Apple announced its brand new products to the iPhone lineup at its ‘Wonderlust’ event on September 12 including – iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max, taking technology to the next level. The iPhone 15 series features the A16 Bionic chip with a 5-Core GPU, the same chip as the iPhone 14 Pro capable of handling up to 17 trillion operations in a second.
Here’s what you need to know about the iPhone 15 & iPhone 15 Plus:
Display & Design:
The iPhone 15 comes with a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR Display with a 2556‑by‑1179-pixel resolution at 460 PPI along with support for the Dynamic Island, first introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro series. The new iPhone 15 Display boasts a peak outdoor brightness of 2000 nits and peak HDR brightness of 1600 nits! The typical maximum brightness has also been bumped up to 1000 nits, which is a 20% increase over the 800 nits of maximum brightness on the iPhone 14. The Display on these new models also has a Ceramic Sheild, first introduced with the iPhone 12 Series in 2020. The iPhone 15 Plus offers the same design as the iPhone 15, but with a larger 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR Display with a resolution of 2796‑by‑1290-pixel resolution at 460 PPI, similar to the iPhone 14 Pro Max and a contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1. Last year, Apple introduced added a new feature to the iPhone 14 Pro called Dynamic Island. This has been carried over to the entire iPhone 15 lineup. The back of the iPhone features color-infused glass and the enclosure is made out of 75% recycled aluminum. Both these newly announced iPhones have IP68 water resistance of a maximum depth of 6 meters up to 30 minutes.
Performance & Battery:
The iPhone 15 & the iPhone 15 Plus are powered by the performance beast, the A16 Bionic Chip with a 5-Core GPU, which is the same chip used to power last year’s iPhone 14 Pro, and features 6GB of memory. The 4nm A16 Bionic chip has a 6-core CPU, out of which 2 are high-performance cores, and the other 4 are high-efficiency cores along with a 16-core Neural Engine. It has nearly 16 billion transistors and can perform 17 trillion operations in a second. Moreover, the A16 Bionic offers 50% more memory bandwidth than the A15 Bionic. The iPhone 14 offers up to 20 Hours of Video Streaming, which is the same as its predecessor. The iPhone 15 Plus offers up to 26 hours of Video Streaming, which is 6 Hours longer than the regular-sized iPhone 15, but it is still the same when compared to last year’s iPhone 14 Plus. Apple claims that both these iPhones are capable of All-Day Battery Life. However, do note that actual Battery Life might vary depending on the usage.
Camera:
The Cameras have received a lot of upgrades in this year’s regular iPhone 15 lineup. The iPhone 15 & iPhone 15 Plus offer a Diagonal Dual Camera System, with a Wide and an Ultra-Wide lens. Photos taken on the new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will be 24MP by default for super-high-resolution photos, powered by Smart HDR 5 and Photonic Engine. Reviewers are reporting the latter to be a significant improvement over Smart HDR 4. The new 48 MP 26mm Wide Camera with f/1.6 aperture now has a 2μm quad pixel sensor along with 100% Focus Pixels for faster autofocus. However, it still includes the first generation of sensor-shift optical image stabilization as the second generation is exclusive to the Pro models as of now. A new 2x Telephoto Zoom has been enabled on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus due to the new 48MP Main Wide Lens, which enables digital zoom of up to 10x, instead of just 5x on previous models. Moreover, with any of the iPhone 15 models, you can simply take a normal photo, and convert it into a Portrait in the Photos App.
According to Apple, “Next-generation portraits on iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus feature sharper detail, more vivid colors, and improved low-light performance. For the first time, users can take portraits without having to switch to Portrait mode. When there’s a person, dog, or cat in the frame, or when a user taps to focus, iPhone automatically captures depth information, so users can turn photos into stunning portraits later in the Photos app on iPhone, iPad, or Mac. For greater creative control, users can also adjust the focus point after the photo has been taken. Shooting at night gets better with improvements to Night mode, including sharper details and more vivid colors.”
