Apple today officially announced the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The new phones feature a modern design with a redesigned titanium frame, thinner display bezels, the A17 Pro chip, an Action button, a USB-C port, and much more.
iPhone 15 Pro design
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max introduce a redesigned chassis made from Grade 5 titanium alloy machined into a brushed matte finish, resulting in lighter weight and superior durability. Like the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, the front and back glass slightly curve into the rounded edges of the titanium frame. As expected, the razor-thin bezels surrounding the Super Retina XDR display are smaller than ever, giving the iPhone 15 Pro an immersive and futuristic appearance.
The new titanium housing allows the iPhone 15 Pro to be the lightest Pro iPhone ever. It is reinforced with an internal aluminum substructure, resulting in better heat dissipation and an easier-to-repair design.
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The Action button makes its way to the iPhone 15 Pro, replacing the traditional ring/mute switch. The Action button can also be customized to a user-defined action, including activating desired Focus mode, camera, flashlight, Translate, Voice Memos, accessibility features, and even Shortcuts. The Action button supports s single action at a time activated by pressing and holding the button for a few seconds to avoid accidental triggers.
The new A17 Pro chip powers the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The A17 Pro is the first Apple chip to be built on the next-generation 3-nanometer process, making the iPhone 15 Pro the first and only smartphone in the world to utilize the shrunken node size. Featuring 19 billion transistors, the A17 Pro comprises a 6-core CPU layout with all-new two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. Apple says the high-performance cores are 10% faster than before.
The latest “Pro-class” 6-core GPU adds an additional core compared to the A16 Bionic’s graphics processor, dramatically improving graphics performance compared to competitors. Hardware-accelerated ray-tracing graphics also make their way for the first time ever on an iPhone thanks to the custom-designed GPU, which Apple describes as 20% faster than before. Apple says native ray-tracing capabilities alongside a custom-designed shader enable an entirely new gaming experience on the iPhone 15 Pro.
The 16-core Neural Engine gets a massive improvement with up to 35 billion operations per second, making it twice as fast as before. Other A17 Pro advancements include a dedicated AV1 hardware decoder, and a USB 3 controller for 10 Gbps transfer speeds through the iPhone 15 Pro’s USB-C port.
iPhone 15 Pro camera
The iPhone 15 Pro introduces a new pro camera system with key upgrades to all three rear cameras, creating the equivalent of seven individual lenses. The 48MP main camera can now capture native 24MP images in addition to standard 12MP images thanks to new pixel-binning technologies. Apple says the new binned resolutions are equivalent to 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm focal lengths. The main camera can also capture 48MP HEIF images in addition to ProRAW.
Like the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, Portraits can now be captured without switching to the dedicated Portrait mode. Massive improvements are also in line for pictures taken in low-light scenarios through Night mode, and a new special nanoscale coating aims to reduce lens flare. Smart HDR 5 brings sharper details and more true-to-life colors. Low-light video and Action mode are also improved. The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro can also capture a new 3D-format Spatial Video which will be viewable on Apple Vision Pro.
A new 12-megapixel telephoto zoom lens is present exclusively for iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple says the new sophisticated telephoto lens is comprised of a tetraprism lens element that guides light inside the iPhone 15 Pro Max to the sensor, which is 25% larger compared to the one on the iPhone 14 Pro Max. A new autofocus 3D sensor-shift module also makes the new sensor more optically stabilized than ever. This combination of new technology enables the longest range of optical zoom ever on an iPhone – up to 5x optical zoom compared to the iPhone 15 Pro’s 3x zoom range, and is equivalent to a traditional lens with a focal length of 120mm.
As widely expected, USB-C replaces Lightning on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Unlike the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, the USB-C port on the iPhone 15 Pro supports USB 3 transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps. Using an optional USB 3 cable, ProRes video can directly be recorded onto an external storage drive, complete with Log encoding and 4K resolution @ 60fps.
The iPhone 15 Pro also supports the Qi2 standard for interoperability with non-MagSafe magnetic wireless chargers. Like the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip is present, which increases the discoverability range by 3x compared to the U1 chip. Wi-Fi 6E enables Wi-Fi connections with downlink and uplink speeds twice as fast as Wi-Fi 6.
Roadside Assistance via satellite allows users stranded on highways with no cellular or wireless signal to request help from AAA. Like Emergency SOS via satellite, the new service is free for the first two years after iPhone activation. Advanced machine learning models allow a dramatic improvement in Voice Isolation during phone calls, even in very noisy and loud environments
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are available in four new finishes that include Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, and Blue Titanium. iPhone 15 Pro starts at $999 for 128GB, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1199 for 256GB of storage. Pre-orders will start on Friday, September 15, with shipping to commence next week on Friday, September 22.
