iPhone 15 Launch Event 2023

On Tuesday, September 12th, 2023, Apple announced the iPhone 15 to the world. Reactions to the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro have been mixed, with some critics absolutely blown away by the capabilities of the iPhone 15 Pro… while others have said there’s not enough improvement since last year for anybody to get excited. 

As a tech fan and lover of all things mobile phone, I had to make a judgement for myself. So, with a fresh cup of tea and a notebook in hand, I sat down to watch Apple’s launch event, titled ‘Wonderlust’. The biggest ‘wonder’ in my head was wondering whether or not the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 were going to live up to all the hype.

iPhone 15

Key Features: iPhone 15 / 15 Plus

• A16 Bionic chip (from the iPhone 14 Pro)
• 48MP Quad-Pixel camera, portrait mode now can be adjusted after taking the shot.
• Colour-infused rear glass panel in pink, yellow, green, blue or black
• USB-C connector replacing the Lightning port

The announcement of the iPhone 15 and its color-infused materials in shades of pink, yellow, green, blue, and black made a bold statement. Apple even stated that this is a more easily repairable model of iPhone than previous models, as the rear glass panel now is much more easily replaced

A number of the announcements about the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus felt very familiar – as most of the advances from the iPhone 14 were already present in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. Many of the improvements come with the release of iOS 17, including Dynamic Island: Apple’s notification window which doubles as an intelligent widget tray. Dynamic Island adapts to how you’re currently using your phone, growing and shrinking as needed.

Of particular interest are the improvements to the iPhone 15’s camera and image processing. The 48MP quad-pixel camera not only offers high-resolution photography, but now also gives users the flexibility to adjust blur and focus even after the shot. The inclusion of USB-C, a feature many Apple enthusiasts have been waiting for, was a significant nod to universal compatibility.

iPhone 15 Pro

Key Features: iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max

• A17 Pro chip, 3nm architecture. Enough processor power to play AAA games
• ProRes cinematic videography in log / ACES colour profiles
• Grade 5 Titanium Alloy frame
• Mute switch replaced with customisable “Action Button”
• USB 3.0 connection speeds

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max followed suit, impressing with their lightweight designs and contoured edges. With the inclusion of the strong and lightweight Grade 5 Titanium – the same alloy used on the Mars rove – Apple once again highlighted its commitment to cutting-edge technology. The mute switch is being replaced with an “Action button”, a customizable feature allowing instant access to apps and functions as well as simply turning the sound on and off.

The A17 “Pro” SoC processor, built on a 3nm architecture, is easily the star of the show when it comes to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. With a 6-core CPU that can reach top high-performance speeds of 3.8 GHz, a 6-Core GPU with ray tracing cores, and 16-core ‘neural engine’, the most impressive announcement of the presentation was that mobile gaming and console gaming are about to collide in a big way. As well as the two most recent Resident Evil games being released for the iPhone 15, the announcement came that Assassin’s Creed: Mirage will be the first AAA game ever to be released on both console and iPhone at the same same time; a feat made possible by the optimization of the A17 Pro chip for mobile gaming.

Next, I’ve got to talk about the camera. A Tetra-prism camera design in the iPhone 15 Pro Max promises optical zoom capabilities of up to 5x, and improvements to the iPhone 15 Pro’s neural image processing have led to significant enhancements such as greater low-light performance than ever before. The camera can shoot in log picture profiles and deliver in ProRaw format. When shooting video, users now have access to 4K Pro Res Cinematic footage shot in the industry-standard ACES colour profile. And by using two of its three camera lenses side-by-side, the iPhone 15 is even capable of capturing 3D video.

With the capability to capture massive amounts of image data, the USB 2.0 connection provided by Apple’s Lightning connector won’t be enough – so the last piece of truly exciting news coming out of this product release is that the new USB-C connector will support 3.0 upload and download speeds. 

Apple Watch

Apple Watch Series 9 / Ultra 2 Key Points:

• S9 watch processor: More powerful, faster
• 18 hour battery life
• Double-tap gesture 
• Wide-band location ping
• On-device voice recognition: more secure, faster, more accurate

Apple Watch Series 9

Before unveiling the iPhone 15, Apple fully revealed the Apple Watch Series 9 to the world. With its powerful S9 processor, the watch promises faster ‘ProMotion’ graphics and a reliable 18-hour battery life. The new ‘Double Tap’ gesture, allowing users to complete tasks by merely tapping their index and thumb, echoed the announcement of the Apple Vision Pro earlier this year, which is controlled using a similar gesture. Siri has been given a boost, with the improved S9 chip now able to process voice recognition without needing to transmit your voice data to the cloud – making the process faster, more secure, and more accurate. Finally, wide-band location tracking can ping between your apple devices, helping you to use your watch to quickly find your phone, and vice versa.

