Oh Apple, never change. For the uninitiated, Apple has added ProRes recording since the iPhone 13 Pro series, with a limitation on the baseline 128GB storage model. If you wanted to record ProRes at 4K, you would need to plump up for the 256GB or larger options. And it seems that the limitation still applies to the iPhone 15 Pro series, albeit with a workaround, thanks to the new USB-C port.
128GB iPhone 15 Pro is still limited to ProRes 1080p30
Source: MacRumors
Oddly enough, they also hid this limitation away from their website, but it’s still there in the Apple Store app when comparing iPhones. With Apple adding 4K60 (up from 4K30) ProRes to the all-new iPhone 15 Pro series, it does somewhat make sense to not allow it on the 128GB model, since ProRes at 4K60 will probably chew through your storage like no tomorrow, especially if you only have 128GB of it.
Of course, you can scream all about this being an artificial limitation to get users to get the higher capacities, but it’s a rather practical one. But, if you are planning on getting the iPhone 15 Pro for its ProRes video capability, and you can only afford the 128GB capacity, don’t fret, because Apple somehow created a workaround for their own limitation. You can actually get the 128GB option, and all you will need to do is shell out for some fast external storage, like the Kingston XS1000.
The workaround, thanks to USB-C
You see, in a somewhat surprising move, is actually allowing users to sidestep their handicap for the lowest storage variant. With the new USB-C port in the iPhone 15 Pro series, you get up to USB 3 10Gbps speeds, and to take advantage of that, you can directly record ProRes 4K60 videos to external storage drives. This applies to the 128GB iPhone 15 Pro as well, so you do get the same capabilities, but you will need to have a storage drive dangling off the end of your phone.
With that said, given that one minute of 10-bit ProRes 4K video is approximately 6GB, even the 1TB iPhone 15 Pro will quickly seem small to creators. So I think if you are serious about it, you will get an external drive regardless, so this limitation is barely one. Quite surprising, coming from Apple, to be honest. In any case, if you are considering the iPhone 15 Pro Max, this limitation doesn’t apply because the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts from 256GB this year.
iPhone 15 Pro Series Price in Malaysia
The iPhone 15 Pro will be available for pre-orders starting from 12am tonight (22nd September), and will be on shelves this 29th September.
iPhone 15 Pro – 6.1″
Pre-order the iPhone 15 Pro via this link: https://s.lazada.com.my/s.6HHvV
- 128GB: RM5,499
- 256GB: RM5,999
- 512GB: RM6,999
- 1TB: RM7,999
iPhone 15 Pro Max – 6.7″
Pre-order the iPhone 15 Pro Max via this link: https://s.lazada.com.my/s.6HHvK
- 256GB: RM6,499
- 512GB: RM7,499
- 1TB: RM8,499