As expected, at today’s “Wanderlust” event, Apple announced the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. And contrary to some rumors, no iPhone 15 Ultra was rolled out.
Both new models are designed with aerospace-grade titanium that’s strong yet lightweight to deliver Apple’s lightest Pro models ever. The new design also features contoured edges and a customizable Action button, allowing users to personalize their iPhone experience.
Camera upgrades enable the equivalent of seven pro lenses, including a more advanced 48MP Main camera system that now supports the new super-high-resolution 24MP default, the next generation of portraits with Focus and Depth Control, improvements to Night mode and Smart HDR, and an all-new 5x Telephoto camera exclusively on iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Design features
Available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch display sizes, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max’s titanium design has one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios of any metal, making this Apple’s lightest Pro lineup ever, according to Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. Both models feature a new refined brush texture, contoured edges, and the thinnest borders on an iPhone.
Joswiak says the Pro lineup is built to last, combining the strength of titanium with the toughest back glass in a smartphone and the industry-leading Ceramic Shield on the front. Using an industry-first thermo-mechanical process, the titanium bands encase a new substructure made from 100% recycled aluminum, bonding these two metals through solid-state diffusion.
The aluminum frame helps with thermal dissipation and allows the back glass to be replaced. This new design highlights the Super Retina XDR display with Always-On and ProMotion technologies.
The all-new Action button replaces the single-function switch used to toggle between ring and silent, offering additional options so users can choose between quickly accessing the camera or flashlight; activating Voice Memos, Focus modes, Translate,3 and accessibility features like Magnifier; or using Shortcuts for more options. A press-and-hold gesture with fine-tuned haptic feedback and visual cues in the Dynamic Island ensure the new button launches the intended action.
The A17 Pro chip
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are powered by A17 Pro, the industry’s first 3-nanometer chip. It brings improvements to the entire chip, including the biggest GPU redesign in Apple’s history.
The new CPU is purportedly up to 10% faster with microarchitectural and design improvements, and the Neural Engine is now up to 2x faster, powering features like autocorrect and Personal Voice in iOS 17. The pro-class GPU is up to 20% faster and features a new 6-core design that increases peak performance and energy efficiency.
Now with hardware-accelerated ray tracing — which is 4x faster than software-based ray tracing — the iPhone 15 Pro offers smoother graphics, as well as more immersive AR applications and gaming experiences, according to Joswiak.
The A17 Pro includes a dedicated AV1 decoder, enabling more efficient, high-quality video experiences for streaming services. Additionally, a new USB controller enables USB 3 speeds on iPhone for the first time, now supporting much higher transfer speeds and video output up to 4K at 60 fps HDR.
The Camera System
Apple says the advanced camera systems on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max both pack the equivalent of seven pro lenses — all enabled by A17 Pro. With the power of computational photography, the 48MP Main camera, built exclusively for the Pro lineup, is designed to give users even more flexibility with a new 24MP super-high-resolution default, offering image quality at a practical file size ideal for storing and sharing.
The Main camera allows users to switch between three popular focal lengths — 24 mm, 28 mm, and 35 mm — and even choose one as a new default. In addition to 48MP ProRAW, the Main camera also supports 48MP HEIF images with 4x more resolution. iPhone 15 Pro features an expansive 3x Telephoto camera, and iPhone 15 Pro Max provides the longest optical zoom ever on iPhone: 5x at 120 mm.
Great for close-ups, wildlife photos, and catching the action from further distances, the new Telephoto camera on iPhone 15 Pro Max has a tetraprism design with a combined optical image stabilization and autofocus 3D sensor-shift module for Apple’s most advanced stabilization system yet, according to Joswiak.
For the first time, users can take portraits without having to switch to Portrait mode. When there’s a person, dog, or cat in the frame, or when a user taps to focus, iPhone automatically captures depth information, so users can turn photos into portraits later in the Photos app on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Apple says that additional features that benefit all cameras on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max include:
° Night mode gets better with sharper details and more vivid colors, now powered by the Photonic Engine, including Night mode portraits, enabled by the LiDAR scanner.
° New Smart HDR captures subjects and the background with more true-to-life renderings of skin tones, while ensuring photos have brighter highlights, richer midtones, and deeper shadows when viewed in the Photos app. This advanced HDR rendering is also available to third-party apps, so images can look even better when shared online.
° The best quality video in a smartphone is upgraded thanks to A17 Pro, with improvements in low-light video and Action mode.
° Users can now get up to 20x faster transfer speeds with an optional USB 3 cable.
° ProRes video can be recorded directly to external storage, enabling higher recording options up to 4K at 60 fps, and greater flexibility on set when using iPhone as the main camera.
° The iPhone 15 Pro also introduces a new option for Log encoding and is the first smartphone in the world to support ACES, the Academy Color Encoding System, a global standard for color workflows.
° Coming later this year, iPhone 15 Pro will add a new dimension to video capture with the ability to record spatial video for Apple Vision Pro.
