Apple iPhone 15: Release date, price, colors, and more

Before the current top-echelon iPhone 16 series, Apple launched the iPhone 15 series in 2023. The phones once again aimed to topple the best Android phones from Google, Samsung, and others. As a result, these devices offered a plethora of new kit, including several rather significant changes.

This article has all the information you need about the new iPhone 15 models. Let’s dive in!

Apple iPhone 15 colors, design, and models

Similar to 2022, there are four iPhone 15 models:

• iPhone 15 — The standard or “vanilla” model
• iPhone 15 Plus — A larger variant of the standard model with basically the same features and components
• iPhone 15 Pro — A model the same size as the regular iPhone 15 but with a faster processor, better display, better camera, and other upgrades
• iPhone 15 Pro Max — A larger and even more powerful version of the iPhone 15 Pro

Even though there are four models, there are really only two iPhone 15 sizes. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro are the same relatively compact 6.1-inch size, while the iPhone 15 Plus and Pro Max are larger and heavier at 6.7 inches. There is no iPhone 15 Mini model this year.

As far as colors go, the two non-Pro models have a different selection of colors than the two Pro models. Here’s how the iPhone 15 colors break down:

• iPhone 15 and 15 Plus — Pink, black, green, blue, and yellow
• iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max — Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, and Natural Titanium

Those references to titanium aren’t just marketing. The Pro models use an actual titanium alloy for the outer casing, a first in the iPhone series.

Usually, Apple launches a new color halfway through the release cycle. That means you should expect a new colorway to launch in 2024. Until then, though, you are limited to the options above.

Design

If you just glanced at them, you might think the iPhone 15 series has the exact same design as the iPhone 14 series. However, there are three significant differences this time around.

The most significant design difference is the replacement of the Lightning port. Now, when you go to charge your iPhone 15, you’ll use a USB-C port — meaning iPhones now have the same port as Android phones, finally. Although there are still some Apple products that use the Lightning connector (such as AirPods), this very significant change to the iPhone heralds the death knell of that standard. From now on, expect all new Apple products to use USB-C ports or rely only on wireless systems.

The second major alteration this year is the introduction of the Action Button on the two Pro models. This button replaces the mute switch, a staple of the iPhone series since the very first one launched in 2007. The Action Button is a customizable button that can launch apps, toggle system settings, and more. Note that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus still have the traditional mute switch.

The final significant change is the introduction of Dynamic Island to the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. Dynamic Island is the replacement for the display notch that most iPhones have had since the launch of the iPhone X in 2017. On the iPhone 14 series, only the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max had Dynamic Island, but now all iPhone 15 models have it. You can expect Dynamic Island to be the default display design going forward — until Apple figures out a way to move the front-facing sensors underneath the display.

Outside of these alterations, though, the iPhone 15 designs are very similar to previous years. The display is flat with rounded corners, and the sides are flat metal. The back is frosted glass on all models (not just the Pro models like in 2022), although there is a slight curve to it this year. The camera modules on the backs of the phones are of a similar design as the iPhone 14 series, too.

Do note that the iPhone 15 series is different enough in design from the iPhone 14 series that cases will not work between them. If you are upgrading from an iPhone 14 to the iPhone 15 series, you will need a new case. Thankfully, there are some great standard and Plus cases available.

Apple iPhone 15 release date and price

Apple announced the iPhone 15 series at its “Wonderlust” event on September 12, 2023. You can watch a repeat of the event in the YouTube clip above. During that event, it revealed the pricing of the phones as well as pre-order and general availability dates. Here’s the info you need on pricing:

Notably, US pricing is the same as in 2022 for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, and iPhone 15 Pro. The iPhone 15 Pro Max, though, starts at a price that’s $100 more expensive vs the iPhone 14 Pro Max. It does, however, come with twice as much storage as the previous generation. Regardless, this makes the iPhone 15 Pro Max the most expensive iPhone ever. However, you may find the entire lineup much cheaper in other countries, or through big carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon. You might even be able to get the phone for free with some carriers.

Pre-orders for all iPhone 15 models opened on Friday, September 15, 2023. General availability followed on September 22.

