Every year, Apple introduces a new iPhone line, and its introduction is the most important event in the Apple calendar. iPhone sales are at the heart of the company’s portfolio and serve as the driver for accessories like Apple Watch and AirPods.
At its ‘Wonderlust’ launch event on September 12, Apple announced the launch of four new iPhone handsets: the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. In this article we reveal all of the key details you need to know about the new phones: their release date, price, tech specs, design changes and much more.
What are the new iPhones called?
There were rumors that Apple would create a new ‘Ultra’ branding at the top end, but this was inaccurate. Apple stuck with the same system as last year and went with:
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 15 release date
The iPhone 15-series handsets were announced at Apple’s Wonderlust event on September 12. You can pre-order from Apple’s website starting at 5:00 a.m. PDT this Friday (September 15), and they will appear in stores on September 22.
iPhone 15 design
All four iPhone 15 handsets have received design changes from the previous generation, but none of these changes are especially radical. For example, they now have a slight curve on the back edges that should make them slightly more comfortable to hold.
The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus gain “an industry-first color-infused back glass with a stunning, textured matte finish,” and now have the Dynamic Island which was previously a Pro exclusive.
Here’s what the iPhone 15 looks like:
As you can see, the iPhone 15 comes in black, blue, green, yellow, and pink.
The Pro models, as usual, feature several additional physical upgrades. Most obviously the mute switch has been replaced by a pressable Action button that silences your phone by default but can be customized to cover a range of functions such as opening the Camera app, activating Voice Memos, or triggering Accessibility features. You’ll get haptic feedback when you press the Action button and the Dynamic Island will provide further visual cues.
More fundamentally, the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are made of titanium, a first for the iPhone line. This should provide an improved strength to weight ratio compared to stainless steel, and sure enough, weights are down across both Pro models. (The 15 Pro Max, for example, weighs 221 grams, down from the 14 Pro Max’s 240 grams. That’s a drop of just under 8 percent. The 15 Pro is down 9 percent in weight.)
And here are the color options for the iPhone 15 Pro. They are listed on Apple’s website as Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, and Natural Titanium. Why don’t the Pro models ever get interesting colors?
As with 2022’s iPhone 14 line, the U.S. models all feature dual eSIM support and have no physical SIM slot. U.K. customers do get physical nano-SIM slots, but note that if you’ve got a SIM card in there you’ll only be able to use one eSIM.
iPhone 15 new features
The new phones can do a few things that their predecessors couldn’t. The inclusion of USB-C, for instance, makes it a little easier to use a single charger for multiple Apple devices. The Dynamic Island is now on all four models (last year it was just on the Pro handsets) and its functions have been expanded. Perhaps the most interesting upgrade, however, is reverse charging: you can now charge an Apple Watch or a set of 2nd-gen AirPods Pro by plugging them into your phone.
You can read about the cheaper models’ upgrades in the five best new iPhone 15 features.
Aside from a bunch of design upgrades, and the super-fast new A17 Pro chip, the Pro models come with some very cool photography features. You can read about our favorites in Top features of iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.
Culled from macworld.com
