than twice the battery capacity with a ~91% screen-to-body ratio.
Full-level water resistance and a fast ultrasonic fingerprint sensor make the 15T noticeably more confident outdoors than the OnePlus 13T was.
The metal frame uses a micro-arc oxidation process with a 50/50 weight distribution — it doesn't feel top-heavy and one-handed use is genuinely comfortable.
The pure cocoa colorway is OnePlus's first-ever brown finish and stands out next to the standard 15's black/violet/sandstorm options.
Calling a 6.32-inch phone 'compact' just normalizes the new baseline — at this size the only thing keeping it small is OnePlus refusing to make the body any larger, not any genuine effort to shrink the footprint.
r/gadgets commenters reject the compact framing outright — '6.3" screen is NOT compact' is the top reply on the official-first-look thread, with multiple users asking for a true 5.x-inch option.

Display

iPhone 15 Pro Max

6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED with ProMotion 120Hz adaptive refresh and a 2000-nit peak brightness — the best display Apple has shipped. Dynamic Island carries over from the 14 Pro Max with no major changes.

6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED, 2796×1290, ProMotion 120Hz adaptive (1-120Hz), 2000-nit peak HDR — best iPhone display ever shipped.
Display brightness easily readable in direct sunlight — meaningful improvement over the 14 Pro Max's 1600-nit peak.
Dynamic Island carries over from 14 Pro Max with no major feature changes — still the iPhone's most distinctive UI element.
ProMotion 120Hz on the Pro is 'significantly smoother' than the standard iPhone 15's locked 60Hz — a real-world differentiator.

OnePlus 15T

The 6.32-inch 165 Hz 1.5K AMOLED panel is the only true 165 Hz compact-flagship display on the market and pairs that refresh rate with a measured 1,800 nits brightness, 460 ppi pixel density, Crystal Shield Glass, and HDR10+/Dolby Vision support. Native 165 Hz support in popular FPS games is a real differentiator. Notebookcheck flags 120.7 Hz PWM dimming that can cause eyestrain for sensitive users.

The 6.32-inch 165 Hz AMOLED panel achieves a very good 460 ppi pixel density and the advertised maximum brightness of 1,800 nits in standard measurement.
Display sharpness is plenty competent — sharp, smooth, and easily one of the strongest spec sheets you can get on a compact phone.
Native 165 Hz support in COD, Delta Force and Peacekeeper Elite makes this the only small-screen flagship pushing a full 165 Hz gaming experience.
OnePlus claims up to 3,600 nits peak brightness — even on a playground in direct sunlight you can still see everything clearly, no squinting required.
Specifications confirm a 6.32-inch 1.5K (1216 × 2640) resolution with 165 Hz refresh — a configuration unique to the 15T in the compact class.
Display backlight flickers at just 120.7 Hz under PWM dimming — low enough that the flickering may cause eyestrain and headaches for sensitive users after extended use.

Performance

iPhone 15 Pro Max

First-ever 3nm A17 Pro chip with hardware ray tracing, 8GB RAM and NVMe storage — the fastest mobile silicon at launch. Launch overheating issues plagued early units but iOS 17.0.3 mitigated. Future-proofs the phone for Apple Intelligence on iOS 18+.

A17 Pro is Apple's first 3nm chip, with 8GB RAM and NVMe storage — fastest mobile silicon at launch, hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
Launch overheating: A17 Pro ran hot during gaming and 4K recording in the first weeks — iOS 17.0.3 update mitigated but didn't fully eliminate.
Console-grade games (Resident Evil 4, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Death Stranding) now run natively on the A17 Pro — first phone to support them.
Apple Intelligence compatibility — A17 Pro is the minimum chip required for iOS 18.1 Apple Intelligence; future-proofs the phone for 2024+ AI features.
In 2025, A17 Pro 'is an absolute beast' and 'handles everything you throw at it' — performance has aged extremely well.

OnePlus 15T

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 paired with 12-16GB LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM delivers flagship synthetic scores — Notebookcheck recorded Geekbench multi-core 10,976 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited 29,901, on par with the larger Xiaomi 17 and Honor Magic8 Pro Air. The problem is sustained: in the 3DMark Wild Life stress test the GPU drops over 50% and the back of the phone hits 50 °C, which both Notebookcheck and SuperSaf flag as a deal-breaker for long gaming sessions.

Geekbench 6 multi-core hits 10,976 — flagship-tier and within 1% of the average 8 Elite Gen 5 result, so there is no compromise on the chipset versus larger phones.
3DMark Wild Life Unlimited hits 29,901 — 5% above the 8 Elite Gen 5 average and ahead of the Xiaomi 17 with the same chip.
In the 3DMark stress tests the OnePlus 15T shows a sharp drop in performance of over 50%, which significantly lowers our rating.
Wildlife Extreme stress test scores swung from 6,990 best loop to 3,743 worst loop in a single run — the chart is 'quite a bit of a bumpy ride' and performance mode did nothing to stabilize it.
Surface temperatures hit 48.3 °C on the back during stress testing and continued climbing to 50 °C near the camera bump — about 45 °C internal — which seems to be the phone's thermal limit.