Apple Watch Ultra 2

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 features all of the incredible technology of the Apple Watch Series 9, but in the rugged and weatherproof package of the Apple Watch Ultra. Not only that, the device’s interface is specially designed to be highly customisable, in order to display all kinds of information at a glance.

Some good improvements all round, but nothing unexpected yet. Then, Apple rounded off the presentation with a startling claim: that the Apple Watch Series 9 would be their first-ever carbon neutral product. As somebody very invested in the environmental issues surrounding mobile phones, this made my ears prick up, and I was suddenly very curious to know more.

Apple’s Sustainability Claims

During the launch event for a brand new product, it’s always important to be skeptical about any claims of the product being good for the environment. After all, old and discarded mobile phones are a massive contributor to harmful electronic waste, and these devices also have a huge impact in terms of the rare-earth metals that are mined to create them. For these reasons alone, buying a refurbished device is almost always a much more enviornmentally friendly option than buying a brand new one – as well as the carbon emitted during manufacture and shipping. 

Apple’s sustainability claims during their event, though, seem sound. For the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple have chosen to eliminate carbon-intensive leather straps from their product line with their newly developed ‘FineWoven’ synthetic material. They’ve madestrides in reducing the number of their products that are shipped by air, as opposed to by sea. They’re committing to removing all plastic from their packaging, and they only purchase 100% renewables-backed electricity to power their offices, and the amount of post-consumer recycled materials used in their devices has risen year on year, with the Apple Watch Series 9 using ‘100% recycled cobalt’. Finally, Apple addresses the carbon footprint of their devices – promising to plant enough trees and grasslands to offset not only the carbon released during manufacture and shipping of the Apple Watch Series 9, but also the expected carbon footprint of charging the device every night. According to Apple, this makes the Apple Watch Series 9 a fully zero-carbon smartwatch.

Final Thoughts

Will the iPhone 15, as well as the iPhone 15 Plus, Pro, and Pro Max, live up to the hype? Based on the specifications of each, I think the answer to that question is a clear and resounding yes. However, it’s important to keep in mind that no matter how much Apple builds up their sustainability claims, it is always better for the environment to opt for a refurbished device than a brand new one. The good news is that The Big Phone Store already have all the iPhone 15 models listed – and you can sign up for stock alerts to be informed as soon as we have these devices available.

Sign up for stock alerts now:

• iPhone 15
• iPhone 15 Plus
• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15 Pro Max

iPhone 15 / 15 Plus: Full specifications

Release date: 22nd September 2023

Storage: 128GB / 256GB / 512GB

Casing: Aluminium design. Ceramic Shield front, Colour-infused glass back.
Colours available: Black, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink

Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. Splash, Water and Dust Resistant. Rated IP68 (maximum depth of 6 metres up to 30 minutes) under IEC standard 60529

Dimensions

Power and Battery

Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery

• Wireless Charging: MagSafe up to 15W, Qi up to 7.5W
• Fast-charge: Up to 50% charge in around 30 minutes with 20W adapter or higher (available separately)

Display

Super Retina XDR display (HDR), 460 ppi.

Dynamic Island, True Tone, Wide colour (P3), Haptic Touch, 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio (typical), 2,000 nits peak brightness (outdoor)

Chip

A16 Bionic chip: 6‑core CPU with 2 performance and 4 efficiency cores, 5‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine

Camera

Advanced dual-camera system, Sapphire crystal lens cover

• 1. 48MP Main: 26mm, ƒ/1.6 aperture, sensor‑shift optical image stabilisation, 100% Focus Pixels, support for super-high-resolution photos (24MP and 48MP) and 12MP 2x Telephoto (enabled by quad-pixel sensor)
• 2. 12MP Ultra Wide: 13mm, ƒ/2.4 aperture and 120° field of view

4x Optical Zoom / 10x Digital Zoom

Auto image stabilisation, True Tone flash, Lens correction (Ultra Wide), Advanced red‑eye correction, Wide colour capture for photos and Live Photos

Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 5

Night mode. Panorama (up to 63MP), Burst mode, TrueDepth portraits: Next-generation portraits with Focus and Depth Control, Portrait Lighting with six effects

