Apple is in the strange position of having to slowly improve a product while also trying to reinvent it.

Some say their success requires them making small, evolutionary steps seem revolutionary. I don't quite agree with that.

As iPhones become better and better over the years, small steps eventually bring tip-over points, when technology starts to enable things that we couldn't imagine years before. These developments enable not mere steps, but leaps forward: the iPhone X's all-screen form factor and Face ID; iPhone 7's Portrait mode; last year's Dynamic Island and 48 megapixel main camera.

So here's iPhone 15 Pro Max. This year brings a leap in materials and silicon, but marks an evolutionary photography step. Or does it?

Intro note: Why should you believe me? I am the design half of Lux, and we make Halide, the most powerful pro camera for iPhone. I'm also a freelance professional photographer.

iPhone 15 Pro Max

I have to get this out of the way: I find physical camera design important. It seems superficial, but camera design has been a playground and muse for artists and designers through the history of photography. There's nothing more magical to design than a box that traps light and converts it to creativity.