Apple iPhone 15 series was announced on September 12, 2023. The iPhone 15 series includes iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. These new iPhones have a lot to offer along with USB-C (finally). Let’s find out what’s new in the iPhone 15 series and which one you should get.
What’s new
Apart from the USB-C port, there are some other interesting features Apple iPhone 15 models came with. You will be surprised to know that even iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have significant differences this year in 2023.
Build Quality:
For starters, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models have satin soft-touch glass back instead of glossy glass. Unlike previous iPhones, this is a durable single cut color-infused glass. Apple claims that they have redesigned the internals so that it is much easier to replace the back glass panel now. Even though the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have the same aluminum frame from the previous models, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max have Grade-5 Titanium Alloy with brushed aluminum finish. This is more durable and light weight compared to the stainless-steel frame of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Basic chemistry, aluminum cools faster, as well as 1 kg of aluminum requires 2x as much energy to raise its temperature than 1 kg of steel. Thus, iPhone 15 Pro models may have better cooling.
Action button:
There is no mute switch in iPhone 15 series, it is a button now, which Apple calls “Action Button.” Action button is a programmable button that can be assigned for a certain functionality, such as toggle between mute and ringer mode, switching between certain focus modes, launch certain camera modes, turn on and turn off flashlight, initiate a voice memo, toggle magnifier, or run a SIRI shortcut. With future updates, you will be able to get more control over the Action button.
Dynamic Island:
Dynamic island was introduced in 2022, which was limited to iPhone 14 Pro models only. However, in 2023, all iPhone 15 models came with Dynamic Island.
Primary shooter:
Here’s the catch. All the iPhone 15 models have a 48 MP primary shooter. But, there are some changes in the base models and pro models.
For iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, there is a 48 MP primary shooter with 26 mm focal length, f/1.6 aperture, sensor-shift OIS, with 2 um quad pixel sensor.
On the other hand, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have a 48 MP primary shooter with 24 mm focal length, f/1.8 aperture, 2nd generation sensor-shift OIS, 2.44 um quad pixel sensor. Therefore, Only the pro models are able to shoot high resolution photos in 24 mm, 28 mm, and 35 mm focal lengths.
New Telephoto Shooter:
iPhone 15 Pro models came with 12 MP telephoto shooter, but iPhone 15 Pro Max offers more compared to iPhone 15 Pro.
iPhone 15 Pro has a 12 MP 3x optical zoom telephoto shooter with 77 mm focal length and f/2.8 aperture.
iPhone 15 Pro Max, instead, has a 12 MP 5x optical zoom telephoto shooter with 120 mm focal length and f/2.8 aperture. Only the 15 Pro Max has a 3D sensor-shift module, with image stabilization in x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis.
Video Modes:
Video recording has been taken to another level with iPhone 15 Pro models. You can shoot 4K up to 60 fps with an external storage connected via USB-C port. There are a number of post-production options (such color grading) with log-encoding. With this, iPhone 15 Pro models became the first Academy Color Encoding System, ACES-supported smartphone.
3D Spatial Video:
iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max allow you to record 3D spatial video, where the ultra-wide and main shooter take 3D videos. These 3D videos can be seen later through Apple Vision Pro in a 3D space. How cool is that!
Roadside Assistance:
Emergency SOS via satellite was introduced with iPhone 14 models in 2022. Along with that, iPhone 15 models came with roadside assistance. You get 2 years of free Emergency SOS via satellite and Roadside assistance with the activation of any iPhone 15 models.
USB-C of iPhone 15 Models
Finally, Apple adopted the USB-C port for iPhones from the lightning port (which was introduced in 2012). All iPhone 15 models came with USB-C ports. However, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have the USB-C 2.0 ports, which allows data transfer at 480 Mb/s speed. On the other hand, only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have USB 3.0, which allows data transfer at 10 Gb/s speed. Now, here is the thing, iPhone 15 Pro models have A17 Pro SoC under the hood. The A17 Pro has a new USB 3.0 controller integrated inside. This is 20x faster than USB 2.0. With USB-C ports, iPhone 15 models are still limited to 20W fast charging only.
A17 Pro vs A16 Bionic
As you probably know, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are powered by A16 Bionic SoC, which initially came with iPhone 14 Pro models in 2022. iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are powered by A17 Pro SoC. A17 Pro SoC has some interesting features. Let’s check them out. First, we need to see A16 Bionic and A17 Pro chips side by side.
