iPhone 15 : Everything You Need to Know Ahead of The Release

September is here and before you know it, a new iPhone will be too. Apple, on August 30th, officially announced the iPhone 15 launch event. New colours, a USB-C charging slot instead of the proprietary lightning port and updated pricing speculations have stirred the pot of expectations from the new iPhone. All of it will be put to a test as the release date inches ever so closer.

While analysts are busy extracting thrill from leaks; digging out classified information from Apple’s closed doors, we too, indulge our curiosity and enthusiasm for a new iPhone with the ripe rumours. Stay with us as we discuss rumours, decode the new pricing and set the stage for the next big release from Apple.

2023 September Event : The Annual iPhone 15 Launch

Apple will release the iPhone 15 and Pro lineup at its annual fall event, titled ‘Wonderlust’. September 12th, 2023 is now officially the iPhone-15 release date. Apple’s event invites have always been mysterious and exciting. Just like every year, this year’s design is loaded with hidden meanings. Everybody is perplexed about greater ideas and the easter eggs these lustrous sand dunes forming the apple logo might hold within them. The most obvious hints are the new cooler shades of grey and blue colours, discussed ahead in the blog. 

iPhone’s naming tradition is likely to continue from last year. The base models will be called the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. The premium variants will be named the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. However, there have been claims of Apple wanting to do away with the ‘Pro Max’ branding in place of a new ‘Ultra’ brand. If it materialises, we could see the iPhone 15 Pro Max being launched as the ‘iPhone 15 Ultra,’ in line with the latest Apple Watch Ultra. 

iPhone 15 : New Features and Specifications

Let us dive straight in to the newest updates coming to this year’s iPhones. We discuss the complete external and internal revamps to this year’s iPhones. 

• The First USB-C Port

The new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 pro lineups are most likely to make a shift from the classic lightning charging port to a USB-C port, owing to the EU’s guidelines. With newer ‘C’ type cables, a single cable may possibly be used across a wide variety of Apple’s products like iPads, Macbooks, and iPhones. If the speculations surrounding ‘Thunderbolt’ support also turn out to be true, new iPhones can even be used to source output to external 4K screens. 

Latest reports signal that the plain white lightning cable will be replaced by new colour-coded cables to match the shades of the iPhone 15. The cables with a new braided design are reported to be 1.2-1.5 metres long. Websites like MacRumor report an increase in maximum charging speeds to 35W from last year’s 20W.

Despite the new port, iPhone 15 cables are believed to support meagre transfer speeds similar to USB 2.0 of up to 480 Mbps, which is also the speed offered by the lightning cables. While the iPhone 15 pro and iPhone 15 pro max lineup might sport at least USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt 3 speeds up to 40gbps. 

• Dynamic Island on All Models

One of the strongest rumours this year has been that the Dynamic Island is coming to the base as well as pro versions of the iPhone 15. The pill-shaped cutout was introduced last year with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. The cutout houses the camera hardware, FaceID and other sensors. As per senior analysts like Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo, all the iPhones this year can sport the pill and hole cutout instead of the massive notch. The new notch can expand and contract to alert the user of messages, music, calls and other notifications. 

While the sleeker cutout is expected to be a part of all models, experts believe that the proximity sensor will now be placed within, instead of outside, the Dynamic Island. A proximity sensor signals to the device to send the screen to sleep when the user talks on call. 

• Action Button: This Year’s One More Thing?

The Apple Watch Ultra introduced a new toggle last year- the Action Button. This year’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are expected to flaunt this new physical button in place of the classic mute toggle. The action button is going to be a hotkey, allowing users to open any application without even unlocking their phone or navigating the app library. The latest iOS 17  beta codes back these expectations.  

Basically, it is a shortcut button. A user can single press the button to open the camera, control playback, activate Siri, switch on the flashlight, record memos and more. It can also be customised to suit individual apps. For example, the action button can act as the shutter button for the camera app. A half-press could initiate focusing, while a full-press could capture the photo. Along with the added functionality, leakers claim that Apple may retain the button’s ability to behave like a silent switch.

A physical button instead of a switch means improved dust protection for your iPhone 15. We can make sense of the change. The new addition, aimed to increase personalisation and offer quick functionality, will be announced on the iPhone 15’s release date. 

• New Colours

Who doesn’t remember the shiny steel grey and black band of the original iPhone? But that was back in 2007 and we’ve all come a long way since. Apple is rumoured to experiment with newer colours for this year’s smartphone lineup. The colour-coded USB-C cable leaks have also fanned the flames of these speculations. 

The White, Midnight and Yellow shades of the previous iPhones are likely to extend to the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. As hinted in the invite, the pro versions are likely to build on the premium finishes of the previous variants. This year’s iPhone 15 pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max may see deeper shades of Blue, Silver and Titanium.

There is a special ambiguity regarding the Coral and Green colours. The last time Apple released an iPhone in the coral shade was 2018, the iPhone XR. The possibility of this eccentric colour making a return this year has the fans excited. Another shade similar to the peculiar pale green of the iPhone 12 and the now discontinued iPhone 12 mini can also be potentially announced on the iPhone release date.

