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New iPhone 15 - Which one am I buying?

13:36 video

As expected, Apple released four new iPhones: the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, with a new design, new features, processors and buttons. Here’s what’s new, and which one I plan to buy.

Design

The iPhone 15 and 15 Pro have a slightly rounded edge, instead of the squared-off edges of the 14, 13, 12 and all the way back to the 2018 iPad Pro. I’m slightly disappointed it isn’t more rounded; I was expecting something like the pronounced iPhone 5C edges, but I’ll hold it myself. A lot of people have complained about the sharp edges, especially on the heavy Pro and Pro Max.

The Pro and Pro Max are now titanium instead of stainless steel, which should significantly cut weight, with titanium’s strength, the same material used in space, apparently. It comes in a cool blue and other grays.

The mute switch, a feature since the original iPhone, is gone on the Pros, replaced by the Action button: customizable to start the flashlight or camera, take a photo, or run Shortcuts or accessibility features. I’m not super excited to lose the mute switch; the muscle memory is built in, and by default it’s still the mute switch, but you tap and hold rather than flick. Easily opening the camera will be nice.

USB-C replaces Lightning after ten years. With the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, you only get the regular USB 2 speeds, which is disappointing in 2023. The 15 Pro and Pro Max get USB 3, up to 10 Gb/s, making large file transfers much faster, with faster charging, lossless audio, and ProRes video directly to an external SSD, which a lot of professionals will try. You can also output 4K HDR video through DisplayPort to a display or TV. Apple doesn’t include a USB 3 cable with the Pros, which feels crazy, and doesn’t include a charger either.

UGREEN sponsored this video, with its Nexode RG 30 W, the cutest, most unique charger I’ve seen: a GaN charger with a friendly face that shows charging status and changes when charging is complete. It charges an iPhone 14 Pro to 50% in 30 minutes, with a protective shell and Thermal Guard that checks temperature 238 times a second. When I showed my wife, she wanted one for her desk.

The display

The Dynamic Island comes to the 15 and 15 Plus. I’ve used it a lot over the last year, for flights, trains and taxis in Europe, and mostly for timers at home. It’s not a big selling point, but it’s nice that it’s across the whole line.

The 15 and 15 Plus also get the Super Retina XDR display, with most of the 14 Pro’s features, including 2,000 nits peak brightness outside (versus 1,000 on the regular 14) and 1,600 nits for HDR. The Pro and Pro Max have ProMotion (the refresh rate ranging from 1 Hz up to 120 Hz) and an always-on display, and with iOS 17’s StandBy, a persistent StandBy mode that keeps the display on all night as an alarm clock.

Cameras

The 15 and 15 Plus get a 48 MP sensor like the 14 Pro’s, which Apple turns into a 24 MP photo. One of my favorite features is the 2× telephoto from the main sensor: it crops into the center of the big sensor for full optical quality. It’s on the iPhone 15 now.

The 15 Pro hardware got little over the 14 Pro: still the main, ultra wide and 3× telephoto. But you can now shoot 48 MP photos by default (before you needed Pro RAW), using Smart HDR 5. And like the 2× on the main sensor, you can zoom to 24, 28 and 35 mm equivalents on the main sensor, and set a default focal length.

On the Pro Max, the 3× becomes a 5× zoom with Apple’s new Tetraprism design, arranging pieces of glass differently, plus a three-axis optical stabilizer, to reach a 120 mm equivalent. I’m excited, though I have no idea how it compares with something like Samsung’s 100× zoom. With the Pro and Pro Max, you now have seven focal lengths, from macro and ultra wide to 5×.

Software features for both lines: new depth capture when shooting people or pets, automatically creating a depth map, so you can turn a photo into a portrait later and change the focus point and depth. It reminds me of Lytro, which made a rectangular camera that captured depth information, so you could change focus after the fact.

Other software features: Roadside Assistance via satellite, for when you’re stuck out in Death Valley and need to call AAA, and a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip with up to 3× the range for precision finding.

Processors

The 15 and 15 Plus get the 14 Pro’s A16 Bionic: 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine. The 15 Pro and Pro Max get the new A17 Pro, which Apple says is about 10% faster (I don’t know compared with what) and 20% faster GPU, with 6 GPU cores versus the A16’s 5. It also has “Pro-level graphics with hardware ray tracing,” but no game supports that yet, so I’m not sure what it’s for until games do.

Battery and price

Battery is basically like the 14: video playback of 29 hours (15 Pro Max), 23 (15 Pro), 26 (15 Plus) and 20 (15). Pricing is almost the same: the 15 starts at $799, the 15 Pro at $999, and the Pro Max at $1,199, though the Pro Max comes with 256 GB.

What I’m buying

The iPhone 15 line is really good: the regular 15 and 15 Plus are essentially 95% of a 14 Pro and Pro Max, without the weight and extra cost. I’m not sure I’d tell anybody to rush for the Pro or Pro Max, because the iPhone 15 is so good. But if you’re a nerd who has to have the best, biggest and fastest, then yes.

That’s what I’m going to do. I’d prefer the regular Pro for size and weight, but because only the Pro Max gets the newest camera, I’m buying the Pro Max, 256 GB, in Blue because it’s new and blue, or maybe White. I don’t want the Black Titanium, and Natural looks a little odd to me. 256 GB is usually the right amount: on trips, I upload photos and videos to iCloud each night. It’ll cost me $1,199.

In this video

  • 0:00 design and titanium
  • 1:23 action button
  • 2:06 usb-c
  • 4:28 display and dynamic island
  • 5:58 cameras!
  • 8:25 other camera features
  • 9:34 A16 and A17 Pro + GPU ane ray tracing
  • 10:51 battery and price
  • 11:25 which iPhone will I buy? (should you?)

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