Yesterday, Apple introduced the 2023 versions of the iPhone: the iPhone 15 line. Once again, there are two types of iPhone and two sizes for each type, so the new devices are the iPhone 15, the iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max. You can pre-order new units starting this Friday at 5am Pacific / 8am Eastern, and you can get them in stores one week from this Friday on September 22. Here are the new features that I think will be most appreciated by lawyers and other professionals who use an iPhone.
The iPhone 15 Pro line
Let’s start with the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max because that is where we are seeing the most interesting new features.
Titanium
The Pro models look different from any other iPhone ever created because the outside is constructed from titanium. And to show how sophisticated Apple has gotten with metals, the titanium is fused with an aluminum inner chassis, which apparently helps with thermal dissipation.
As a result, each iPhone 15 Pro model is almost 10% lighter than the previous year’s model. Folks who were on Apple’s campus yesterday to try out the new devices reported that titanium makes the iPhone 15 Pro noticeably lighter every time you pick it up. For example, Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote: “This is not a minor, quirky, ‘I suppose if you weighed it you’d grudgingly admit it’s a few grams lighter’ sort of thing. It’s very clearly noticeable, thanks to the combined titanium and aluminum design. It doesn’t feel flimsy, mind you–it’s very solid but quite lighter.”
The outside has a brushed metal look with contoured edges. This looks good, and my hope is that this also makes the iPhone less slippery, but I’ll have to try it to see.
USB-C 3
We all knew that USB-C was coming to the iPhone, and now it is here. And on the Pro models, it is a faster version of USB-C called USB-C 3. To take advantage of this faster speed, you will have to purchase a separate cable that supports USB 3 with 10Gbit per second speed. Apple says that this means that transfers can be up to 20 times faster. (Lightning maxes out at 480 Mbits per second.) If you have ever taken a 4K HDR video with an iPhone and then tried to quickly get it to a computer so that you can edit the video, this was an exercise in frustration in the past. But with USB-C 3 speeds and the right cable, that should no longer be a problem.
Apple doesn’t currently sell a USB-C 3 cable, but it used to sell them as noted in 2017 by Chaim Gartenberg of the Verge, and it looks like you can still purchase them on Amazon for $37.99. On Apple’s own website, they are now selling the faster USB-C Thunderbolt 4 cable. Thunderbolt 4 can transfer up to 40Gbit per second, but the support for that fast speed means that Apple sells that cable for $69. If you only plan to use that cable with a new iPhone 15 Pro, that would be paying a lot more for speeds that you won’t be able to use. But if you have some other use for a Thunderbolt 4 cable that takes advantage of the full speed, maybe it is worth it for you.
Another advantage of USB-C is that you can charge your iPhone more quickly. If you use a 20W charger, you can reach a 50% charge in only 30 minutes.
Camera improvements
I often hear people say that the #1 reason they are getting a new iPhone is to get a better camera. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max have several ways to give you even better pictures.
First, there is an improved 48 megapixel camera. Last year’s iPhone 14 Pro also features a 48MP camera, and when you use the 48MP mode, the improvements can quite be stunning, as I showed in side-by-side photos last year. But the problem was that you had to use RAW mode on the iPhone 14 Pro to take full advantage of the 48MP camera, and because of the hassles associated with RAW, that meant that I didn’t use it as often as I thought I would. Fortunately, with the new Pro models, you can take 48MP with the iPhone’s normal HEIF mode. Picture sizes will be larger of course so they will take up more space on your iPhone, but the quality should be much better in many situations. Note that according to Filipe Espósito of 9to5Mac, the iPhone 14 Pro will also soon get a “HEIF Max” option to take 48MP pictures by default. If you don’t want to take 48MP all the time, the default mode is still an impressive 24MP.
Second, if you get the larger model (the iPhone 15 Pro Max) the former 3x telephone is now a much more powerful 5x telephoto. Apple uses something called a “tetraprism” to bounce the light off of a couple of right angles to achieve the effect. The 5x model is equivalent to a 120mm focal length, so if you are used to going up to 300mm or 400mm on your DSLR’s telephoto lens, this is not that. But it is a heck of a lot closer than any iPhone has gotten in the past using an optical zoom. If you are trying to capture an architectural detail on a building or your kid playing across the field in a soccer game, the iPhone 15 Pro Max should get you closer than you have ever been able to get before.
