Apple has just unveiled its brand-new iPhone 15 at the company’s September 12 event, Wonderlust. Surprising absolutely no one, the new iPhone features a USB-C
port for charging and data transfer, eschewing the Lightning connector after a decade.
The new iPhone 15 has an “all-new” design featuring Apple’s awesome Dynamic Island from last year’s iPhone 14 Pro. It features the same OLED Super Retina XDR display as last year, but brightness is up to 1,600 nits for even better HDR viewing, or 2,000 nits peak in direct sunlight, twice as bright as iPhone 14. The bezels are thinner too, and the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus come in the same 6.1- and 6.7-inch displays as last year’s iPhone 14.
The new iPhone has smoother edges and an aluminum enclosure, as well as color-infused glass. It comes in five colors: pink, yellow, green, blue, and black. The new iPhone also has an etched matte finish to give a more premium feel, a huge improvement compared to the fingerprint magnet of last year.
The massive new 48MP camera is also coming to the iPhone 15, a leap forward from last year’s 12MP display. It has a 26mm focal length, f/1.6 aperture, and sensor-shift optical image stabilization (OIS).
iPhone 15 is also getting a big upgrade to its popular Portrait mode, with richer colors and better low-light performance. There’s now no shutter lag, and machine learning can turn a photo into a portrait image after you’ve taken it. Apple has also improved Night Mode, and smart HDR is better than ever. Otherwise, it has the same camera array as last year, with two further 12MP cameras on the rear.
The A16 Bionic from the iPhone 14 Pro is also here to help power all of that computational photography, and it has 50% more GPU bandwidth than the old A15. In short, the new chip is way more efficient and much quicker than last year’s model, getting all the benefits of the iPhone 14 Pro from last year.
Despite that power, it boasts “all-day” battery life according to Apple.
Apple has also upgraded its Ultra Wideband technology with a new second-generation chip. It has three times the range for connecting to other devices, and it can also be used to help you locate your friends the same way you can with AirPods and AirTags. Audio quality has also been upgraded on iPhone 15 thanks to machine learning.
On the safety side, Apple is expanding its Emergency SOS via satellite to three new countries including Spain, and has a new feature called Roadside assistance via Satellite, coming to the U.S. with AAA. Like last year, these are included for two years when you buy an iPhone 15.
With a serious new camera, a much classier finish, and a Dynamic Island, this is looking like a much more serious contender for best iPhone compared to last year’s iPhone 14. The new iPhone 15 starts at $799, and the Plus starts at $899.
So long, iPhone 14
Apple is replacing its outgoing iPhone 14, which you’ll still be able to buy. Last year’s offering retained the notch on the screen and the 12MP camera and didn’t even get a processor upgrade, rather retaining the A15 Bionic from the year before. It’s a capable phone, but one that will be difficult to justify picking up in 2023 and beyond, even at a reduced price.
We’re covering all the Apple iPhone 15 event announcements live as they happen. Don’t miss all our iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, iOS 17and watchOS 10 coverage so far.