Apple’s iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus denote a outstanding return to kind for Apple’s mainstream iPhone lineup after a few uninspired years within the doldrums. Recent off a improbable assessment of the iPhone 15 Plus, we’re ringing in 2024 with a take a look at Apple’s newest 6.1-inch iPhone 15.
Like its large sibling, the iPhone 15 delivers a collection of actually attractive upgrades, making it one of many finest iPhones lately. It boasts all the similar glorious upgrades because the iPhone 15 Plus, together with the brand new 48MP digicam, USB-C, a brand new design, and the Dynamic Island from the iPhone 14 Professional.
So, has Apple lastly cracked the profitable method that makes its mainstream, cheaper flagship possibility a viable improve for customers? Or will one missing function derail the entire operation? Let’s discover out.
iPhone 15: Value and Availability
Launched in September 2023, the iPhone 15 is out there from Apple.com and everywhere in the world on the normal array of carriers and retailers. The iPhone 15 begins at $799 for the 128GB model. The 256GB mannequin is $899 and the 512GB model is $1099, making it $100 cheaper than every corresponding model of the iPhone 15 Plus. The one distinction is storage, and every cellphone comes boxed with a USB-C to USB-C cable, no charger.
It’s also possible to get the iPhone 15 at Amazon, Finest Purchase, Verizon, Goal, AT&T, and extra.
iPhone 15: At a look
- 48MP digicam – the massive sensor from the iPhone 14 Professional is right here to ship bigger and extra detailed pictures than ever earlier than.
- USB-C – the iPhone 15 now prices with a USB-C port and cable
- Up to date design – this replace brings a beautiful frosted glass improve to the rear and rounder edges
- Brighter show – the iPhone 15 is sweet for 1000 nits max brightness, 1600 nits peak (HDR), and 2000 nits peak open air
- Dynamic Island – The Dynamic Island from the iPhone 14 Professional arrives, changing the notch
iPhone 15: Specs
| Class | iPhone 15 Plus |
|---|---|
| Working System | iOS 17 |
| Show | 6.1 inches, 2556 x 1179 (460 ppi) decision, Tremendous Retina XDR OLED show (iPhone 15) |
| Processor | Apple A16 Bionic |
| Storage | 128 | 256 | 512GB |
| Rear Digicam | 48MP, 26mm ƒ/1.6 (broad) | 12MP, ƒ/2.4 (ultra-wide) | 12MP, 52 mmƒ/1.6 (2x Telephoto) |
| Entrance Digicam | 12MP, ƒ/1.9, Autofocus |
| Battery | As much as 20 hours (video playback) |
| Charging | USB-C wired charging, Qi wi-fi charging as much as 15W, MagSafe |
| Water Resistance | IP68 |
| Dimensions | 147.6 x 71.6 x 7.80mm, 171g |
| Colours | Black | Blue | Inexperienced | Pink | Yellow |
iPhone 15: Design
The iPhone 15 wows with a shocking new design that’s vastly improved over the earlier two iterations. As I famous in our iPhone 15 Plus assessment, the earlier “common” has had a extremely underwhelming design for a few years. The perimeters had been a lot too sharp, and its terrible shiny again was a fingerprint magnet.
This 12 months, Apple has reworked the iPhone 15 with a brand new “color-infused” glass again that gives you a pleasant frosted end. It’s gentle to the contact, straightforward to grip, and reveals completely not one of the marks or blemishes that the outdated one used to. I’m not exaggerating after I say that this transformation alone needs to be sufficient to persuade iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 customers to make the leap to 2024’s finest providing.
The design modifications don’t cease there, both. The perimeters of the iPhone 15 are decidedly extra rounded and far softer than in earlier years, and the digicam bump is now clear. All in all, Apple has reworked the iPhone 15 with its design this 12 months. Different facets stay acquainted, nevertheless. There are nonetheless two quantity buttons, a Lock Button, and the Mute Change. No Motion button right here, you’ll must go Professional if you would like the customizable various that allows you to select a number of totally different actions past easy mute.