Third, the iPhone 15 Pro uses its three cameras to provide seven virtual focal lengths. You get 13mm with the utra-wide lens. The main lens with its 48MP resolution can be cropped to different image sizes without any noticeable impact on image quality, so it can give you 24mm (the main setting), 28mm, 35mm, and 48mm, and then the telephoto lens can get you 120mm on the iPhone 15 Max Pro or less (I’m not sure of the focal length) with the 3x telephoto lens on the iPhone 15 Pro. Apple spins this as the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models giving you what seems like seven different lens.
Fourth, the ultra-wide lens is now supposed to be better than ever, although I haven’t yet seen details on this.
Fifth, because of the new processor (discussed below), things like night mode, HDR, video quality, and overall picture quality are all supposed to be better, as demonstrated by this lovely model:
A17 Pro processor
The iPhone 15 Pro models get Apple’s latest and great processor, the new A17 Pro. It is the first 3-nanometer chip, and it does more and does it faster. Of course, this makes the iPhone feel snappier. But it also means that sophisticated computations—such as the ones used for the new camera app—are possible that were never possible before. Graphics should be up to 20% faster.
Record spatial video
When Apple previewed the Apple Vision Pro earlier this year, Apple mentioned that you could use the upcoming device to record or view spatial video, which is immersive 3D video. When Apple let certain folks try out the beta version of the Apple Vision Pro earlier this year, I remember people saying that they saw a a spatial video of a child blowing out candles at a birthday party, and they said that it was unlike any other home video they had ever seen. You actually felt like you were there.
Later this year, the iPhone 15 Pro will be able to use two of its three lens to capture 3D spatial video that can be viewed on the Apple Vision Pro when it comes out next year. This makes a lot of sense. When you are taking a video, I doubt that you will want to be wearing a headset; you will want to just use the iPhone that is in your pocket. Later on, when you want to relive the moment, you can then put on your Apple Vision Pro headset.
I’m sure that at some point in the future, many of us will wish that we could go back in time and re-record videos using spatial video—just like I now look at home movies taken in the past, using technology like VHS-C or Super 8, and I wish that it could have been taken in 4K HDR. Even if you don’t have your own Apple Vision Pro or similar device for a long time, it is nice that you will be able to future-proof your videos when you take them with an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max.
Buttons and Bezels
Since the very first model of the iPhone released in 2007, there has been a ringer switch on the side. This year, on the Pro models, Apple is replacing that with an Action button. When you hold down on the button, an action happens. That action can be turning the ringer on or off if you like the traditional feature. But it can also turn on the flashlight, activate the Camera app, activate Voice Memos, activate the Magnifier, and much more. And I really mean “much more” because you can also trigger any action that you created in the Shortcuts app, which could be as simple as launching some specific app (perhaps the app that you use to record your time as a lawyer?) or performing some complicated automation. I’m looking forward to trying this out.
The iPhone 15 Pro models also feature a smaller bezel. This means that the height and width of the iPhone 15 Pro is slightly less than the iPhone 15—and this, along with titanium, helps to reduce the weight as compared to last year’s Pro models–although the iPhone 15 Pro is 0.01 inch thicker than the iPhone 15.
The iPhone 15 line
For about $200 less (starting at $799 instead of $999), you can get the iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Plus. You don’t get the new cool new features noted above, but you do get some nice improvements.
Features pushed down from the Pro to the non-Pro
First, there are a number of features that used to require a Pro version of an iPhone but which are now available on the iPhone 15. I love the Dynamic Island at the top of my iPhone 14 Pro because it does a great job of making the information that you want from apps easily available. The Dynamic Island no longer requires a Pro and is available on all iPhone 15 models.
The A16 Bionic chip, introduced last year on the iPhone 14 Pro, is used with this year’s iPhone 15.
