In technology, revolutions don’t happen every year. Perhaps that is why the developments in mobile phones, since the iPhone shook the market in 2007, have really only been incremental improvements – some very good – on the initial great concept. From that first surprising mobile phone that left the world speechless to the new generation of the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro, Apple phones have taken a huge leap, always based on changes, not radical in most cases, although with a clear purpose: stay ahead. And again they have achieved it. The iPhone will once again be the great reference for the sector.
After many tests on how to segment the iPhone market, Apple has already consolidated two large lines, a super premium range, the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, and another entry level, a premium light, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus . In each generation, the latter inherits most of the features of the Pro from the previous year, ensuring that these phones will never lose the innovations of the more advanced models.
In the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, an element stands out this year that may seem aesthetic but goes further: the mobile phones are defined on their edges by a grade 5 titanium bezel, the one used in aeronautics, which provides them not only with a unique rigidity and lightness, but also of enormous class. There is nothing like it on the market. The impression is that Apple wants to demonstrate that these models are at the peak of high technology at a glance. It is evident that many users are going to put a case on them and cover them and that titanium is also sensitive to finger oil, so it must be cleaned from time to time with a damp cloth, but the sensation of touching a noble material does not fade at any time.
The second notable element, both in the iPhone 15 Pro and in the iPhone 15, is that for the first time in 11 years, the Apple mobile changes its connector. Apple is forced to replace the Lightning connector due to the imposition of the European Union, which wanted a single charger – actually, a single cable – that would work for all mobile phones. Achieved. Many users have applauded the change. In the end, it will not be necessary to keep an eye on one more cable.
There is a difference between the data transfer protocols of the Pro and normal models through the USB-C port. The first can reach 10 Gb/s and the others 480 Mb/s. Yes, it is a notable difference, but except for those who dedicate themselves to creating quality video, how many users connect a cable to download files from their mobile phone to their computer? Personally, I haven’t done it for years, because it is much more practical to upload videos to download platforms like WeTransfer.
The third big change in the iPhone Pro is the transformation of one of the distinctive elements of Apple phones since 2007. The mute switch disappears to be replaced by an action button, a component that debuted last year with the Apple Watch Ultra. This side button can now regulate, depending on the user, the silent mode, the concentration mode, open the camera, turn on the flashlight, start recording a voice memo, open the magnifying glass application, use an accessibility feature or access a shortcut, which implies that it can practically do almost everything the user asks for.
The action button is one of the great ideas of the new range. For example, using a shortcut you can change the functions activated by the button depending on the time of day or the geographical location in which the terminal is located. This makes it a universal application launcher and shows that the control that Apple exercises over its software and hardware makes possible differential features that cannot be seen in any other phone. The button does not fire at the slightest touch, you have to hold it for a second.
From the exterior, we move to the interior. Apple has equipped the iPhone 15 Pro with a chip of enormous power, which already rubs shoulders even with some Macs, which are not exactly limited – especially since they equip their own Apple Silicon processors. The heart of the apple’s most advanced mobile phones is called A17 Pro and it is the first in the industry to use 3 nanometer technology (a nanometer is one billionth of a meter). With its 19 billion transistors, it is a very powerful machine. Its integrated central processor (CPU) has 6 cores (4 for efficiency and 2 for performance), a 6-core graphics processor and a 16-core neural engine that doubles the performance of the previous A16 Bionic.
With this, Apple has not only transformed its phones into small computers for which it will be difficult to find competition, but it is also seeking to reach a place where it has always had a hard time making a name for itself: that of video games. The graphics capabilities of the A17 Pro allow it to incorporate a game console feature, Ray Tracing, an algorithm that calculates the path of light in a video game image and simulates its effects on the different surfaces that are recreated.
If you take into account the fact that USB-C allows you to connect the iPhone 15 Pro to a monitor and that the phone is also compatible with game console controllers, the game is open to play in a new league. At least, that is what the apple company clearly intends. On the day of the presentation, Apple announced that important console titles would arrive on its mobile phones, such as Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Resident Evill Village and Death Stranding.
In cameras, the new batch of Apple phones means a lot of changes for the better and many more options as a multipurpose camera. Taking advantage of cutting factors and pixel grouping has allowed the Californian brand to offer the user varied focal lengths from the same lens and sensor. The company explains it as a photographic system “equivalent to seven professional lenses”, as if it uses 24mm, 28mm and 35mm lenses. The default ones are 24 megapixels and the high resolution ones use the 48 megapixels of the sensor, not only in ProRaw quality, but also in the HEIF format.
In addition, the iPhone Pro Max incorporates a telescopic zoom that allows five magnifications with optical stabilizer. The iPhone 15 Pro keeps the triple magnification that the 14 Pro already had, although all the tests carried out in a couple of days demonstrate an improvement in dynamic range and that Apple’s computational photography system has improved. For example, if we now place the camera in front of a person, it will understand that we want to take a portrait and the artificial intelligence that runs on the A17 Pro chip allows us to change the focus during editing. A marvel. In portrait mode you can zoom continuously and use it with night mode, which is even better than the previous one.
The ultra-wide-angle camera is also macro and obtains better details than the iPhone 14 Pro. Apple has also winked at video professionals by including, along with features such as recording in ProRes format (4K, 60 fps) and Dolby HDR Vision, the ACES color coding standard of the United States Motion Picture Academy. Nothing on the market comes close and it is difficult for future releases from the competition to reach that level, because it is the integration of excellent hardware and software that makes it possible.
The range of new Apple phones is completed with the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. If we look at the features of their Pro brothers, they may pale somewhat, but these two phones are still in a very high range. Just ten days ago, those who had the until then best mobile phone on the block in their pockets, the iPhone 14 Pro, had terminals almost comparable to these in performance.
The iPhones without the Pro name inherit from the previous generation the A16 Bionic chip, with which no one had been able to compete for a year, and one of last year’s differentiating features of the top of the range, the Dynamic Island. This is an ingenious way for Apple to place applications that run in the background in the black hole area of the screen where the facial identification sensors and the front camera are located. In addition, Apple has lowered the price compared to the iPhone 14. These are terminals that, in initial tests, give very good performance and that can meet the expectations of a demanding user.