iPhone 15 Pro Max Problems in 2026: Heat, Battery, iOS 27

Twenty minutes of navigation, and the frame by the camera bump is too warm to hold comfortably. Overnight the battery fell from 100% to 78% with nothing open. Battery Health says 83%. Those three things make up most of the iPhone 15 Pro Max problems people write in about in 2026, three years after launch, and they’re connected more closely than they look.

The phone is now a very common used buy, so there’s also a section on what to check before you hand over money.

It runs hot: a launch-week story that repeats after every update

Heat has followed this model from the start. In late September 2023 Apple admitted the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max were running warmer than expected and gave three reasons: extra background activity in the first days after setup or restore, a bug in iOS 17, and updates to apps such as Instagram, Uber and Asphalt 9 that were overloading the system. iOS 17.0.3, out in early October 2023, carried the note that it “addresses an issue that may cause iPhone to run warmer than expected.” Apple said the fix would not cut the A17 Pro’s performance.

The same thing happens in a smaller way each time you install a big update. After iOS 27 the phone rebuilds its search index, re-analyses your photos and downloads new system assets, so a day or two of warmth is normal. Heat that lasts past that usually comes from one app, from gaming while charging, or from a tired battery.

What it looks like: the frame near the cameras gets hot during video calls, games or maps; the screen dims on its own; charging pauses with “Charging On Hold”; and in bad cases you get the “Temperature: iPhone needs to cool down” screen.

1. Install the latest update in Settings › General › Software Update, then update your apps. The 2023 episode showed app updates matter as much as iOS ones.
2. Open Settings › Battery and read the per-app list for 24 hours and 10 days. Instagram and Facebook are frequent offenders, so look at their “Background” time.
3. Switch off Background App Refresh for heavy apps in Settings › General › Background App Refresh.
4. Don’t game or shoot 4K video on the charger, and take a thick case off while charging.
5. Use a proper USB-C charger and cable, not a cheap uncertified one.
6. Hot while idle and unplugged? Restart. If it’s still hot, back up and ask Apple Support to run diagnostics.

Bugs that affect every model on the new software are collected in our iOS 27 problems and fixes guide.

Losing 20% overnight since iOS 27

Drain complaints picked up when iOS 27 arrived in September 2026. Cybernews gathered user reports, including a 15 Pro Max owner at 84% battery health and around 828 cycles who saw “higher battery drain than before,” and others whose phones drained overnight with Airplane Mode and Low Power Mode both on. TechSpot’s view is that most post-update drain is temporary: worst in the first 24 to 48 hours, sometimes lasting two or three days while the phone indexes and prepares data for Siri and Apple Intelligence.

1. Leave it on Wi-Fi and a charger overnight for two or three nights so those tasks finish.
2. Restart once they’re done.
3. Find any app with heavy background use in Settings › Battery and rein it in.
4. Go through Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services and set apps you rarely open to “Never” or “While Using.”
5. Remove widgets and Live Activities you don’t look at.
6. Still odd after a week? The update probably isn’t to blame any more. Check the battery itself.

Battery Health near 80%: what the number means and when to replace

Apple says the iPhone 15 lineup’s battery is built to keep 80% of its original capacity at 1,000 full cycles. Older models were rated at 500. A launch-day 15 Pro Max charged every night could be close to that mark now.

Two places to look. Settings › Battery › Battery Health shows Maximum Capacity and whether peak performance is being limited. Settings › General › About shows Cycle Count, Manufacture Date and First Use, which the iPhone 15 series was the first to display.

Apple treats a battery at or below 80% as consumed, and an official battery service makes sense at that point. Don’t wait if the phone shuts down at 20 or 30%, Battery Health shows “Service”, or it runs much hotter than it used to. Go to Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider: a non-genuine battery appears as “Unknown Part” in Settings › General › About › Parts and Service History, and that knocks money off the resale price. Each of those messages is explained in iPhone battery health and parts history.

With AppleCare+ still active, a battery under 80% is usually replaced at no extra cost. An iPhone warranty check shows if that cover is still active.

Set a charge limit so the next battery lasts longer

The 15 series was the first iPhone with a hard charge limit, and iOS 18 and later add more steps. In Settings › Battery › Charging pick 80%, 85%, 90%, 95% or 100%. Holding at 80 to 85% keeps the battery out of its high-voltage range for longer, which slows wear. If you plan to keep the phone two more years, this is the setting that matters most.

With the 80% limit the phone still goes to 100% now and then to recalibrate. Switch the limit back to 100% before a long travel day.

Stutter, frame drops and Home Screen crashes on iOS 27

Cybernews’ round-up also lists animation stutter, dropped frames in apps such as Reddit and WhatsApp, and Home Screen crashes while editing widgets on iOS 27. Those reports cover several models, not only this one.

1. Install the newest iOS 27 point release. iOS 27.0.1 fixed several early bugs, and Apple is testing iOS 27.2.
2. Keep 10 to 15% of storage free (Settings › General › iPhone Storage).
3. Restart. If the screen is frozen, force restart: volume up, volume down, then hold the side button.
4. Turn on Settings › Accessibility › Motion › Reduce Motion as a stopgap for jerky animation.
5. Last resort: back up, then Settings › General › Transfer or Reset iPhone › Reset › Reset All Settings. Your data stays, your settings go.

Green tint or a ghost keyboard on the screen

Rarer, and more serious. One owner on Apple’s community forum described a 15 Pro Max display that suddenly went green. A hard reset cleared it for a few hours, then Apple sent the phone to a service centre. Back in October 2023, shortly after launch, PhoneArena also wrote up a handful of reports of keyboard “burn-in” on new units.

A screenshot is the quickest test. Take one while the tint or ghost image is visible. If the screenshot looks clean, the fault is in the panel, not the software.

Before booking a repair, force restart once and rule out settings that change colour: Night Shift and True Tone in Settings › Display & Brightness, colour filters under Settings › Accessibility › Display & Text Size. If it survives all of that, it needs a display repair at Apple. A third-party screen will show up in Parts and Service History.

Checking a used iPhone 15 Pro Max before you pay

Since the expensive faults on this model are battery and display, that’s where to spend your five minutes with the seller.

• Open Battery Health and Cycle Count yourself. Anything at or below 85%, price a battery service into your offer.
• Look through Parts and Service History for an unknown display or battery.
• Run a full Apple GSX report for warranty, replacement history and lock status, plus a GSMA blacklist check so you don’t buy a phone reported lost or stolen.
• Make sure Find My is off and the model, colour and storage match the listing.
• Take a screenshot on a white background and look for a tint the screenshot doesn’t show.

The full in-person routine is in our used iPhone buying checklist, and which used iPhone to buy compares the 15 Pro Max with newer models.