iPhone 15: models, specs, price, and release date news

iPHONE 15: What you need to know

– Apple Event – LIVE updates
– iPhone 15
– iPhone 15 Pro /iPhone 15 Pro Max
– Apple Watch Series 9 / Ultra 2
– iOS 17
– watchOS 10

The iPhone 15 is here! Revealed during Apple’s “Wonderlust” event, the next generation of iPhone comes with some key upgrades that make the regular iPhone better than ever before.

The iPhone 15 now has Dynamic Island as well as a new USB-C charging port, lovely pastel colors, and a better camera, to name just a few features. Not only does the iPhone 15 get display improvements from last year’s Pro model, but it also gets the A16 Bionic chip, which enables huge performance improvements whether you’re playing a game, taking photos, or browsing the web.

Here’s everything you need to know about the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.

iPhone 15: The headlines

• What is it? Apple’s next mainstream iPhone. 
• Pre-orders: September 15, 5 AM PDT/ 4 AM PT / 7 AM ET
• Release date: September 22
• Price: From $799
• Headlines: USB-C, 48MP camera, A16 Bionic chip, Dynamic Island

iPhone Expert

iPhone Expert

John-Anthony Disotto

John-Anthony Disotto is iMore’s How To Editor and an expert in everything iPhone. As a former Apple employee, John-Anthony brings his consumer expertise as well as his technical knowledge to all of iMore’s iPhone content.

iPhone 15 models

Here’s a brief overview of all the iPhone 15 models with their headline specs.

iPhone 15: Release date

Pre-orders for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus go live on September 15, with a release date the following week on September 22. You can get pre-approved for your pre-order by opening the Apple Store app and following the instructions.

By getting pre-approval you’ll not need to spend as much time trying to checkout on Friday September 15, giving you am greater chance of securing an early pre-order.

iPhone 15: Specs

You’ll find all the specs of the iPhone 15 below with comparisons to the iPhone 14. This year’s iPhone boasts a faster A16 Bionic chip, better cameras, USB-C charging, and the Dynamic Island, to name just a few improvements from last year’s offering.

iPhone 15: A16 Bionic Processor

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are both equipped with the A16 Bionic chip from the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. Apple says the chip has “two high-performance cores that use 20 percent less power and four high-efficiency cores. The 6-core CPU is faster than the previous generation and easily handles intensive tasks while delivering extraordinary battery life.”

With a 5-core GPU and a new 16-core Neural Engine, the iPhone 15 will tackle daily tasks with ease, making all of the great new features in iOS 17 incredibly responsive.

iPhone 15: Display & sizes

The 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch displays on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus both feature Dynamic Island allowing you to have more control over your Live Notifications on your device. The display can reach a peak HDR brightness of 1600 nits and a peak outdoor brightness of up to 2000 nits — that’s bright!

Both displays feature the Ceramic Shield front cover for added toughness so your fancy new Super Retina XDR displays don’t scratch easily.

iPhone 15: Design

The new look iPhone 15 brings curves back to the iPhone. Despite being minimal in comparison to the curves of the iPhone X, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are said to feel “even nicer in users’ hands” than the iPhone 14. The color is infused throughout the back glass and strengthened with ” an optimized dual-ion exchange process before being polished with nanocrystalline particles and etched to create a luxurious, textured matte finish.”

Apple mentioned that its goal as a company is to reach 2030 with every new product completely carbon neutral. In order to achieve this, the new iPhone 15 is produced “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.”

iPhone 15: USB-C

Goodbye Lightning. Hello USB-C. Apple has finally moved on from its proprietary Lightning charging port and now the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have USB-C. In what was probably the worst kept secret in recent times, we’ve finally got confirmation that you’ll be able to use any USB-C cable to charge your iPhone.

Both models also support MagSafe and Qi wireless charging.

iPhone 15: Cameras

The iPhone 15 gets a new 48MP Main camera that will take stunning photographs without breaking the bank for the Pro model. Surprisingly, the iPhone 15 also uses clever hardware and software to allow users to use a 2x Telephoto camera with ” three optical-quality zoom levels — 0.5x, 1x, 2x — for the first time on an iPhone dual-camera system.”

Portrait mode on the iPhone 15 will also see improvements thanks to the new chip and camera lenses. “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.”

There are also improvements to Night Mode with sharper details and more vivid colors which benefits 48MP Main camera, Ultra Wide camera, and TrueDepth front camera.

iPhone 15: Battery

Not too much to report on the battery life of the new iPhones. Apple says the iPhone 15 will get up to 20 hours video playback, up to 16 hours streamed video playback, and up to 80 hours audio playback.

For the 15 Plus, you’ll get up to 26 hours video playback, up to 20 hours streamed video playback, and up to 100 hours audio playback.

We’ll have to wait to get these devices in hand to see how they truly compare to last generation. On paper, not much has changed.

iPhone 15: Colors

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus come in Black, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Pink.

This year there are more pastel colors for the new design but after seeing the first official images they look far nicer than the dummy models we saw prior to the event.

iPhone 15: Storage

No changes to storage. The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB.

iPhone 15: Price

• iPhone 15 and 15 Pro price info: cost hikes, trade-in values, and more | iMore

Amazingly there will be no price increases this year, and you’ll be able to pick up an iPhone 15 starting from $799 just like the iPhone 14 last year. After rumors of price hikes all summer this is a welcome surprise.

iOS 17

iOS 17 has an official release date, and you’ll be able to use the latest operating system from September 18. iOS 17 is bringing some cool updates to the Phone, FaceTime, and Messages apps, as well as AirDrop and autocorrect. There’s a great new mode called StandBy that works as a widget hub, a new Journal app to help your mental health and changes to Safari. 

iPhone 15: Questions and answers