iPhone 15 Pro: Everything You Need To Know

While it may not look like it on the surface, the iPhone 15 lineup will feature some of the biggest design changes the company has made to a flagship smartphone since the original iPhone launched in 2007.

Announced this morning at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, the iPhone 15 lineup is made up of the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Pre-orders for all four models open on Friday 15th September with availability in Australia beginning on Friday 22nd September.

Other than that, the sizes are the same. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro will each have a 6.1-inch display while the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max have a 6.7-inch display.

At a glance, the biggest changes for the iPhone 15 Pro models are:

• Titanium design
• Programmable Action button
• Switch to USB-C
• A17 Pro chipset
• Pro Max has a telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom

As expected, the new iPhone lineup features a slew of changes, some of which are exclusive to the Pro models. Meanwhile, the two base models get the expected drip-down from last generation’s Pro models, meaning the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will now have the Dynamic Island notch and a 48 MP main camera complemented by a 2x telephoto zoom sensor.

Below I’ve put together a quick guide to Apple’s new iPhone 15 lineup so you can decide whether it’s worth the upgrade or if it’s fine to skip this generation and go for the iPhone 14 Pro now that it has dropped in price.

Along with the new iPhones, Apple also announced the Apple Watch Ultra 2 starting from $1,399 in Australia, as well as the new $649 Apple Watch Series 9 with a “double-tap gesture” and the highly anticipated AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with a USB-C charging case for $399 in Australia. But we’ll get to those separately. For now, scroll to find out the biggest changes coming to the iPhone 15 lineup and when all four models will be released in Australia.

How Do I Pre-Order The iPhone 15?

Pre-orders for all four models of the iPhone 15 lineup begin on Friday 15th September at 10 AM AEST from Apple.

When Will The iPhone 15 Be Released In Australia?

The iPhone 15 models will be released in Australia on Friday 22nd September. This is in line with all the rumours that suggested this would be the shipping date.

How Much Will The iPhone 15 Cost In Australia?

The price of the iPhone 15 lineup in Australia has seen a sizable bump for the Pro models while the base models are competitively priced. The most expensive model is the iPhone 15 Pro Max with 1 TB storage, priced at $2,899.

iPhone 15 Colours

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will be available in five new colours: pink, yellow, green, blue and black.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will be available in four new colours: black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium, and natural titanium.

Biggest iPhone 15 Pro Changes

USB-C

Although Apple’s valuation sits at a comfortable $3 trillion, even “f**k you money” is beholden to rules. The European Union has already ruled that all smartphone manufacturers must standardise their charging ports to USB-C, and Apple has been forced to comply. As such, the biggest design change to the iPhone 15 lineup is that all four models will ditch the proprietary Lightning port in favour of a speedier, more data-friendly USB-C.

The Pro models will maximise this switch to USB-C with faster data transfer speeds of up to 10 GB per second on a compatible USB 3.0 cable. This will unlock new workflows and be invaluable for content creators who work with video.

While the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will also have USB-C, it doesn’t seem like either of the base models will have the same data transfer speed.

Titanium For The Pro Models

Both the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have a lightweight titanium design, maximising what is the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal. As such, this will be the lightest and cleanest looking Pro lineup to date, both models featuring a new refined brush texture, contoured edges and the thinnest borders on any iPhone.

Apple has used an industry-first thermo-mechanical process to ensure the titanium bands of the phone feature a new substructure made from 100% recycled aluminium. Solid-state diffusion has been used to bond these two metals together, drawing on the benefits of both aluminium, which has great thermal dissipation qualities, and titanium, which is lightweight and very protective.

The new design makes the Super Retina XDR display pop better, working with Always-On and ProMotion (120 Hz adaptive refresh rate) to deliver what Apple promises is the most fluid and visually attractive iPhone experience possible right now.

Action Button

Another Pro model exclusive is the new Action button, which replaced the mute switch and offers a wide range of customisable functionality. For example, you can program the button to quickly bring up the camera app (or any other app like Instagram), turn on the flashlight, activate Voice Memos or certain Focus modes or simply Translate.

The Action button works with a simple press-and-hold gesture and gives haptic feedback along with visual cues in the Dynamic Island notch.