Apple iPhone 15 Action Button and other features

The iPhone 15 series will be able to do everything the iPhone 14 series could do. As usual, though, Apple is introducing a bevy of features that we’ve never seen before on an iPhone.

Action Button

As mentioned earlier, one of the most significant changes this year is the new Action Button, which is now in the spot that used to be occupied by the mute switch on the two Pro models (the non-Pro models still have the mute switch). This button is customizable, so it can perform a variety of tasks. It is very similar to the Action Button that debuted with the Apple Watch Ultra.

By default, the Action Button does the same thing as the mute switch. By pressing and holding the button, you’ll mute/unmute the phone. A haptic feedback response confirms this switch.

Here is a list of other Action Button controls we saw leaked before the phones’ launch. These will likely be available (or will become available) for the iPhone 15 series:

• Accessibility: A possible option to allow users to quickly access accessibility features like Assistive Touch.
• Shortcuts: This might let users run any shortcuts they create on the Shortcuts app.
• Silent Mode: This is pretty self-explanatory and should function like the mute switch on current iPhones.
• Camera: A possible option to quickly launch the camera app.
• Flashlight: An easy way to switch on the flashlight of the phone.
• Focus: This function could let users switch Focus mode on or off.
• Magnifier: This might launch the magnifier on the iPhone’s camera app.
• Translate: The option could allow users to fire up the Translate app.
• Voice Memos: Users might be able to start recording voice memos quickly using this option.

Miscellaneous other features

Here are a few other neat tricks you can expect from the iPhone 15 series:

• ProRes 4K60 video recording: This will only be available on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. All iPhone 15 models can record at 4K60 without ProRes, however.
• Automatic portrait: Using machine learning, the Camera app will detect if a person is in your viewfinder and then automatically switch to the Portrait setting. You can also add portrait blur after the fact.
• Wi-Fi 6E: This will help you get faster and more stable connections to supported Wi-Fi networks. Note that the Pro models have access to Wi-Fi 6E, but the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus can only use Wi-Fi 6 standards.
• Ultra-wideband: There’s a brand new ultra-wideband (UWB) chip in all four iPhone 15 models. This more advanced chip will allow more accurate tracking through the Find My network, including a new feature enabling you to track friends who have shared their location. However, Apple primarily upgraded the chip to better integrate the iPhones with the Vision Pro headset.
• Roadside Assistance: You can now use the iPhone’s satellite connectivity to get roadside assistance. This is a paid extra feature but should allow people to use the satellite features without needing to be in a life-threatening emergency first.

Apple iPhone 15 screen sizes and specs

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro have an advertised display size of 6.1 inches, which we found is an excellent, comfortable size during our iPhone 15 review. Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max have advertised display sizes of 6.7 inches.

However, do note that, despite their similar sizes, the Pro models have more of a viewable display area than the non-Pro models. This is due to Apple shrinking down the display bezels on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. As usual, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus also lack a 120Hz refresh rate. They are locked to 60Hz while the two Pro models get 120Hz, which Apple advertises as Pro Motion.

As far as brightness goes, the peak HDR brightness is now 1,600 nits, and the outdoor peak brightness is 2,000 nits.

For more in-depth specs, check out the tables below.

iPhone 15 and 15 Plus specs

iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max specs

Apple iPhone 15 camera

Every year, the latest iPhone models are contenders for the best camera phones you can get. That trend should continue this year, as the iPhone 15 series has some notable hardware upgrades.

iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus camera hardware

As usual, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have three cameras: two on the back and one on the front. The primary wide sensor on the back got a nice upgrade this year, but the other two lenses are the same.

The primary wide rear lens is now a 48MP model, a significant step up over the 12MP model seen in previous entry-tier iPhones. Interestingly, Apple says this lens also has telephoto capabilities, but this is achieved through digital means and will not come even close to what the Pro models can achieve with their dedicated telephoto lenses. Either way, the iPhone 15 still lags behind rivals like the Pixel 8, at least on paper.

