the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro The lineups are barely a month old, but rumors are already abuzz with what to expect from the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro next year. As of now, next year’s iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro are shaping up to be significant upgrades: USB-C, Dynamic Island for everyone, and much more…
iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus
screen sizes
The iPhone 14 lineup made a big change in available screen sizes, ditching the 5.4-inch iPhone “mini” option in favor of a new iPhone 14 Plus with a 6.7-inch screen. While the iPhone 14 Plus is apparently selling worse than Apple had anticipated, rumors are that the company plans to continue this strategy next year.
This means that we can expect the iPhone 15 with a 6.1-inch screen along with the iPhone 15 Plus with a 6.7-inch screen.
display features
The most significant change in the screens will be the addition of Dynamic Island for iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. Dynamic Island is currently limited to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Dynamic Island replaces the notch and instead opts for two separate screen cutouts that are made to look like one through the use of impressive software integration.
But while the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus Will have the dynamic island, they will not get two other display features that are exclusive to the “Pro” and “Pro Max” models. First, the rumors are that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will not get Apple’s ProMotion display technology that offers refresh rates from 1Hz up to 120Hz.
As such, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will also not add support for an always-on display, as this feature is based on ProMotion and LTPO display technology.
USB-C
apple is almost sure it’s going to switch the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus to USB-C for connectivity, replacing the Lightning connector from a decade ago. Change comes like The European Union implements a new requirement that all smartphones and other devices use a common charging port, which would be USB-C for now.
camera
At this time, rumors are unclear about what kind of camera upgrades to expect from the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. The iPhone 14 added a handful of camera upgrades, including the Photonic Engine for improved processing and a dramatically better front-facing camera.
We expect Apple to build on existing camera hardware next year, either with updated camera hardware or new software features. More rumors will emerge in the coming months.
Performance
Finally, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus expected to be powered by the A16 Bionic chip currently used in the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. This continues Apple’s strategy of bifurcating iPhone performance between Pro and non-Pro models, a strategy that first began this year.
the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max have the latest A16 chipwhile the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus work with the A15 – although they do get the 6-core variant of the iPhone 13 Pro.
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max
Screen sizes and display features
What about the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max? We expect fewer changes here in terms of screen sizes and display technology. In fact, from now on, it seems that things will remain the same.
This makes sense as the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max featured dramatic display improvements with the addition of Dynamic Island and Always-On Display. Instead, it looks like Apple’s focus will be on perfecting these features while also bringing Dynamic Island to the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, as mentioned above.
One small design tweak we could see is Apple replaces clicky volume and power buttons with solid-state buttons, similar to when it replaced the physical home button on the iPhone 7 with a solid-state button instead.
USB-C
As with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are also expected to switch to USB-C. We’re still waiting for a few more details here, like data transfer speeds and upload speeds.
One more thing to consider is the possibility of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max adopting Thunderbolt connectivity alongside USB-C. This would match the strategy Apple has taken with the iPad lineup, where all the latest-gen models have USB-C, but the higher-end iPad Pro models also support Thunderbolt.
camera
Initially, it was rumored that the iPhone 15 Pro models would have a new “8P” rear camera, or eight plastic lenses. Plus recent reports says that this might not be the case after all. “8P” here is a reference to the number of elements in the lens. When a manufacturer takes an existing lens design and adds elements, they usually do so to reduce distortion.
While it doesn’t look like the iPhone 15 Pro is getting any major camera upgrades, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a different story. The expectation is that the iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature a new periscope lens for the first time.
Periscope lenses are based on a prism that reflects light onto several internal lenses at 90 degrees to the camera sensor. This allows the lens length to be much longer than a telephoto lens, resulting in much better optical zoom. The telephoto lens on the iPhone 14 Pro models only offers 3x optical zoom and 15x digital zoom.
For comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra already has a periscope lens that enables 10x optical zoom and up to 100x digital zoom. A the rumor has said Apple can opt for a 5x optical zoom. The more specific details for Apple’s implementation of a periscope lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max are unclear, but ideally, it will bring the iPhone much closer to what Samsung’s flagships already offer.
Performance
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will continue Apple’s march toward even more powerful Apple Silicon chips. Last year it was first reported that Apple would be one of the first companies in the world to adopt new 3nm process and that we would see the first of these chips in 2023.
The latest iPhone 14 Pro models use an A16 chip, which some have referred to as 4nm, but it would be more accurate to say it’s a shrunken 5nm chip.
Next year’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are expected to use the A17 Bionic processor, which will likely be based on the 3nm process. Reducing the size of the process leads to a major change in terms of performance and efficiency, which could lead to significant improvements in battery life in the next year.
Naming and strategy
In terms of names and strategy, Apple reportedly has a few changes in store for next year’s iPhone lineup. The company is said to be planning to further differentiate the iPhone 15 Pro from the iPhone 15 Pro Max. This is most evident in the rumored camera upgrades, but there are certainly other ways the company could do this as well.
Furthermore, it has been speculated that Apple could change brands the highest-end iPhone will be the “iPhone 15 Ultra”. This would match what we saw with the Apple Watch this year, with an Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Series 8, and Apple Watch Ultra.
Ultimately, we’re still in the early days of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro rumors. We’ll have a lot more to come over the next year that will help further paint the picture of Apple’s plans.
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