As part of its Wonderlust Event, Apple has officially announced the next iteration of its smartphone — the iPhone 15.
The iPhone 15 and 15 Pro feature a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 15 Plus and 15 Pro Max include a 6.7-inch display. Similar to the last two phones before it, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max include a refresh of 120Hz, while the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus include a 60Hz refresh rate.
As previous rumors suggested, the iPhone 15 series includes a USB-C port to charge the smartphone, which Apple says will allow the iPhone 15 to charge up to 20x faster. This marks the first time an iPhone does not require a Lightning cable to charge after Apple switched to its proprietary charging cable with the release of the iPhone 5. The news follows a new European Union Law that mandates all smartphones, tablets, and cameras with a physical charging port to use USB-C by 2024.
The iPhone 15 will be available in pink, yellow, green, blue, and black variants, and will feature a matte glass back. The iPhone 15 will be available $799 and the iPhone 15 Plus will be $899.
Some noteworthy details about the iPhone 15 include
- It will utilize a Super Retina XDR screen featuring OLED technology. It will also be brighter, capable of going up to 2000 nits in sunlight. Apple says that HDR photos will look better than ever.
- It will utilize a 48MP main camera with 2x telephoto and continuous zoom. One nifty feature is its "Auto Portrait Mode," which allows users to shoot portrait photos without having to manually switch to Portrait Mode.
- It will utilize the A16 Bionic chip introduced in the iPhone 14.
- The iPhone 15 will feature a bigger battery with a greater charge overall.
- A noteworthy change coming to every iPhone 15 model, not just the Pro variants, is the Dynamic Island, the pill-shaped notch on the top of the phone introduced last year and was only available on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max.
- Yet, despite Dynamic Island coming to all iPhones this year, the always-on display and ProMotion feature – which allows refresh rates up to 120Hz – remain features exclusively for the iPhone 15 Pro models.
iPhone 15 Pro introduces new titanium materials and ray tracing
In addition to the iPhone 15, Apple showed off the iPhone Pro, which will utilize Grade 5 Titanium materials, the same material used on the Mars Rover, for a lighter weight and smaller borders. It will be available in 6.1 inches for iPhone 15 Pro and 6.7 inches for iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The iPhone 15 Pro also reinvents the classic ring silent switch with a new "action button." Now you press and hold the button to express your intent. You can select from a set of actions and easily switch between them, from recording sound clips to launching the camera.
The iPhone 15 Pro will utilize the new A17 chip. Notable features include:
- The first 3 nanometer chips.
- New GPU using new Apple-designed shader technology. It features 6 cores and hardware-accelerated ray tracing for games, allowing it to run Resident Evil 4 Remake, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and other high-end console games natively.
- The 48MP iPhone 15 Pro camera will feature a camera capable of 24 MM, 28 MM, and 35 MM photography. It will reduce lens flare and function better at night. It will feature 24 mm focal length and more and support 10,000 microadjustments per second.
- The iPhone 15 Pro Max will include a special 5x telephoto camera.
The 128GB iPhone Pro will be available for $999 while the 256GB iPhone 15 Pro Max will be available for $1199.
For more information on what was announced during today's event, check out our roundup, which recaps all the major news and announcements from Apple's Wonderlust Event.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
