Apple has today unveiled its new flagship powerful smartphones smartphones including the high-end, iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. This year’s Pro has a 6.1-inch screen, and the Pro Max has a 6.7-inch display — the same as the previous iPhone 14 Pro models. Both are powered by the A17 Pro chip, which Apple says has the fastest performance in any smartphone and can even challenge some high-end PCs. The 15 Pro starts at $999 with 128GB of storage, and the Pro Max at $1,199 with 256GB of storage. Both will be on sale September 22nd.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max join the Android bandwagon with a USB-C port on the bottom rather than the old Lightning port. But in the Pro’s case, it could be for more than charging: Apple says the 15 Pro is the first phone with 10Gbps transfer speeds, which will make getting photos and videos (or large files of any kind) off your phone vastly easier.
When it comes to the display technology, the Pros both have Super Retina XDR displays with ProMotion and support both the always-on display and the new StandBy mode in iOS 17.
The ringer switch button on the left side has been replaced with an Action Button, which you can customize to run shortcuts, bring up accessibility features, open the camera, turn on the flashlight, and more. By default, it’s still a ringer switch — but you’re going to want to use it to do more.
The 48-megapixel camera has been upgraded and supposedly takes better low-light photos, captures less lens flare, and uses Apple’s AI systems to take full-res HEIF photos. You can now change your default lens and shoot at multiple focal lengths — 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm — within the main camera. Zooming has been pimped up to support 5x optical zoom, the most Apple has ever offered, to 120mm focal length. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra camera users won’t be blown away by the specs here, obviously, but they’re a big upgrade for iPhone users.
Apple always pushes its limits when it comes to the video side of things. The new iPhone 15 Pros can shoot 4K60 ProRes video on the devices or even shoot directly to an external drive through the USB-C port (as long as you have the right cable). The iPhone 15 Pros can capture “spatial video,” too, the kinds of 3D content we’ve been seeing for the Apple Vision Pro —it should be noted that the feature is coming later this year.
There is no doubt that the new USB-C port seems to have given Apple new ideas about how users might capture data on the Pro phones and then use it elsewhere. he iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max come in black, white, blue, and “natural.”