In any other case, the iPhone 15 sports activities its acquainted aluminum chassis and the hardy Ceramic Defend on the entrance. This glass panel is designed to be harder to shatter whereas being extra vulnerable to scratches as a compromise. Nevertheless, after a number of weeks of use, I’ve but to note any of the scratches that plagued my iPhone 14 expertise final 12 months, so that is one other large enchancment.
Different design specs embrace IP68 water resistance, which suggests you’ll be able to submerge it in as much as 6 meters of water for half-hour. Weight and dimensions are additionally broadly the identical as in earlier years, and Apple has made some tweaks beneath the hood to make some repairs cheaper and simpler.
The one large letdown within the design division is the colour. There are 5: black, blue, inexperienced, yellow, and pink. I’ve now been hands-on with each blue and inexperienced, however actually, each may as effectively be gray/off-white. The hue across the body is extra noticeable, however the rear is so muted it’d as effectively not be any colour in any respect. Pink, yellow, and black stay the extra vibrant colour choices.
iPhone 15: Show
Apple has not likely modified the show within the iPhone 15 this 12 months, so you probably have an iPhone 13 or iPhone 14, you’re not going to note a distinction in day-to-day use. It’s the identical Tremendous Retina XDR show measuring 6.1-inch, and providing a decision of 2556×1179-pixel decision at 460 ppi. It gives all the standard HDR, True Tone, and Extensive Colour (PR) help, however the large information this 12 months is brightness. The everyday max brightness has been uprated to 1,000 nits, and the outside brightness peak is now 2,000 nits. This implies your iPhone’s show goes to be a lot simpler to see in direct daylight or well-lit areas, and this rings true. You’ll be able to nonetheless, after all, management the brightness in your iOS settings, however cranked all the way in which up, it’s noticeably brighter than earlier fashions.
Whereas decision and colour high quality haven’t modified, the largest visible enchancment in iPhone 15 is the Dynamic Island, which replaces the outgoing notch, now utterly eschewed from the iPhone line. I’ve used the Dynamic Island for over a 12 months on my iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 Professional fashions, and on the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 extra not too long ago. There’s little question that it’s a genius piece of expertise that basically transforms the iPhone expertise. Including animated performance to the Dynamic Island means you overlook the pill-shaped entire is even there whereas utilizing it. We’re nonetheless not seeing a ton of third-party Dynamic Island apps, however Apple has completed sufficient to make it helpful. Even seeing your calls and timers on the island is sufficient to make me giddy typically.
So these are the enhancements, however there’s one important downside to the iPhone 15’s show. It nonetheless contains a 60Hz refresh charge. When you’ve by no means used an iPhone, iPad, or Mac with a 120Hz ProMotion show, this isn’t a difficulty, and also you received’t discover the distinction. In case you have, nevertheless, the 60Hz iPhone 15 will really feel like a PowerPoint presentation by comparability. Utilizing most apps and taking part in video games, you received’t actually discover the 60Hz refresh charge, however I discover it to be most irksome utilizing menus and unlocking the cellphone. Whereas I perceive that 120Hz stays reserved for the high-end iPhone 15 Professional vary, I don’t see why we are able to’t get a beefier 90Hz with out All the time-On or variable refresh charge, simply to make the iPhone 15 a bit smoother in day-to-day use. It’s a giant letdown in what’s in any other case a really spectacular bundle.
iPhone 15: Efficiency
Similar to the iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15 excels in efficiency because of its blazing-fast A16 Bionic chip. Adopted from the iPhone 14 Professional, it may well run any app or sport that you just throw at it with ease. Particularly, it options two high-performance cores and 4 high-efficiency cores, and a 5-core GPU with 50 p.c extra bandwidth than the iPhone 14. This implies you’ll be able to take pleasure in each sport on the App Retailer with no hiccups, lag, or framerate drops. It’s additionally essential for the highly effective new digicam we’ll be speaking about quickly. With a 16-core neural engine, computational pictures is extra highly effective than ever on the common iPhone. With barely higher thermals, the iPhone 15 Plus will benchmark barely forward of the iPhone 15, however this implies little or no with regards to real-world efficiency. Basically, there’s nothing the iPhone 15 can’t do, and also you’re going to be set for a number of years of iOS software program updates, futureproofing your gadget for those who’re not a serial upgrader.
