Should You Buy an iPhone 15?
Introduced in September 2023, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are two of Apple's current flagship iPhones, sold alongside the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The new iPhones launched in September 2023, which means now is a the best time to buy an iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Plus.
As brand-new models, the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 and 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Plus will last for many years to come and will remain part of Apple's flagship lineup for the next 12 months, so you can rest assured that something newer and better is not right around the corner.
The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus start at $799 and offer a good balance between functionality, longevity, and price, but if cost is the major factor for you, Apple also offers the $429 iPhone SE with older technology and the prior-generation iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus with pricing starting at $699. The two-year-old iPhone 13 is also available starting at $599.
If you're looking for something better than the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, you can step up to the iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max. The respective screen sizes of the Pro models are the same, but they include a number of upgrades such as an Always-On display with ProMotion technology, a customizable Action button instead of a ring/silent switch on the side, a faster A17 Pro chip, an advanced camera system with telephoto, and more.
Choosing an iPhone is a major decision, so we have some buyer's guides that walk you through choosing the best device for you.
iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus Features Guide
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are Apple's consumer-focused flagship devices with prices starting at $799. They are joined by the pro-focused iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone Pro Max, which come with additional capabilities and features and start at $999.
As with the iPhone 14 lineup last year, the iPhone 15 family includes a total of four models with two 6.1-inch iPhones and two 6.7-inch iPhones. The consumer lineup includes the standard 6.1-inch iPhone 15 and the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Plus. The 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro and 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Pro Max represent the more expensive, higher-end models.
As with the iPhone 14 lineup, the best features are reserved for the iPhone 15 Pro models to make the extra cost worth it, but the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are still very capable devices.
The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are each available in five color options: pink, yellow, green, blue, and black. Perhaps the most significant change for the lineup is a move from the Lightning port that has been present on every iPhone for over a decade to a USB-C port, although data transfers on these models remain at the same USB 2.0 speeds that were available with Lightning.
New for the non-Pro lineup in 2023 is the Dynamic Island, which debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro lineup a year earlier. The Dynamic Island replaces the previous notch at the top of the display and houses the front-facing TrueDepth camera and other sensors. Software helps hide these physical components inside the black Dynamic Island, which fluidly adapts to display important information and allow for user interaction.
The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus use the same A16 Bionic chip that debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, using 20 percent less power and delivering improved performance and 50 percent more memory bandwidth compared to the A15 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus.
Camera improvements include a new 48-megapixel Main camera with a quad-pixel sensor that defaults to capturing 24-megapixel photos. The updated Main camera also allows for a new 2x Telephoto option intelligently cropped from the full camera capture.
Portraits no longer require switching Portrait mode, with the iPhone 15 automatically capturing depth information when a person, dog, or cat is detected in the frame. The new camera system also brings sharper detail, more vivid colors, and improved low-light performance to portraits, while Night mode sees similar improvements.
A second-generation Ultra Wideband chip delivers enhanced proximity-based functionality, allowing iPhones to connect to each other at three times the range as before. With Precision Finding in the Find My app, you can track down your friends even in a dense crowd.
Battery life remains the same on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus compared to their predecessors, with video playback for up 20 hours on the iPhone 15 and 26 hours on the iPhone 15 Plus. As with the last several generations, the iPhone 15 models support 5G connectivity (both sub-6GHz and mmWave in the United States), and they use a new Qualcomm X70 modem. In the United States, iPhone models again ship without a physical SIM card as carriers now use eSIM.
Emergency SOS via satellite debuted with the iPhone 14 lineup, and this year it is expanding to include Roadside Assistance via satellite. Apple is partnering with service agencies such as AAA in the United States to allow users experiencing vehicle difficulties while out of cell signal range to request service, either as part of their AAA membership or on a fee basis.
The iPhone 15 models are available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage capacities. In addition to wired charging via USB-C, wireless charging via MagSafe and Qi2 is also supported. The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus support Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3.
Pricing on the iPhone 15 models remains the same as the previous models, with the standard 6.1-inch device starting at $799 and the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Plus starting at $899.
0 Comments