iPhone 15 vs. iPhone 14: Plus, Professional, and Max, fashions in contrast

To the shock of nobody, Apple introduced the brand new iPhone 15 throughout its Wonderlust occasion on Tuesday, introducing it alongside the brand new Apple Watch Sequence 9 and an up to date pair of AirPods Professional that include a USB-C charging case. Meaning, as of right now, Apple’s iPhone lineup consists of the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Professional, and 15 Professional Max, in addition to the last-gen iPhone 14, iPhone 13, and the third-gen iPhone SE. The iPhone 15 lineup received’t be out there till September twenty second, however you’ll be able to preorder the telephones on September fifteenth, beginning at $799.

Each telephone within the new iPhone 15 lineup comes with a USB-C port and does away with the notch in favor of Apple’s Dynamic Island function. In the meantime, the extra premium telephones — particularly the iPhone 15 Professional and 15 Professional Max — come geared up with the brand new A17 Professional chip, an Motion Button, and 10Gbps switch speeds.

That is all thrilling stuff, however do these new enhancements justify the value? That can assist you resolve, we’ve put collectively a spec-by-spec breakdown of how the entry-level iPhone 14 fashions stack up in opposition to all the iPhone 15 lineup forward of our full evaluations later this month.

Earlier than we dive into the nitty-gritty particulars, we must always in all probability deal with one of many extra important variations between the varied fashions: the value. The 6.1-inch iPhone 14 has dropped to $699, whereas the iPhone 15 begins at $799. The iPhone 14 Plus and iPhone 15 Plus go for $799 and $899, respectively, each of which include a bigger 6.7-inch show.

The 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Professional, in the meantime, begins at $999, whereas the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Professional Max begins at $1,199. Together with extra capabilities (which we’ll dive into shortly), the Professional fashions supply a 1TB storage choice, which the entry-level iPhone 14 and 15 fashions lack.

Now let’s speak concerning the show. This 12 months, Apple swapped out the notch discovered on the lower-end iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus for the Dynamic Island. As soon as reserved just for the premium iPhone 14 fashions, the function primarily acts as a moveable pill-shaped cutout, one which shows real-time notifications, alerts, and actions.

Talking of adjustments to the show, each telephone within the iPhone 15 lineup encompasses a brighter display screen than the iPhone 14, with a peak brightness of two,000 nits. Theoretically, this implies the show must be simpler to view once you’re exterior, although we’ll let you understand how that pans out as soon as we’ve examined it. Along with the Dynamic Island, the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max additionally function an always-on show, which is one thing the entry-level iPhone 14 and 15 fashions lack.

There are additionally some notable design variations to concentrate on. Solely the iPhone 15 and Professional Max function a titanium physique, for instance, which ought to make the smartphones each stronger and lighter. They’re additionally the one Apple telephones to function the Motion Button, which primarily takes the place of the ringer button and might be personalized to create shortcuts, launch the digicam, and perform a spread of different duties.

Unsurprisingly, USB-C is probably one of many extra notable updates this 12 months. Every telephone within the iPhone 15 lineup now encompasses a USB-C port on the underside as an alternative of Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector, which the iPhone 14 lineup remains to be caught with. The long-rumored change ought to enable for sooner charging and better information switch charges, too, and is especially true of the 15 Professional, which Apple says is the primary telephone to supply 10Gbps switch speeds. Meaning it must be considerably sooner at transferring massive information, together with photographs and movies.

When it comes to battery life, each the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 max out at 20 hours, whereas the iPhone 15 Professional Max ought to final the longest at as much as 29 hours. Each Plus fashions supply as much as 26 hours of video playback, however unusually, the iPhone 15 Professional maxes out at 23 hours.

With regards to cameras, the entry-level iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 fashions share a dual-camera system that features a 12-megapixel ultrawide digicam. This 12 months, nonetheless, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus supply an improved 48-megapixel predominant shooter — extra particularly, the identical high-resolution predominant digicam discovered within the Professional fashions. In distinction, the iPhone 14 provides a lower-resolution 12-megapixel predominant shooter. The brand new iPhone 15 lineup additionally brings some updates to each night time mode and portrait mode, the latter of which can now robotically go into impact once you’re taking photographs of individuals or animals.

The entire entry-level fashions lack the triple-camera array discovered within the premium iPhone 15 fashions, which incorporates a further 12-megapixel telephoto lens. It’s also possible to now change the primary digicam lens within the Professional fashions and shoot at a number of focal lengths: 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm. The iPhone 15 Professional Max has a brand new 5x tetraprism zoom lens with a 120mm focal size, too, which is probably the most Apple has ever provided and longer than the 3X 77mm focal size on the iPhone 15 Professional.

There are additionally notable enhancements with regards to video recording. The entire telephones function a cinematic mode that may document 4K decision at 30fps and 4K at 24fps. Nonetheless, the 15 Professional fashions may even have the ability to seize “spatial video” later this 12 months, that are primarily 3D movies that may be seen with Apple’s forthcoming Imaginative and prescient Professional headset. They may even mean you can shoot 4K60 ProRes video and, because of their help for USB-C, allow you to document video to exterior storage units.

When it comes to efficiency, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus use the two-year-old A15 Bionic chipset, which we discovered quick sufficient in our testing. Nonetheless, it’s probably much less snappy than the A16 discovered within the entry-level iPhone 15 fashions and doubtless extra noticeably so when in comparison with the premium telephones. The iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max run on the brand new A17 Professional chip, in spite of everything, which Apple claims to be a number of the quickest chips at present out there.

Mixed with an up to date GPU, Apple says the brand new smartphones are notably well-suited for demanding duties, together with gaming. The iPhone 15 Professional appears to deal with video games nicely sufficient, no less than in our transient time taking part in with it, however we’ll have to check it extra to know for positive.

Talking of chips, the iPhone 15 comes with a second-gen extremely wideband chip like the brand new Apple Watch Sequence 9. The up to date part allows extra exact monitoring when utilizing Apple’s Discover My community, thus making it simpler to seek out buddies and family members who’re additionally utilizing an iPhone 15. It additionally ought to enhance connectivity to different units with the identical chip which can be additional away.

Lastly, with regards to software program, the iPhone 15 lineup ships with iOS 17. To this point, that looks as if a minor replace that brings enjoyable little options like Reside Voicemail, a brand new Journal app, and StandBy mode. The latter turns your display screen into one thing akin to a wise show, one that continues to be seen whereas your telephone is charging in panorama mode. It must be famous, nonetheless, that you simply’ll additionally have the ability to obtain iOS 17 on the iPhone 14 and 15 Plus when it launches on September 18th, so that you’ll have the ability to play with these options regardless of which telephone you purchase.

There are different smaller variations to concentrate on. The entire telephones additionally help 5G, however solely the 15 Professional fashions function Wi-Fi 6E help. That makes them extra futureproof and permits for sooner wi-fi efficiency. The premium telephones additionally include a Thread radio inbuilt, which can be utilized to manage Thread-enabled good residence units.

That’s only a transient overview of a number of the predominant variations between the iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 lineup, although. You may dig into the extra granular variations within the chart beneath, the place we’ve rounded up all of the related specs.