Image formats captured: HEIF and JPEG

Video Recording

• 4K (at 24 / 25 / 30 / 60 fps), 1080p (at 25 / 30 / 60 fps), 720p (30 fps)
• 4K HDR Cinematic mode (30 fps), 4K HDR with Dolby Vision (60 fps), 2.8K Action mode (60 fps), Support for 1080p Slow Motion (at 120 / 240 fps)
• Time-lapse video with stabilisation / night mode

Sensor-shift optical image stabilisation for video (Main), Cinematic video stabilisation (4K, 1080p and 720p), Continuous autofocus video

Digital zoom up to 6x, Audio zoom, Stereo recording

Video formats recorded: HEVC and H.264

SIM Card

Dual SIM: nano-SIM and eSIM. Dual eSIM support.

Face ID

Enabled by TrueDepth camera for facial recognition

Safety

Emergency SOS via satellite

Crash Detection

iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max: Full specifications

Release Date: 22nd September 2023

Titanium design, Ceramic Shield front, Textured matt glass back. Finish: Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, Natural Titanium

Storage: 128GB (iPhone 15 Pro Only) / 256GB / 512GB / 1TB

Dimensions

Display

Super Retina XDR display, 460 ppi

• Dynamic Island, True Tone, Wide colour (P3), Haptic Touch, 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio (typical), 2,000 nits peak brightness (outdoor)
• Always-On display

Splash, Water and Dust Resistant, Rated IP68 (maximum depth of 6 metres up to 30 minutes) under IEC standard 60529

Chip

A17 Pro chip

• New 6‑core CPU with 2 performance and 4 efficiency cores
• New 6‑core GPU
• New 16‑core Neural Engine

Power and Battery

Built‑in rechargeable lithium‑ion battery

Wireless Charging: MagSafe up to 15W, Qi up to 7.5W

Fast-charge capable: Up to 50% charge in around 30 minutes with 20W adapter or higher (available separately)

Camera

Pro camera system, Sapphire crystal lens cover

1. 48MP Main: 24mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, second‑generation sensor‑shift optical image stabilisation, 100% Focus Pixels, support for super‑high‑resolution photos (24MP and 48MP), 12MP 2x Telephoto (enabled by quad‑pixel sensor): 48mm
2. 12MP Ultra Wide: 13mm, ƒ/2.2 aperture and 120° field of view, 100% Focus Pixels
3. 12MP Optical Telephoto Lens:

AI: Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 5

• Next-generation portraits with Focus and Depth Control, Portrait Lighting with six effects
• Night mode, Night mode portraits enabled by LiDAR scanner, Panorama (up to 63MP), Burst mode, Macro photography, 
• Apple ProRAW, Wide colour capture for photos and Live Photos
• Adaptive True Tone flash, Lens correction (Ultra Wide), Advanced red-eye correction, Auto image stabilisation

Image formats captured: HEIF, JPEG and DNG

Video Recording

• 4K (at 24 / 25 / 30 / 60 fps), 1080p (at 25 / 30 / 60 fps), 720p (30 fps)
• 4K HDR Cinematic mode (30 fps), 4K HDR with Dolby Vision (60 fps), 2.8K Action mode (60 fps), Support for 1080p Slow Motion (at 120 / 240 fps)
• Time-lapse video with stabilisation / night mode
• ProRes video recording up to 4K at 60 fps with external recording, Log video recording, Academy Color Encoding System (ACES), Macro video recording, including slo‑mo and time‑lapse

Second‑generation sensor‑shift optical image stabilisation for video (Main), 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilisation and autofocus for video (Telephoto), Cinematic video stabilisation (4K, 1080p and 720p), Continuous autofocus video Audio zoom, True Tone flash, Stereo recording

Digital zoom up to 9x (iPhone 15 Pro) and 15x (iPhone 15 Pro Max), Playback zoom

Video formats recorded: HEVC, H.264 and ProRes

Features

Action button: Silent mode, Focus, Camera, Flashlight, Voice Memo, Translate13, Magnifier, Shortcut or Accessibility

USB‑C connector with support for: Charging, DisplayPort, USB 3 (up to 10Gb/s)

SIM Card

Dual SIM: nano-SIM and eSIM. Dual eSIM support.

Face ID

Enabled by TrueDepth camera for facial recognition

Safety

Emergency SOS via satellite
Crash Detection

The iPhone 15 series is now on sale. And as always, the decision to upgrade or switch comes down to individual needs and preferences. But if Apple’s history of innovation and quality is anything to go by, the iPhone 15 might just be worth the hype.