There's a slight chill in the air, the pumpkin spice is everywhere and you know what that means: New iPhones. Apple's flagship product has moved forward by one (1) digit again this year, so let's dig into what you can actually expect for your hefty investment.
The switch to USB-C is good, but a pain point
Am I very excited about the USB-C charging port? Yes. Am I struggling with the transition? Also yes. In the car, for my wife and I to both use CarPlay, we need to switch between a USB-C cord and a Lightning cord. (I even had to order a USB-A to USB-C cord.) Same goes in our kitchen. But hey, short-term pain, long-term gain.
USB-C is great when you're charging lots of other USB-C gadgets as part of your daily routine, like if you work on a newer MacBook laptop or iPad. Over the past five days, whenever the iPhone 15 loaner I've been testing hit its low battery mark, I was able to unplug the USB-C charger from my MacBook Pro and just pop it into the phone. Brilliant! Except when I was using navigation on the iPhone 15 during a long car ride, and with just 4 percent battery left, realized that the USB-A to Lightning cable I keep in my car was absolutely useless. (I found my way home, and made a note to order yet another cable.)
The new camera is better than before, but still not as good as the Pro's cameras
Another feature inherited from the iPhone 14 Pro is a 48-megapixel main camera resolution, a significant step up from the 12-megapixel cameras that have been on iPhones since 2015's iPhone 6S. The iPhone 15's 48-megapixel camera is not the same one from the iPhone 14 Pro or 15 Pro, however — Apple claims it's an "all-new" sensor designed specifically for the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. Translation: it's not as good as what you get in the Pro models. It's a smaller physical sensor and has a different lens with a 26mm equivalent field of view.
This is unquestionably the best set of cameras we have ever seen on an iPhone base model. They're not as good as those on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and they lack both stronger telephoto and macro capabilities. If you want that, you'll pay more, but for the price, this is all you should want or need in an iPhone that doesn't have "Pro" in its name.
The screen is the secret best new feature
The iPhone 15's OLED screen offers a big boost of brightness and now can reach up to 2,000 nits of maximum outdoor brightness, matching the iPhone 14 Pro and 15 Pro models — that's up from the iPhone 14's 1,200-nit capability. [...] The iPhone 15's screen resolution has also increased to 2556×1179 pixels from 2532×1170, and the OLED screen continues to provide better contrast and blacker blacks than LED screens can display.
There's no denying that Apple improves the iPhone 15's display over its predecessor. Its stronger brightness output and addition of the Dynamic Island are all welcomed in my opinion, but I really wish Apple gave it a 90Hz refresh rate at the very least to match up against its main rivals.
TL;DR
All told, the iPhone 15 feels like a leap forward from older iPhones. It's almost like an iPhone 14 Pro Lite, showing that Apple's "pro" iPhones are having a bigger influence on the regular models.
The iPhone 15 launches on Friday, September 22 starting at $799, but you can pre-order now.
[Image: YouTube]