Similar to the iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15’s A16 Bionic Chip really betrays that 60Hz refresh charge and amplifies how annoying it’s, it’s clear the display can’t sustain with the cellphone at sure instances, resulting in a shaky expertise in menus and on the Residence Display.
Slight Wi-Fi enhancements seen within the iPhone 15 Plus proceed right here, too, nevertheless it’s the iPhone 15 Professional that will get Wi-Fi 6E for a big enhance.
The most important connectivity enhance is a brand new second-generation Extremely Wideband chip that powers close-range interactions. That is used for locating issues like AirPods and AirTags, however may also be used with an Apple Watch Collection 9 or Extremely 2 to find your iPhone with Precision Discovering. This additionally works between iPhone 15 fashions and can be utilized to find misplaced pals or family in crowds at festivals, concert events, and past.
iPhone 15: Digicam
The iPhone 15’s headline improve is a brand new 48MP primary digicam that spits out 24MP super-high-resolution photographs by default. The principle digicam contains a quad-pixel sensor and 100% Focus Pixels and in addition gives 2x Telephoto taking pictures to provide the phantasm of three optical ranges of zoom alongside 0.5x and 1x. When you like portrait pictures, the iPhone 15 is one of the best mainstream iPhone but, with higher particulars, colours, and low-light efficiency. The fanciest new function is a mode that may flip any photograph of an individual, canine, or cat right into a portrait photograph even for those who didn’t shoot it in portrait mode. Evening mode additionally will get a lift alongside the introduction of Good HDR 5. That is one of the best digicam ever put in a daily iPhone, so listed below are a number of the pictures we had been in a position to take with the iPhone 15’s digicam.
Listed here are a few of our pictures within the “out of the field” mode: 24 MP 26mm f.16. That is the default setting on the iPhone 15, and I stay very impressed with the 24MP format.
Picture 1 of 5
The brand new portrait mode additionally wows with crispy edges and glorious element:
Picture 1 of 1
Lastly, the 48MP digicam shoots huge pictures with expansive vary and nice element:
Picture 1 of 2
iPhone 15: Battery, charging, and USB-C
With a 3,349 mAh battery, Apple says the iPhone 15 is sweet for 20 hours of video playback or 16 hours of video streaming. As all the time, the iPhone 15 Plus is the battery life king, boasting the most important battery and fewer power-hungry options. In keeping with our pals at Tom’s Information, the iPhone 15 scores 11 hours and 5 minutes of their bog-standard battery life take a look at. In contrast, the iPhone 15 Plus scores 14 hours and 14 minutes, and the iPhone 14 scores 9 hours and 28 minutes. As you’ll be able to see, the latter reveals the iPhone 15’s battery has markedly improved from final 12 months’s iPhone 14 mannequin, and an growing old battery is all the time an important excuse to purchase a brand new cellphone. The iPhone 15 vary additionally appears much less vulnerable to the fairly excessive battery put on that impacted the iPhone 14 vary.
One other headline improve this 12 months is USB-C, and having gotten over the preliminary shock of discovering all my Lightning cables had been now ineffective, I’m having fun with having USB-C round the home a bit greater than I used to. I proceed to cost my iPhones solely on a MagSafe charging stand in iOS 17’s StandBy mode, however whenever you do want some juice, it’s good to know that no matter USB-C cable you could have mendacity round will suit your iPhone. My primary gripe from the iPhone 15 Plus assessment stands, nevertheless. Eliminating Lightning has diminished, reasonably than elevated, the variety of methods I can cost my iPhone. As per our good friend Neil Cybart on Twitter, USB-C cables are used for Macs, iPads, and each different gadget in the home. The Lightning cable was all the time reserved for the iPhone, and as such all the time out there. This novelty has now gone, however now I’m extra used to it, plugging in my iPhone and iPad to the identical wall outlet is a extra handy expertise.
