Apple on Tuesday announced the new iPhone 15, its latest entry into the smartphone market. The handset features a number of improvements over its predecessor, including thinner bezels, a 2x brighter display, a Dynamic Island, A16 Bionic chip, 48MP camera, 2nd gen Ultra Wide band chip, and much more. Keep reading for a full breakdown of everything you need to know about the iPhone 15.
Design
Both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, featuring an industry-first color-infused back glass with a stunning, textured matte finish, and a new contoured edge on the aluminum enclosure. They also both include the Dynamic Island — an option previously reserved for the iPhone Pro models.
- 5 new colorways
- Ceramic Shield for better durability
- Textured matte finish
- Thinner bezels
- Dynamic Island
- the iPhone 15 Pro is 19 grams(!) lighter than the 14 Pro
- USB-C port replaces Lightning charger port
Display
Available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch display sizes, both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus feature XDR displays capable of reaching up to to 1600 nits of peak HDR brightness. And when you are outdoors, the brightness can reach up to 2000 nits — twice as bright as previous generation.
Performance
The fast and efficient A16 Bionic chip brings proven performance to iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, powering the Dynamic Island, computational photography capabilities, and more. With 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.
- A16 Bionic chip is the same chip used in iPhone 14 Pro
- The 5-core GPU has 50% more memory bandwidth for smooth graphics when streaming videos and playing games
- A new 16-core Neural Engine is capable of nearly 17 trillion operations per second, enabling even faster machine learning computations
Camera
The advanced camera system on iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus helps users capture everyday moments and cherished memories. A 48MP Main camera shoots sharp photos and videos while capturing fine details, with a quad-pixel sensor and 100 percent Focus Pixels for fast autofocus.
- Using the power of computational photography, the Main camera gives users a new 24MP super-high-resolution default, offering incredible image quality at a practical file size
- New 2x Telephoto option gives users three optical-quality zoom levels — 0.5x, 1x, 2x — for the first time on an iPhone dual-camera system
- You can now take portraits without having to switch to Portrait mode — the phone will grab depth info every time, so you can switch any photo to Portrait mode after the fact
- New Smart HDR captures subjects and the background with more true-to-life renderings of skin tones
Other features
Both iPhone models feature the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, enabling two iPhone devices with this chip to connect at three times the range as before. This opens up a new way to use Precision Finding for Find My friends, so iPhone 15 users can share their location and find each other, even in crowds. Precision Finding is built with the same privacy protections that users have come to trust in Find My.
- New Roadside Assistance via satellite feature for when a user has car trouble outside of cellular and Wi-F coverage (via AAA)
Price and availability
iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will be available in pink, yellow, green, blue, and black in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage capacities
- iPhone 15 starts at $799 (USD) for 128GB of storage (or $33.29 per month)
- iPhone 15 Plus starts at $899 (USD) for 128GB of storage (or $37.45 per month)
- Both phones are available for pre-order in 40 countries on Friday, September 15 at 5am PDT
- Availability starts on Friday, September 29