Evan Selleck
At its "Wonderlust" event, Apple has rolled out the iPhone 15 Pro with a faster processor, a lighter titanium frame, better cameras, new colors, and more.
At the "Wonderlust" event, Apple unveiled the next version of its Pro smartphone, the iPhone 15 Pro. And just as the rumor mill predicted, it comes with more than a handful of new features.
The overall design remains familiar, but Apple has adopted a titanium frame with the Pro lineup, making the device lighter than stainless steel overall. The bezels are smaller and curved, giving a smaller frame around the display.
Titanium makes the new iPhone 15 Pro the lightest Pro iPhone to date. The iPhone 15 Pro's overall dimensions are reduced without impacting screen size.
The iPhone 15 Pro features a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display, boasting Ceramic Shield for boosted durability. The familiar always-on OLED display with ProMotion utilizes adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz.
The display has a resolution of 2556-by-1179, with a pixel-per-inch count of 460. It supports True Tone, wide color (P3), Haptic Touch, and boasts a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio. It has a 1000 nits max brightness with typical usage, but it can crank max brightness to 2000.
The Action Button is completely customizable, with varying levels of haptic feedback. By default, it's the ring/silent switch, just by pressing and holding the button.
However, with a simple press, users can record a voice memo or launch the Camera app. You can even launch accessibility features or Shortcuts to open even broader options.
Apple is utilizing the A17 Pro processor under the hood, which offers better performance than the A16 Bionic. It is manufactured using the 3nm process and utilizes two performance cores and four efficiency cores.
The A17 Pro chip in iPhone 15 Pro is a brand new generation of chip for Apple. It has 19 billion transistors with a new 6-core CPU equipped with two performance and four efficiency cores.
The new CPU boosts performance and efficiency cores, with performance cores 10% faster. The efficiency cores boost performance as well.
The new 16-core Neural Engine now processes 35 trillion operations per second. Personal data is still kept on-device while boosting autocorrect performance and other elements.
The iPhone 15 Pro is equipped with three cameras on the back. The 48-megapixel main camera with an f/1.78 aperture, including a new nano-scale coating to reduce lens flare, improving Portrait and Night Mode shots.
The iPhone 15 Pro is also equipped with a 12MP Ultra Wide camera with an f/2.2 aperture, 120-degree field of view, and 100% Focus Pixels. The 12MP Telephoto camera has an f/1.78 aperture, 100% Focus Pixels, and boasts a total 6x optical zoom.
Owners can shoot in 48-megapixel HEIF with boosted resolution. The main camera will rely on the new Photonic Engine with 24mm, 28mm, or 35mm focal lengths. Users can choose a standard option for each new shot as well.
There is an overall 2x boost to low-light photo performance with the main camera. Meanwhile, Night Mode performance is boosted with the LIDAR scanner and Photonic Engine.
Apple is making it possible to shoot 3D spatial videos with the iPhone 15 Pro, thanks to the Ultra Wide and main camera. These spatial videos can then be viewed on an Apple Vision Pro, with the feature launching later in 2023.
The TrueDepth camera features a 12-megapixel lens featuring an f/1.9 aperture and Auto Focus with Focus Pixels. It can shoot in Apple ProRAW, record 4K videos, and cinematic video stabilization.
Thanks to USB-C, the iPhone 15 Pro supports exporting photos and videos to an external storage device right from the phone.
With the adoption of USB-C, users can also use one cable to charge a variety of Apple products, including MacBooks, iPad Pro, the brand new version of the AirPods Pro (2nd generation), and the Apple Watch.
The USB-C port supports transfer speeds up to 10Gb/s.
The iPhone 15 Pro features the new Ultra Wideband 2 chip. It boosts the ability to find not only a misplaced device but also other devices equipped with the new chip.
With UW2, iPhone 15 Pro can locate friends and family members in crowded spaces. The friend will still need to share their location, and it works via Find My.
The iPhone 15 Pro retains MagSafe for magnetic wireless charging, ensuring perfect alignment for MagSafe and Qi2 wireless chargers.
The iPhone 15 Pro supports Wi-Fi 6E for improved wireless performance, which can boost speeds up to 2x. It is also a Thread-enabled smartphone, making it more compatible with smart home products.
On the safety front, Apple is expanding access to emergency services. The new iPhone supports Roadside Assistance via satellite.
This service partners with AAA in the United States. This allows iPhone 15 Pro owners to reach out to the service even when they can't connect to cellular or Wi-Fi. It will launch a questionnaire to fill out, letting owners let the service know if they have a flat tire, no fuel, they've been locked out, or other options.
Once connected, Roadside Assistance via satellite will let AAA know the user's exact location. The service will be included free for two years.
The iPhone 15 Pro starts at $999 for 128GB. It will be available in four colors: black titanium, white titanium, natural titanium, and blue titanium.
Pre-orders start September 15, and the iPhone 15 Pro launches in stores September 22.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
17 Comments
Hmm, I inferred from this presentation that the Action Button would be coming to all Macs pretty soon. The idea occurred to me when they said that you could launch a shortcut with the Action Button. Apple tries to be very consistent across its platforms. I'd love to see that.
The action button is cool, but the mute switch is very useful and many of us have been using it regularly for 15+ years, so I don’t know why they felt the need to remove it. We could have had both, and the mute switch has the significant benefit of showing its status at a glance, something the action button cannot do. Maybe the 16 Pro?
I am surprised that it doesn't have better battery life. I was expecting that moving to a 3nm process would give significant power savings, especially considering the fact that they have made the CPU only 10% faster.
“… boasts a total 6x optical zoom”
should read 5x, correct?