The world's most reliable Apple pundit hath spoken ahead of the company's big iPhone 15 launch event next week, essentially spoiling any and all surprises the Cupertino-based tech giant might have been trying to keep hidden up its sleeve and answering all of the burning questions that were still lingering after months and months of incessant and often contradictory leaking from every online direction.
If we assume Bloomberg's Mark Gurman knows what he's talking about today, which is almost always the case, the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max (not 15 Ultra) are as transparent as glass with four days to go until they're formally unveiled at an undoubtedly glamorous "Wonderlust" affair.
All of the design changes and differences you should care about
While Apple is certainly not aiming to reinvent the wheel by radically redesigning the world's best-selling smartphones this year, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will easily stand out from their respective predecessors on the surface with the same "modern" Dynamic Island as the iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, 14 Pro, and 14 Pro Max.
The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, meanwhile, should add super-robust titanium to the already premium stainless steel construction of their forerunners, incredibly managing to both improve durability in this way and reduce product weight by "about" 10 percent.
Keep in mind that the superior material will only be used on the sides of Apple's next-gen ultra-high-end handset duo, with the back panel retaining the "frosted" glass of the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. As for the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, their design is expected to include the same aluminum sides and glass rear as the 14 and 14 Plus, which suggests all of the new "iDevices" will look largely familiar at first glance.
Another subtle but very interesting change will purportedly make the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max screens "appear ever so slightly larger" than the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max despite... well, not being so. The new 6.1 and 6.7-inch displays have significantly slimmer bezels around them, undoubtedly contributing to reduced overall footprints.
The same doesn't go for the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, which are likely to come with 6.1 and 6.7-inch panels of their own surrounded by "regular" bezels. From a chromatic standpoint, Apple's non-Pro 2023 models are expected to cover a wide palette of hues from black and white to pink, blue, and yellow, while the two Pro-branded handsets this year will come in gray, black, dark blue, and white color options.
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Last but certainly not least in the design department, a so-called "Action Button" should take the place of the good old fashioned ring/mute switch on Apple's Pro smartphones this fall, vastly improving your user convenience and device versatility by allowing to modify its purpose. You will be able to do a wide array of things at the push of that button, from silencing your phone to launching the camera, opening Siri shortcuts, starting a voice recording, and many other such handy tasks.
What to expect under the hood and in the camera department
If you're familiar with the iPhone 14 lineup's separation, you're probably not going to be shocked to hear (again) that the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max will share a new state-of-the-art Apple A17 chip based on 3-nanometer technology, while the 15 and 15 Plus are set to embrace the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max's 4nm-built A16 processor.
That means the Pro and Pro Max members of this year's iPhone 15 family will not only be considerably faster than their siblings but also more energy-efficient, which should help improve battery life even in the lack of any meaningful cell size enhancements.
Interestingly, the entire iPhone 15 series is likely to boost wireless charging speeds compared to the iPhone 14 roster but not wired charging as well despite making the long overdue move to universal USB Type-C connectivity. For what it's worth, data transfers should be faster... on Pro models only, and perhaps more importantly from a connectivity standpoint, location capabilities are expected to be improved across the board with the help of a brand-new U2 ultra-wideband chip.
As far as photography goes, the iPhone 15 Pro Max (which, once again, is apparently not called iPhone 15 Ultra after all) will be the only model with an "updated telephoto system" (aka a periscope sensor) bumping up the optical zoom skills from 3X to no less than 6X.
The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will be no pushovers on the camera front either, "borrowing" their primary 48MP rear-facing shooter from the iPhone 14 Pro, while the iPhone 15 Pro remains the most mysterious member of the family in this department, with an unchanged main 48MP snapper joined by "new telephoto and ultrawide lenses with more megapixels."
The actual megapixel counts are weirdly lacking there, as is any mention of retail prices from this otherwise incredibly comprehensive new Bloomberg report. Luckily, TrendForce just revealed everything we need to know on the iPhone 15 series in that area, leaving almost no question unanswered. Of course, nothing's official until... it is, so you still have to treat all these plausible but unofficial details with caution and skepticism for a few more days.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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