The camera on the iPhone 15 is much better and supports 48MP pictures—similar to the iPhone 15 Pro, but not quite as good in quality. You still only get two lenses (ultra-wide and regular) so you don’t get a telephoto lens with the iPhone 15 line. But with the 48MP lens, the iPhone 15 supports a 2x mode—a crop of the 48MP picture to 24MP, which is still an excellent picture quality, and is sort of like having a 2x zoom lens.
Like the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 15 gets USB-C. However, it supports the same data transfer speed as the former Lightning connector: up to 480 Mbits per second.
Last year’s iPhone 14 Pro and this year’s iPhone 15 Pro supported very bright screens: up to 1600 nits for HDR and up to 2000 nits when you are outside. You now get the brighter screen with the iPhone 15 as well.
New features available on the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro
There are also some new features that are available on all four of the new iPhones, both Pro and non-Pro. First, there is a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip. This makes it easier to find the iPhone or other devices that support Ultra Wideband.
Portrait mode in the Camera app is improved. Even after you take a picture, you can change which person (or pet) is the focus of the image. And if my understanding is correct, the iPhone will try to capture depth information whenever you take any photo, even if you are not using Portrait mode. That way, if you see a picture that you took in the normal mode with a person in the photo and you want to change the photo after you took it to a Portrait Mode photo, this will be possible. That’s very useful.
All models support Wi-Fi 6E for better wireless performance when you are using a Wi-Fi 6E wireless router.
All models improve improved audio quality on phone calls. A new Voice Isolation mode is supposed to make your conversations loud and clear even when there is a noisy background.
Last year, the iPhone 14 Pro and non-Pro supported Emergency SOS via Satellite, a potentially life-saving service when there is no cellular connection available. If you don’t need your life saved but you do need some help because, for example, you have a flat tire or you ran out of gas, you can now use the Satellite feature to contact AAA for Roadside Assistance. This works on all iPhones that support the Satellite feature, so even last year’s models. If you are already a AAA customer, you get the support that is included in your plan. If you are not a AAA customer, you can pay-per-use for AAA’s roadside assistance services.
Prices and colors
The iPhone 15 starts at $799, and you pay an additional $100 for the larger Plus model. The iPhone 15 Pro starts at $999 and you pay an additional $200 for the iPhone 15 Pro Max model, but the Pro Max model is really only $100 more than the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s just that the iPhone 15 Pro, like the iPhone 15, starts at a 128GB capacity whereas the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at 256GB.
For all models except the iPhone 15 Pro Max, it costs an additional $100 to go from 128GB to 256GB. Thus, for the 256GB size, the four models cost $899, $999, $1099 or $1199. Going from 256GB to 512GB costs an extra $200 for all four models. Going from 256GB to 1TB is only possible on the Pro models, and costs an extra $400.
For many years now, I’ve been very happy with a 256GB iPhone, and if you plan to have lots of pictures and videos on your device and you can afford the extra $100, I think that 256GB instead of 128GB may be the sweet spot to future-proof your device. But this year, because I think I’ll be taking larger 48MP photos and perhaps even lots of large spatial video files, I will probably spend the extra $200 on the 512GB model just to have some extra breathing room. 1TB is an insane amount of space for an iPhone, and if you have a special need for that much space, you already know why that is.
The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus models have lots of color choices: blue, pink, yellow, green, and black. As always, the Pro line is less colorful, and the choices this year are black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium, and natural titanium.
Conclusion
This is a year of nice improvements, even if none of them are revolutionary. My current plan is to get the iPhone 15 Pro Max, 512GB, black titanium. I’m worried that the larger iPhone will be so big that I won’t find it easy to carry around all day, but I’m looking forward to seeing what it is like to have larger text and/or more text on the screen, and I’m very eager to try out the new 5x telephoto lens. Perhaps this time next year I’ll be trading in the Max model to go back to the normal size so that it fits better in my shirt pocket, but who knows, maybe I’ll become a convert to the larger iPhone. Hopefully, the reduced weight that comes with titanium will mean that the Pro Max model won’t feel outrageously more heavy than my current iPhone 14 Pro. The speed bump and extra capabilities possible because of the new processor should also be a nice step up.