Connectivity and USB-C
The iPhone 15 lineup offers new ways to charge, find friends in busy places, and stay connected while traveling. As predicted, they use a USB‑C connector, allowing the same cable to charge am iPhone, Mac, iPad, and the updated AirPods Pro (2nd generation). Users can also charge AirPods or Apple Watch directly from the iPhone with the USB‑C connector. Both models support MagSafe and future Qi2 chargers for wireless charging.
Both the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, enabling two iPhone devices with this chip to connect at three times the range as before. This opens up a new way to use Precision Finding for Find My friends, so iPhone 15 users can share their location and find each other, even in crowds. Apple says that Precision Finding is built with the same privacy protections that users have come to trust in Find My.
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max now support Wi-Fi 6E for greater wireless performance, including up to 2x faster speeds, and introduces the first Thread-enabled smartphones, opening up future opportunities for Home app integrations. According to Apple, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max come equipped with super-fast 5G,6 and include:
° Support for MagSafe and future Qi2 wireless charging.
° Improved audio quality on phone calls, including those made on FaceTime or third-party apps. Sound quality gets even better when users select Voice Isolation, so conversations come through loud and clear, even if they are somewhere noisy.
° eSIM with support from more than 295 carriers. When traveling the world, users can stay connected through affordable international roaming plans from their existing carrier, or purchase prepaid eSIM plans in over 50 countries and regions, including Australia, Italy, Thailand, and more.
Safety capabilities
The iPhone 15 lineup offers critical safety capabilities to provide assistance, including Crash Detection3 and Emergency SOS via satellite. Currently available in 14 countries and regions on three continents, Emergency SOS via satellite will come to Spain and Switzerland later this month.
Building on this satellite infrastructure, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus introduce Roadside Assistance via satellite. Beginning in the U.S., when a user has car trouble and cellular and Wi-Fi coverage aren’t available, they can now connect to AAA, the country’s largest roadside assistance provider.
An interface, including a short questionnaire to capture important details, will transmit the information via satellite so AAA can message with the user directly and dispatch help to their exact location. Access to Roadside Assistance via satellite will be included for free for two years. Service is covered according to AAA membership, but is also available separately for nonmembers.
The iPhone and the Environment
As Apple continues to work toward its 2030 goal of making every product carbon neutral — from design to manufacturing to customer use — the company is prioritizing clean electricity across the entire supply chain and designing products with recycled and other low-carbon materials.
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Mac now use even more recycled content, with 100% recycled cobalt in the battery and 100% recycled copper in the main logic board, copper wire in the Taptic Engine, and copper foil in the inductive charger in MagSafe — all firsts for the iPhone.
Both models also include 75% recycled aluminum in the enclosure, 100% recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, and 100% recycled gold in the USB‑C connector as well as the gold plating and tin soldering in multiple printed circuit boards. Over 99% of the packaging is fiber-based, bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from its packaging by 2025.
To further reduce impact on the planet, Apple says it will no longer use leather in any new Apple products, including iPhone accessories. Apple is introducing a new FineWoven Case with MagSafe and FineWoven Wallet with MagSafe, made from a microtwill with a soft, suedelike feel. The material is made from 68% post-consumer recycled content and reportedly has significantly lower carbon emissions compared to leather.
Pricing and availability
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will be available in black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium, and natural titanium finishes. iPhone 15 Pro remains at the same starting price of US$999 or $41.62 per month, available in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage capacities.The iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,199 or $49.95 per month, available in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage capacities.
Apple offers ways to save and upgrade to the latest iPhone. Customers in the U.S. can get $200-$650 in credit when they trade in an iPhone 11 or later and upgrade to iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max by visiting the Apple Store Online, or at an Apple Store location. To see what their device is worth and for terms and conditions, customers can visit apple.com/shop/trade-in.
Customers can get an iPhone 15 Pro for as low as $0 after a qualifying trade-in with select U.S. carriers. For eligibility requirements and more details, see apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/carrier-offers.
Customers in more than 40 countries and regions, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, the UAE, the U.K., and the U.S., will be able to pre-order iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max beginning at 5 a.m. PDT this Friday, September 15, with availability beginning Friday, September 22.
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will be available in Macao, Malaysia, Türkiye, Vietnam, and 17 other countries and regions beginning Friday, September 29.
The FineWoven Wallet with MagSafe and FineWoven Case with MagSafe will both be available for $59 in five new colors for the iPhone 15 lineup: black, taupe, mulberry, pacific blue, and evergreen. In addition to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max Clear Case, available for $49, a Silicone Case with MagSafe will be available for $49 in black, storm blue, clay, light pink, guava, orange sorbet, cypress, and winter blue.
Customers who purchase iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will receive three free months of Apple Arcade and Apple Fitness+ with a new subscription. And, by the way, iOS 17 will be available as a free software update on Monday, September 18.
Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today