• Display & Design Updates

This year’s major design changes are centred on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. The new titanium body frame is set to replace the current stainless steel hardware. Hence, the expected hues of silver, titanium and grey for the pro models. The new camera setup, which we’ll get to in a minute, will also add to the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s new design.

Apple’s Super Retina OLED displays are likely to repeat the same dimensions this year. The iPhone 15’s release date will also unveil the sleeker bezels and curved edges on the pro models. Currently, Xiaomi 13 holds the record for the thinnest bezels at 1.81 mm. Apple aims to churn out the pro versions this year at reportedly 1.5mm thin bezels, making it the thinnest screen bezels ever on a phone. The new claims make the iPhone roughly 20% thinner than Samsung’s Galaxy S23. 

The display sizes will be the usual 6.1 and 6.7 inches. Apple is likely to stick to refresh rates of 60 Hz for the base versions and 120 Hz for the pro models. The recent ‘Always-On Display’ and ‘ProMotion’ technology are also likely to be reserved for the pro variants. Leaks have been reporting a peak brightness of up to 2,500 nits. Check out the full specs in the comparison table at the end of this article. 

• Camera

Remember how everyone flocked the ultra-zoomed high-resolution images clicked by this year’s Samsung Galaxy S23? There’s no way Apple’s not going to try to trump that. This year’s camera improvements will be visible across the new lineup, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max is in talks for special reasons. The highest-end iPhone is likely to feature a periscopic telephoto lens to offer a dramatic rise of up to 10x optical zoom from the previous year’s 3x zoom.

All the iPhones this year are claimed to have the same 48-megapixel sensor as the previous year’s iPhone 14 Pro lineup. The image sensor sizes, though, are reported to vary. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will house a smaller 1/1.5-inch sensor. While the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are likely to have a bigger sensor of 1/1.28 inches. Find the complete specs in the table towards the end of the blog. 

• A Stronger and Sharper A17 Chip

Apple integrates hardware and software in ways other companies can only imagine. iPhones sport an in-house developed System-on-a-Chip (SoC). This is the reason why iPhones feel so smooth and quick when compared to many other Android devices. While the base models will have last year’s A16 Bionic chip, the pro models will house the new A17 chip based on a 3nm process. The basic idea behind a new 3nm process is delivering faster performance at lesser battery consumption. The chipset is reported to offer an upgrade to a 6-core CPU and a 6-core GPU system. Better gaming experience, smoother 4k video playback and improved machine learning are some of the advantages we might be looking at with the A17 chip.

• Battery Life

The battery capacities for this year’s iPhones are likely to witness an increase in all models. The new variants of the iPhone will reportedly make use of stacked batteries, often found in electric cars. Compiled with new chipsets, this will result in greater efficiency and longer battery life. 

The iPhone 15 is likely to boast a 3,877 mAh battery as opposed to the iPhone 14’s 3,279 mAh battery. Similarly, the iPhone 15 Pro will debut with a battery of 3,650 mAh, instead of last year’s 3,200 mAh. Fast charging is also touted to go up to 35W. The new iPhone’s users can finally enjoy the Qi2 wireless charging support up to 15W. Reverse charging, however, still seems like a distant dream for iPhone users. 

• iPhone 15 Prices & Availability 

As it happens annually, the iPhone 15 pro price is going to be much more expensive than the base iPhone 15 models. Owing to the camera and design updates, the iPhone 15 Pro Max price is likely to witness a $200 price rise, starting at $1,299 (4,771 AED) as opposed to $1099(4,037 AED) last year. The complete pricing of all the models is detailed in the comparison table ahead. 

The iPhone 15 release date is scheduled for 12th September. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple will start accepting iPhone 15, 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max pre-orders on September 15th. The devices are expected to hit the shelves on 22nd September. However, the iPhone 15 pro max release date is slated for three to four weeks after the announcement, as per the insider leaks. The delays can be attributed to the new camera additions and certain supply chain setbacks.

What Else to Expect?

The iPhone 15 pro is rumoured to start from 256 GB of storage this time, and can go up to 2 TB. The RAM will also be capped at 6GB in all likelihood. An impending Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) update can ensure seamless wireless connectivity with new products like the Vision Pro. We might also witness Apple introducing new cases for this year’s iPhones, different from the previous leather cases.

Where Can I Watch the Apple iPhone 15 Livestream?

Tech nerds and Apple enthusiasts can never really contain the excitement of a new product launch. Well, in our defence, Apple is just so good at product launches! Users interested in watching the live stream of the event can stream it from Apple’s official website. The event is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time on the iPhone 15 release date i.e.12th of September. The iPhone launch event can also be streamed on the Apple T.V., live from the iconic Steve Jobs Theatre at the Apple Park. 

Compare the New iPhones

We’ve summarised all the rumoured external and internal specifications of the new iPhones. So, when you watch the livestream with your friends, act all cool and behave as if you knew everything that was coming! 

Final Thoughts

The 2023 iPhone focuses sharply on ramping up the internals. Apple also stands as the market leader when it comes to design. It won’t be a surprise if other companies start rolling out action button-like hotkeys in their smartphones. We could potentially see the rise of periscope lenses and stacked batteries in smartphones. While leaks are getting more accurate with each passing year, the complete package will only be revealed by the company next week on 12th September. Till then, let us savour the build-up to the much-awaited iPhone 15.

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