Apple’s “Standard” iPhone 15 and 15 Plus Arrive Packed With Features
News | By Stephan Jukic | September 13, 2023
The highly anticipated family of Apple’s iPhone 15 models has finally been introduced to the public and they’re packed with new tech.
As usual, Apple has released its newest iPhone in a standard edition, a Plus edition, a Pro version and a flagship Pro Max edition that’s the priciest of the bunch.
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus look very similar to the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus of 2022 but this year they come decked out with some genuinely robust new features.
As for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, they include several major new improvements, but we’ll cover those in a second post.
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus
With its two lower-cost iPhone editions, Apple has added a few solid design modifications that include a new matte-textured back panel and the Dynamic Island screen layout that was reserved for the premium iPhones of last year.
Much more important though, especially for phone photography lovers, is the camera overhaul that both phones include. The 15 and 15 Plus phones now come with a 48MP camera with whole new abilities.
Compared to the 12MP camera of the base iPhone 14 models, this is really a massive boost in photographic power.
Other new camera features include the ability to shoot full-res images for tons of crisp, sharp detail but in a binned 24MP mode that adds dynamic range to photos.
This feature lets photos be much sharper while at the same time saving up some storage space on your phone or any device they’re exported to.
On the other hand, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus also include a 2x crop mode for a digitally created telephoto effect in their main camera, which has a 26mm-equivalent lens.
The camera in the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus is a quad-pixel model with 100% focus pixels and while its 12MP “telephoto” functionality isn’t optical, it still manages to create crisp zoom shots according to Apple.
Both phones now feature an automatic portrait mode that captures additional depth if a human figure or face is detected. This depth is also manually adjustable after taking a photo thanks to the iPhones’ highly-sophisticated processing power.
Speaking of processing power, with the new iPhone 15 and 15 Plus models owners can now enjoy the same prowess of the A16 chip that only came in the iPhone 14 Pro editions of 2022.
This gives both of the 2023 standard iPhone models a major performance boost across the board, and especially for media handling.
One other major change in the 2023 iPhones is the long-awaited arrival of USB-C connectivity.
It’s hard to quantify how many users just wanted Apple’s own native Lightning port to finally get lost and die, but given the widespread complaints, it must have been millions.
Now, partly thanks to new European Union laws that mandate standardized chargers for phones Apple has finally bent to both public desire and legal obstacles against forcing pointless conversion tech on people.
Unfortunately, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus editions lack USB 3.0 transfer speeds in their own USB-C ports. Despite this, their new port is still better than Lightning.
Apple is releasing the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus phone models in several colors including pink, blue, green, and yellow pastel tones, as well as a sleek black.
The iPhone 15 is 6.1 inches long and the iPhone 15 Plus is slightly larger at 6.7 inches.
Both feature a new Super Retina XDR display that can glow up to a robustly luminous 1600-2000 nits depending on ambient brightness. This is roughly twice the brightness of the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus editions.
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models will become available for preorder as of September 15th and start retailing in stores next week.
They’ll be available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB editions. Their base prices will be $799 for the iPhone 15 and $899 for the iPhone 15 Plus.
Image credit: Apple
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Stephan Jukic is a technology and photography journalist and experimental photographer who spends his time living in both Canada and Mexico. He loves cross-cultural street photo exploration and creating fine art photo compositions.
