After a year of speculation, the iPhone 15 is finally here. The new range has brought with it some of the biggest changes in the phone’s history, with the Lightning plug ditched and the USB-C plug finally adopted.
This year, the iPhone 15 comes in two sizes, 6.1 inches for the iPhone 15 and 6.7 inches for the Plus.
While the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are the phones for Apple power users, the iPhone 15 and its larger brother, the 15 Plus, still boast some pretty decent specs, including a 48MP main camera. As Tim Cook said, “the iPhone 15 is absolutely incredible”.
Apple’s iPhone 15 range
Each of the four iPhone 15 models are different, tailoring to a different kind of user with different needs. Each phone is uniquely Apple with the feeling you’d expect from an Apple device, but there are some big differences this year. In particular, the adoption of the Dynamic Island on the two cheaper models (last year, it was unique to the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max).
And, USB-C has finally been adopted.
iPhone 15
The base-level iPhone 15 is the least interesting device across the entire line-up, but that doesn’t mean it has been left behind. There are definitely at least a couple of features that set it apart from last year’s model. As per usual, the ‘Plus’ model is essentially the same phone, but with a bigger body and screen.
iPhone 15 specs
- Size: 147.6 mm x 71.6 mm x 7.8 mm
- Weight: 171 grams
- Display: 6.1‑inch OLED, Super Retina XDR display
- Resolution: 2556×1179-pixel resolution at 460 ppi
- Guts: A16 Bionic chip
- Camera: Dual-camera system (48MP main, 12MP ultra-wide), 12MP TrueDepth selfie camera
- Battery life: Up to 20 hours of video playback (up to 16 hours streamed)
- Water resistance: Rated IP68 (maximum depth of 6 metres for up to 30 minutes)
- Safety: Emergency SOS & Crash Detection
- Storage: 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB
- Colours: Pink, yellow, green, blue, and black.
iPhone 15 Plus specs
- Size: 160.9 mm x 77.8 mm x 7.8 mm
- Weight: 201 grams
- Display: 6.7‑inch OLED, Super Retina XDR display
- Resolution: 2796×1290-pixel resolution at 460 ppi
- Guts: A16 Bionic chip
- Camera: Dual-camera system (48MP main, 12MP ultra-wide), 12MP TrueDepth selfie camera
- Battery life: Up to 26 hours of video playback (up to 20 hours streamed)
- Water resistance: Rated IP68 (maximum depth of 6 metres for up to 30 minutes)
- Safety: Emergency SOS & Crash Detection
- Storage: 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB
- Colours: MPink, yellow, green, blue, and black.
iPhone 15 and 15 Plus camera system
Both handsets received some camera upgrades this year. Specs-wise, the main camera is now 48MP, with a 26mm focal length. The camera system will spit out super-high-resolution photos (24MP and 48MP). We get a 12MP ultrawide and 12MP Telephoto with 42mm focal length. It boasts 2x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out and a 4x optical zoom range. Digital zoom will reach up to 10x, too.
Portrait Mode has been updated to allow better, more crisp portraits (even in low light – something lacking from last year’s iPhone 14), giving you six effects in total. Night Mode also received an upgrade, with more attention to detail (what Pro and Pro Max users are already used to). Panorama now goes up to 63MP, too. Of course, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus camera systems also boast auto image stabilisation, burst mode, etc.
When it comes to video, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have 4K video recording at 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps; 1080p HD video recording at 25 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps; 720p HD video recording at 30 fps; cinematic mode up to 4K HDR at 30 fps; action mode up to 2.8K at 60 fps; HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 4K at 60 fps; and slow‑motion video support for 1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps. Read more about that over here.
The A16 Bionic chip
Out with the old, in with the new. The A16 Bionic chip is, of course, the successor to the A15 Bionic chip featured in the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, with the Pro and Pro Max using the A16 last year, and now the standard models get the more powerful processor. The A16 chip has a 5-core GPU, 6-core CPU with two performance cores and four efficiency cores, and a 16-core neural engine capable of 17 trillion operations per second. That’s going to make iOS 17 all the better.
With a second-generation ultra-wide band chip, the new phone uses a more advanced machine learning model that prioritises your voice on phone calls (voice isolation) and allows you to find the exact location of things (or people) via Precision Finding for Find My Friends.
Apple also used its iPhone event to talk about Emergency SOS via Satellite, introducing a new feature, Roadside Assistance via Satellite, which will let your roadside assistance company know you’ve broken down. It’s not headed to Australia just yet.
iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus Australian pricing
iPhone 15 cost:
- The 128GB iPhone will cost RRP $1,499
- The 256GB iPhone will cost RRP $1,699
- The 512GB iPhone will cost RRP $2,049.
iPhone 15 Plus cost:
- The 128GB Plus will cost RRP $1,649
- The 256GB Plus will cost RRP $1,849
- The 512GB Plus will cost RRP $2,199.
Availability
Preorders begin on Friday, September 15 at 10pm AEST. The phones will be available on September 22. Telstra, Optus, and more will have plans available from then.
iPhone 15 review
Stay tuned for our review of the iPhone 15. We’ll be going hands-on with the range soon. Here’s what we thought of the iPhone 14.
At its 2023 iPhone event, Apple unveiled the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, USB-C for the AirPods Pro 2, Roadside Assistance via Satellite, and a bunch of environmental promises. This article has been updated since it was first published.
Image: Apple/Gizmodo Australia