A16 Bionic (4nm), 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core neural engine
A17 Pro (3nm), 6-core CPU, 6-core Pro-class GPU, 16-core neural engine
Apple A17 Pro CPU
You see, A17 Pro came with a 6-core CPU, which is 10% faster in single thread performance by the 2 high-performance cores, compared with the CPUs of high-end desktop PCs. This is claimed by Apple. Let’s see single core scores of Intel i9-13900 series, AMD Ryzen 7900 series, and Apple A17 Pro:
Intel Core i9-13900KS – 3,090
Intel Core i9-13900KF – 2,963
Intel Core i9-13900K – 2,955
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X – 2,908
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X – 2,888
Apple A17 Pro single core score – 2,999
Apple A17 Pro multi core score – 7,779
(Geekbench 6.2.0)
Apple claims that 4 high-efficiency cores are 3x faster than the competitors. This does not refer to A16 Bionic but other chips in the market.
Apple A17 Pro GPU
So, we want to talk about a new 6-core Pro-class GPU now. Apple designed shader architecture with Mesh shading technology. This is to improve performance while gaming, along with hardware-based ray tracing. This is 20x faster than the previous 5-core GPU of A16 Bionic SoC for peak performance. Apple claims that the hardware-based ray tracing of A17 Pro is 4x faster than software-based ray tracing of other chips out there in the market. Therefore, gaming on iPhone 15 Pro models should be smooth, flawless, and less battery consuming overall.
Apple A17 Pro Neural Engine
The 16-core neural engine of A17 Pro SoC is 2x faster for most ML models. There is also a dedicated engine that includes ProRes codec, Pro display engine (this powers ProMotion display and AoD), and AV1 decoder (this is for high-quality video streaming).
Quick Specs
Let’s check the quick specs of iPhone 15 models. This is where we get to see some numbers to determine which iPhone 15 model matches your use case the most.
iPhone 15
- A16 (4nm) Bionic, 5-core GPU, 16-core neural engine
- Aerospace grade aluminum frame
- 48 MP primary shooter, 26 mm focal length, f/1.6 aperture, sensor-shift OIS, 2 um quad pixel sensor
- 12 MP ultra-wide-angle shooter, 13 mm focal length, f/2.4 aperture
- 2nd-Gen UWB connectivity
- Up to 20 hours video playback
- USB 2.0
- Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Black
- $799 for 128GB
iPhone 15 Plus
- A16 (4nm) Bionic, 5-core GPU, 16-core neural engine
- Aerospace grade aluminum frame
- 48 MP primary shooter, 26 mm focal length, f/1.6 aperture, sensor-shift OIS, 2 um quad pixel sensor
- 12 MP ultra-wide-angle shooter, 13 mm focal length, f/2.4 aperture
- 2nd-Gen UWB connectivity
- Up to 26 hours video playback
- USB 2.0
- Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Black
- $899 for 128 GB
iPhone 15 Pro
- A17 Pro (3 nm), 6-core Pro-class GPU, 16-core neural engine
- Grade-5 Titanium Alloy with brushed aluminum finish
- 48 MP primary shooter, 24 mm focal length, f/1.8 aperture, 2nd generation sensor-shift OIS, 2.44 um quad pixel sensor, high resolution photos in 24 mm, 28 mm, and 35 mm focal length
- 12 MP 3x optical zoom telephoto shooter, 77 mm focal length, f/2.8 aperture
- 12 MP ultra-wide-angle shooter, 13 mm focal length, f/2.2 aperture
- 3D spatial video
- 2nd-Gen UWB connectivity
- Up to 23 hours video playback
- USB 3.0
- $999 for 128 GB
- Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, and Natural Titanium
iPhone 15 Pro Max
- A17 Pro (3 nm), 6-core Pro-class GPU, 16-core neural engine
- Grade-5 Titanium Alloy with brushed aluminum finish
- 48 MP primary shooter, 24 mm focal length, f/1.8 aperture, 2nd generation sensor-shift OIS, 2.44 um quad pixel sensor, high resolution photos in 24 mm, 28 mm, and 35 mm focal length
- 12 MP 5x optical zoom telephoto shooter, 120 mm focal length, f/2.8 aperture
- 12 MP ultra-wide-angle shooter, 13 mm focal length, f/2.2 aperture
- 3D sensor-shift module, with image stabilization in x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis
- 3D spatial video
- 2nd-Gen UWB connectivity
- Up to 29 hours video playback
- USB 3.0
- $1,199 for 256 GB
- Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, and Natural Titanium
Wrapping Up
Apple iPhone 15 Series has a lot to offer. Considering preferences from all types of users, Apple came up with the iPhone 15 models. You can choose any of them based on your use case. However, you can check our hands-on reviews of the iPhone 15 series soon.
Comment below what your thoughts are. Share with your family and friends. Let us know if you have a leak or something to share. Stay tuned for more.
This story will receive updates till September 2026.
