Apologies for the David Guetta reference, but the titanium frame of the new iPhone 15 Pro series is really one of its headline features. Thanks to the new material, the iPhone 15 Pro is now lighter, sturdier, and dare I say, nicer to hold too despite its tendency to pick up fingerprints easily.

The other big feature of the iPhone 15 Pro is the switch to USB-C, making it much easier for, say, Android users – who I imagine have a ton of USB-C cables lying around – to transition to the new iPhone. These changes, paired with faster performance and improved camera capability, do make the new iPhone 15 Pro quite exciting.

Naturally, the packaging of the iPhone 15 Pro remains minimal. Inside the box is the phone itself, some documentations, an Apple sticker, and a new USB-C to USB-C braided cable. Compared to the previous Lightning cable without any braiding, the new USB-C cable does feel more substantial and durable.

Speaking of which, I love how the iPhone 15 Pro feels in my hands. Even though the titanium frame on this Black Titanium model picks up fingerprints easily, I like the matte, brushed frame. Tipping the scales at 187g, the iPhone 15 Pro is also exactly 19g lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro.

While that doesn’t sound like a huge difference, the 15 Pro does feel noticeably lighter.

And then we have the new Action button on the left side of the iPhone 15 Pro, replacing the ring/silent switch toggle. By default, it still acts as a mute and unmute button. This is done with a long press of the Action button, and it can be customised to do different things, such as launching the camera.

Chances are, I will leave the Action button to be a mute switch, though it’s definitely nice to have the flexibility of changing what the button does. The fact that it is now a button instead of a switch makes it much easier to mute and unmute the phone too, which I absolutely love.

Performance wise, the iPhone 15 Pro is powered by the latest Apple A17 Pro chip. Compared to last year’s A16 Bionic, the A17 Pro is said to offer 20% better GPU performance with 10% faster CPU. Given just how capable the A16 Pro already is, these are very impressive numbers.

However, I didn’t put the performance of the iPhone 15 Pro through its paces just yet; I will leave that for the full review. For what it’s worth, I am excited to start gaming on the new iPhone. The fact that I can play full-fledged, console-level games like Death Stranding and the new Resident Evil 4 on a smartphone is a very exciting prospect for me personally.

Display quality of the iPhone 15 Pro remains as excellent as ever. The 6.1-inch 2556 x 1179 Super Retina XDR OLED display with ProMotion – offering adaptive 120Hz refresh rate – still offers vibrant colours with deep blacks and wide viewing angles. It’s also worth noting that the 15 Pro’s screen bezels are thinner than last year’s 14 Pro, giving it a sleeker all-screen design.

Finally, there’s the camera performance of the iPhone 15 Pro. Though it still has a similar triple camera system (48MP main + 12MP ultra-wide + 12MP telephoto) as its predecessor, there are some changes to the image processing that results in…a slight improvement to the image quality.

At least, that’s what I can tell in my brief time photographing with the more – I’ll be sure to test the iPhone 15 Pro’s camera performance more thoroughly in the full review. In the meantime, here are some sample images:

Now, let’s talk about the pricing of the iPhone 15 Pro. Starting at RM5,499 for the 128GB model, the new phone sees a RM200 price hike for the Malaysian market. The price goes up to RM5,999 for the 256GB option, RM6,999 for 512GB, and finally, a cool RM7,999 for the 1TB model.

It goes without saying that the iPhone 15 Pro, as it has always been, is not an affordable phone. But for that kind of money, it is absolutely a premium phone through and through. It has solid build quality that feels great in the hands – especially the new titanium frame – the move to USB-C makes it much easier to get cables for the phone, and the new Action button adds a touch of customisation.

Yes, the iPhone 15 Pro isn’t remarkably different than last year’s iPhone 14 Pro. But the changes that Apple did bring to the table can be a big deal to some folks, especially the transition to USB-C. For me personally, I’m just excited to start gaming on the 15 Pro.

The A17 Pro chip is really something else, though I am cautious of the supposed overheating issues plaguing the new iPhone.