It’s a curious addition that we’re keen to go hands-on with. We’ll be publishing a full iPhone 15 Pro review later this month and will let you know our thoughts on the big design change.

New Apple Silicone: A17 Pro

The workhorse behind the iPhone 15 Pro models is the new A17 Pro chipset, which is the industry’s first-ever chipset created using a 3-nanometer process. This basically means it should be blindingly fast, with what Apple says is the biggest GPU redesign in the company’s history.

The new CPU is apparently 10% faster than that of the previous generation’s Pro models. The Neural Engine is 20% faster and there’s a new 6-core design that should theoretically mean huge increases in peak performance and energy efficiency.

Apple never says much about the battery but I’m going to go ahead and assume it’s the same size, yet it will obviously last long with this chip ensuring optimal performance.

The company seems to be making a major play for high-end gaming as well. The pro-class GPU is up to 20% faster with hardware-accelerated ray tracing which should see massive benefits to AR applications and gaming with true-to-life lighting. Apple has stated that games like Resident Evil Village, Death Stranding and Assassin’s Creed Mirage will now work much better on the iPhone 15 Pro models.

Pro Cameras

The Pro camera system gets the expected upgrades and there’s little doubt Apple has genuinely worked on some impressive improvements. With the A17 Pro chip, Apple now says that the Pro camera system packs “the equivalent of seven pro lenses.”

The main shooter is a 48 MP camera on the rear with three focal lengths (24mm, 28mm and 35mm). Using ProRAW mode, users can snap 48 MP HEIF images with four times more resolution compared to the iPhone 14 Pro models.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max takes a step up with the longest optical zoom on an iPhone to date, featuring a length of 120mm. That is a 5x optical zoom, which is pretty damn impressive for a non-Android phone.

Portrait mode will now be automatic. Users will be able to take portraits without having to manually switch modes since the iPhone is now smart enough to automatically capture depth information and adjust accordingly. This was the case with the iPhone 14 and its macro mode when it launched last year, which caused some really annoying issues where the camera would visibly switch and cause a visual tear when trying to take photos. Hopefully, Apple has already preempted the issue.

Iterative improvements to low-light performance, for both photo and video, have been touted along with benefits to Action mode and a new Smart HDR software that captures subjects and the background with more true-to-life renderings of skin tones and deeper shadows. Night Mode apparently features sharper details and more vivid colours.

Apple also seems to be gearing up for better integration with Apple Vision Pro, the company’s AR/VR device. Users are now able to capture spatial video to work with the headset when it launches early next year.

What We Think About The iPhone 15 Announcement

I’m more impressed by the iPhone 15 announcement than I was with last year’s underwhelming iPhone 14 reveal. However, I’m still quite… whelmed. I have little doubt the iPhone 15 will be a beast in sales for Apple, and the three big changes for the Pro models are actually meaningful compared to the middling Dynamic Island.

Titanium? Sure thing. I’ve been expecting Apple to introduce this lightweight metal to its flagship smartphone since last year’s Apple Watch Ultra, which sported a rugged 49 mm titanium case. I actually can’t wait to hold the 15 Pro in my hands and feel the difference myself.

The change to USB-C was expected and is, quite frankly, overdue. Like pretty much everyone else, I hate Lightning cables and how fragile they can be. Give me a USB-C 3.0 any day. It charges faster and has better data transfer speeds. Importantly, it’s more universal. You can now charge your iPhone using the same cable as most modern tech devices including Bluetooth speakers and wireless earbuds.

And you can now use your iPhone 15 to charge the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) case. That is, if you pick up the new version of Apple’s top-tier wireless earbuds.

What interests me most is the Action button and I’m not quite sure why. It’s a novel change like the Dynamic Island was last year, but somehow it holds much more weight. Apple has been rocking with the Mute Switch since the first iPhone so to finally get rid of it speaks highly of Tim Cook’s desire to take risks. 

Albeit, it’s not much of a risk but personal technology devices are coming up with more ways to give users the ability to individualise their products. I have no doubt this will be a popular feature. Other than that, it’s a standard iterative update. The A17 Pro chip should make all the difference between the two base models and the Pro models, and this should theoretically improve camera performance in every way. 

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