Connectivity:
The iPhone 15 & iPhone 15 Plus offer superfast 5G Connectivity with mmWave Technology (mmWave only in select regions in the U.S.). It offers 25 sub‑6 GHz bands and 3 mmWave bands on the U.S. models because of the customized hardware design. A second-generation Ultra-Wide Band chip is also included with the iPhone 15 features 3 times more range and introduces the ability to use Precision Finding for Find My friends. They come with a USB-C port so you can charge all your devices with a single cable. Do note that the regular iPhone 15 models including the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus feature USB 2.0 transfer speeds of 480 Mbps. The USB-C port on these iPhones can now also reverse charge your AirPods or Apple Watch with 4.5 watts of power delivery. The AirPods Pro has also been updated to feature the USB-C Port for added convenience.
Along with these advancements, the iPhone 15 also extends the functionality of Emergency SOS via Satellite with Roadside Assistance. According to Apple, “Beginning in the U.S., when a user has car trouble and cellular and Wi-Fi coverage are not available, they can now connect to AAA, the country’s largest roadside assistance provider.5 An intuitive interface, including a short questionnaire to capture important details, will transmit the information via satellite so AAA can message with the user directly and dispatch help to their exact location. Access to Roadside Assistance via satellite will be included for free for two years. Service is covered according to AAA membership, but is also available separately for nonmembers.”
Emergency SOS via Satellite will also debut in Spain and Switzerland later this month, as announced by Apple at its “Wonderlust” event.
U.S. Models of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will be available without a physical sim tray and will run on Dual eSIM.
There are two advantages of this new change:
- Better Water Resistance: Fewer Open spaces on the iPhone will lead to better Water Resistance as there will be lower chances of Liquid seeping into your iPhone.
- Protection: If the iPhone ever gets lost or stolen, the eSIM cannot be removed, whereas the Physical Sim can be removed.
Pricing, Colors & Availability:
The iPhone 15 & iPhone 15 Plus will be available in five new finishes – Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Black. The iPhone 15 starts at $799 for 128GB, $899 for the 256GB variant, and $1,099 for the 512GB variant with special offers from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Without the offers from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, the 128GB variant costs $829, the 256GB variant costs $929, and the 512GB variant costs $1,129.
The iPhone 15 Plus starts at $899 for the 128GB base variant, $999 for the 256GB variant, and $1,199 for the 512GB variant with special offers from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Without the offers from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, the 128GB variant costs $929, the 256GB variant costs $1,029, and the 512GB variant costs $1,229. Both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus can now be pre-ordered with availability starting September 22nd. However, the dates might vary from region to region and depends on the availability of stocks.
Environment:
Apple claims that the iPhone 15 has been designed to minimize its impact on the environment even further. They state that the “iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are designed with the environment in mind. As Apple continues to work toward its 2030 goal of making every product carbon neutral — from design to manufacturing to customer use — the company is prioritizing clean electricity across the entire supply chain and designing products with recycled and other low-carbon materials. iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus now use even more recycled content, with 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery and 100 percent recycled copper in the main logic board, copper wire in the Taptic Engine, and copper foil in the inductive charger in MagSafe — all firsts for iPhone. Both models also include 75 percent recycled aluminum in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, and 100 percent recycled gold in the USB‑C connector as well as the gold plating and tin soldering in multiple printed circuit boards. The iPhone 15 lineup meets Apple’s high standards for energy efficiency and is free of mercury, PVC, and beryllium. Over 99 percent of the packaging is fiber-based, bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from its packaging by 2025.”
Along with this, Apple has also discontinued selling Leather Accessories for all its products and introduced new FineWoven accessories which use 68 percent post-consumer recycled content. Apple claims that FineWoven has significantly lower carbon emissions compared to leather. Read more about the new FineWoven Accessories here.
The iPhone 15 series is a significant step forward in terms of mobile technology and Apple will continue to improve its iPhone lineup every year. Which model are you planning to get? Let us know down in the comments or tweet/post to us at @appleosophy! Be sure to download the Appleosophy App from the App Store or visit our website to stay updated with the latest Apple News and Deals!
Author: Pururaj Dutta
Pururaj is the Vice President of Appleosophy and Silicon Report, in addition to being the Manager of popular Redfruit Media platforms such as TechPod Social and Apple Summit. His seasoned experience plays a pivotal role in the success of Redfruit Media, contributing significantly to shaping the ever-evolving tech landscape. As a tech aficionado, he enjoys exploring & reviewing new products, and sharing his insights with the community. With an unwavering passion for technology, Pururaj is committed to delivering accurate and insightful information to his readers.