Here are the camera specs for the two vanilla iPhone 15 devices:

• Rear:
  • 48MP wide primary (26mm, ƒ/1.6, 2µm, OIS)
  • 12MP ultrawide (13mm, ƒ/2.4, 120-degree FoV)
• Front:
  • 12 MP wide (23mm, ƒ/1.9)

iPhone 15 Pro camera hardware

Apple includes a third rear lens with its Pro-level iPhones for a total of four lenses. The extra lens is a telephoto, which helps with zooming in on far away subjects.

As an added bonus, the new USB-C port in the iPhone 15 series allows the Pro models to record video directly to an exterior hard drive. This is perfect for professional photographers and videographers. Spatial Video recording will be possible, too, once the feature rolls out sometime in 2023. This won’t be super useful now, but it will help with playback on Vision Pro, whenever it launches.

Here are the iPhone 15 Pro’s camera specs:

• Rear:
  • 48MP wide primary (24mm, ƒ/1.78, 2.44µm, OIS)
  • 12MP ultrawide (13mm, ƒ/2.2, 1.4µm)
  • 12MP telephoto (77mm, ƒ/2.8)
• Front:
  • 12 MP wide (23mm, ƒ/1.9)

iPhone 15 Pro Max camera hardware

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a similar camera setup as the iPhone 15 Pro. However, it has a tetraprism telephoto lens. This advanced lens refracts light four times before it hits the sensor, creating a lossless zoom of up to 5x. This is exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the first time we’ve ever seen a system like this on an iPhone.

As one would expect, the iPhone 15 Pro Max camera also supports pushing files out to an exterior hard drive and Spatial Video.

Here are the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s camera specs:

• Rear:
  • 48MP wide primary (24mm, ƒ/1.78, 2.44µm, OIS)
  • 12MP ultrawide (13mm, ƒ/2.2, 1.4µm)
  • 12MP tetraprism telephoto (120mm, ƒ/2.8, 1.12µm)
• Front:
  • 12 MP wide (23mm, ƒ/1.9)

Apple iPhone 15 performance and battery

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have the A16 Bionic processor. This chip debuted in 2022 with the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. This makes the entry-tier iPhone 15 models equivalent in power to the Pro models from the previous generation.

The A16 Bionic is more power-efficient than the A15 Bionic we saw in the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus. Interestingly, Apple does not claim this will result in better overall battery life.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max have the new 2023 A17 Pro silicon. The A17 Pro is the smartphone industry’s first 3nm chip and the most powerful iPhone chip you can get. It’s faster than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and gives the rapid Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 a run for its money.

The A17 Pro also supports USB 3.0 data transfer speeds, but you need a compatible USB-C cable, sold separately. Thanks to the new GPU, ray tracing is also supported on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.

The A17 Pro is so powerful that it can even run present-gen console versions of games. Full versions of Resident Evil Village, the 2023 Resident Evil 4 remake, and Death Stranding will be available to play on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.

Despite this power, thermal problems have been noted by iPhone 15 Pro users across the world. Although our own investigation and tests suggested that there was a heating issue, Apple noted that this was due to software, not hardware. Subsequently, the company has issued the iOS 17.0.3 software version that addresses the issue, dropping peak temperatures between 2-4°C in our follow-up tests.

As far as battery life, here are the capacities of the iPhone 15 series. We’ve included the batteries of the iPhone 14 series for the sake of comparison:

Apple iPhone 15 USB-C and charging speed

As mentioned a few times now, none of the iPhone 15 models have Lightning ports. In its place is a USB-C port, the same port you’ll find on pretty much every Android phone. This change will make a lot of people’s lives easier as they’ll now need one cable to charge pretty much every device they own.

In addition to this new ease of use, USB-C affords the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max faster data transfer speeds. With a USB 3.0 cable (sold separately), iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max users will see up to 20x faster data transfers. The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will only get USB 2.0 speeds.

Wired charging speeds remain unchanged this year for all models. That means 20W wired charging with a supported charging brick, which does not come in the box. That isn’t to say we’re happy with this. During our iPhone 15 Pro review, we found its tardy charging speed the biggest cross against the otherwise solid smartphone.

As one would expect, MagSafe is back for the iPhone 15 series. This magnetic feature allows you to both wirelessly charge the iPhone but also magnetically connect accessories like wallet pouches. As with last year, MagSafe supports wireless charging up to 15W.

Apple iPhone 15 FAQ