Apple announces iPhone 15 phones, cheaper than predecessors

Apple has announced the iPhone 15 phones. Just like last year, there are four variants. All four have USB-C, but the Pro models have faster data transfers. The Pro models are also more repairable.

All iPhone 15 models will have a USB-C port. On the Pro models, the port can transfer data up to 10Gbit/s. There is a USB 3 controller on the SoC for this. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are easier to repair, because the glass back can now be easily removed. The phones will have an Action Button. A single press can start a Shortcut or, for example, the camera. A long press turns Action Button into a way to switch from mute to sound, like the mute switch found on all other iPhones.

The Pro iPhones have a titanium casing, making them lighter than their predecessors. In addition, the edges are more rounded and the screen edges have been reduced. The screens are the same size, but the housing is slightly smaller.

The soc is the Apple A17 Pro. This means that Apple is abandoning the Bionic naming convention for the first time in generations. It is a 3nm SoC made by TSMC. There are 19 billion transistors on the chip. It has six processor cores, two of which are for high performance. They must be 10 percent faster than the A16. The Neural Engine for machine learning tasks is up to twice as fast, Apple claims. The SoC has an AV1 decoder for streaming services.

According to Apple, the GPU has been redesigned. It is a GPU with six cores that is up to 20 percent faster than that of the A16. There is also support for mesh shading and ray tracing. Other GPUs from mobile SoCs have been doing this for some time.

The primary camera shoots photos in 24 megapixels. There are options for photos in 24mm, 28mm and 35mm by cropping from the primary sensor. That sensor has an area of ​​around 60 square millimeters, with an f/1.78 lens.

The iPhone 15 Pro has a telephoto lens with 3x zoom with a 12-megapixel camera and sensor of around 12 millimeters. The Pro Max has a 5x zoom lens, around 120mm in 35mm equivalent. It is not a periscopic lens, but it does contain mirrors to extend the focal length. The sensor is still in the housing in the same way as the other cameras. It has an f/2.8 lens. The camera with ultra-wide-angle lens has few changes, still featuring a 12-megapixel sensor with a surface area of ​​around 18 square millimeters.

In terms of software, the iPhone 15 Pro can record 3D video, which Apple refers to as Spatial Video. These are visible on the upcoming VR headset Vision Pro. The phones also support WiFi 6E and smart home standard Thread.

The iPhone 15 Pro. Source: Apple

iPhone 15 and 15 Plus

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will have the Dynamic Island, which has been on the iPhone 14 Pro phones since last year. This meant that no new iPhones came with a notch in the screen. The screens have a higher brightness of up to 2000 candela per square meter, but the refresh rate remains stuck at 60Hz. The soc is the A16 Bionic that is also in the iPhone 14 Pro. The U2 chip that is also in the Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2 will also be in the iPhone 15.

The camera has a 48-megapixel sensor with a surface area of ​​around 50 square millimeters. The camera can store 24-megapixel photos. There is also a 2x zoom option by cropping the image of the sensor; those are 12-megapixel photos. The lens has an aperture of f/1.6. The camera with ultra-wide-angle lens is unchanged. According to Apple, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have a larger battery and there is a voice isolation function for calling.

Portrait mode becomes an automatic feature. When capturing people or animals, the software stores depth information. It will also be possible to change the focus point afterwards. On the climate front, Apple claims it now uses fully recycled cobalt in the battery and copper in the PCB and coil for wireless charging.

Prices

The iPhone 15, 15 Plus and 15 Pro have lower prices in euros, probably due to the lower dollar exchange rate. In the US, prices are unchanged. The iPhone 15 costs 969 euros, the Plus should fetch 1119 euros. That is 50 euros cheaper than their predecessors. The 15 Pro costs 1229 euros, a hundred euros less than the 14 Pro. The Pro Max costs the same at 1479 euros, but has 256GB of storage instead of 128GB. They come out September 22nd.