USB-C doesn’t convey any upgrades to file or information transfers, nevertheless. It’s nonetheless USB-C 2 identical to the iPhone 14. If you need USB 3 speeds you’ll need Apple’s finest iPhone, the iPhone 15 Professional. This can be a tad annoying given the iPhone 15 shoots 48MP pictures, however in actuality, when was the final time you plugged your iPhone into a pc to do any sort of knowledge switch?
iPhone 15: iOS 17
The iPhone 15 ships with iOS 17 out of the field, and can proceed to take action till iOS 18 drops later this 12 months. This time round, Apple has up to date the Telephone app, Messages, and FaceTime. Some large new options embrace Contact Posters, StandBy, and interactive widgets. I really like the latter because it permits you to work together with apps instantly out of your iPhone’s Residence Display, so you are able to do issues like flip off a HomeKit mild with out opening the Residence app. I famous in our iPhone 15 Plus assessment that Autocorrect appears to have taken a step again this 12 months, and I stay satisfied of this 5 months on.
Like Mac and iPad, iPhone excels partially due to the concord between {hardware} and software program, and due to the synergy with Apple’s wider ecosystem. You’ll profit most from the iPhone 15 and iOS 17 for those who additionally use an iPad, Mac, AirPods, AirTags, and even an Apple TV.
Since its preliminary launch Apple has added some cool new options to iOS 17 together with a brand new function that makes it more durable for thieves to entry your iPhone utilizing your passcode. It’s additionally potential Apple could possibly be planning so as to add third-party app shops and sideloading earlier than WWDC 2024.
iPhone 15: The competitors: iPhone 14 Professional and past
It could be a cliche, however for those who’re contemplating the iPhone 15 then it’s possible that the principle competitors to your vote is different iPhones. The principle Android-powered rivals to the iPhone 15 are the Google Pixel 8, and the bigger Pixel 8 Professional, and the Samsung Galaxy S23 vary.
If you need a bigger iPhone with out the bells and whistles of the Professional, I’d advocate the iPhone 15 Plus as a valiant competitor. It has a significantly better battery life and a a lot bigger display, and this 12 months’s design modifications make its bigger chassis a lot simpler on the fingers. When you do need bells and whistles then the iPhone 15 Professional is the one for you. Nevertheless, as I famous in my iPhone 15 Plus assessment, essentially the most viable various to the iPhone 15 is the iPhone 14 Professional. It has the identical chip, 48MP digicam, Dynamic Island, however gives an additional lens for pictures and most significantly, a 120Hz ProMotion show.
Must you purchase the iPhone 15?
Purchase the iPhone 15 if…
You might be upgrading from the iPhone 13 or 14
This can be a marked enchancment on each predecessors and value your cash to make the change
You don’t need the dimensions of the iPhone 15 Plus
The iPhone 15 is a pleasant compromise if the iPhone 15 Plus is simply too large
You need USB-C and the Dynamic Island
When you’ve held off upgrading your iPhone for USB-C and the Dynamic Island, that is the mannequin for you
Do not buy the iPhone 15 if…
You need Apple’s finest iPhone
One of the best iPhone Apple gives is the iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone 15 Professional Max, with a greater processor, higher cameras, and a battery show
You need a 120Hz ProMotion show
If that refresh charge is essential to you, purchase a “Professional” iPhone from the final two years
You need one of the best digicam in an iPhone
The iPhone 15 Professional Max gives one of the best iPhone digicam going because of its 5x Zoom, Apple ProRAW, Macro mode, and different options.
iPhone 15: Verdict
The iPhone 15 is a triumphant improve over the iPhone 14 and an enormous, much-needed enchancment for the common iPhone lineup. Upgrades will love USB-C, the Dynamic Island, and taking 48MP pictures. Nevertheless, if you would like the easiest Apple has to supply, the iPhone 15 Professional gives a extra feature-rich expertise with a greater refresh charge and higher cameras.
Backside line: Apple’s iPhone 15 is an enormous improve on the iPhone 14 with a superb new digicam, USB-C, and a design to die for. Simply be careful for that 60Hz show.
