The iPhone 15 Pro, Apple‘s latest standard-sized flagship smartphone, has finally been revealed to the world, with the company having debuted the new device alongside the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
This 6.1-inch wonder boasts a titanium frame, a USB-C port, an all-new Action button and Apple’s superfast A17 Pro chipset, all of which should ensure that the iPhone 15 Pro ranks among the best iPhones – and therefore the best phones – money can buy in 2023.
We’ve detailed all of these new features below, along with everything else you need to know about the iPhone 15 Pro. For all the other news, announcements, and analysis, head on over to our Apple event 2023 live blog.
What you need to know
- Pre-orders begin on September 15, 2023
- Deliveries begin on September 22, 2023
- Starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,849 for 128GB storage
- Rounded, titanium design
- Thinner display bezels
- New Action button
- USB-C connectivity
- Superfast A17 Pro chipset
- More advanced 48MP main camera
iPhone 15 Pro release date and price
The iPhone 15 Pro was unveiled on September 12, 2023 at Apple’s September event, alongside the rest of the iPhone 15 line. You’ll be able to pre-order the phone from Friday, September 15, with deliveries beginning the following week on Friday, September 22.
That said, the iPhone 15 Pro isn’t cheap (though we’ve come to expect as much from Apple in recent years). The device starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,849 for the 128GB model, with that price rising to $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$2,049 for the 256GB model, $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,399 for the 512GB model and $1,499 / $1,499 / AU$2,749 for the 1TB model.
By and large, these are the same prices as we saw with the iPhone 14 Pro, which goes against rumors we’d heard about potential iPhone 15 Pro price rises. Still, this is still a very expensive phone, so head to our dedicated iPhone 15 deals page for all the latest and best iPhone 15 Pro offers.
iPhone 15 Pro colors
Apple is offering a variety of iPhone 15 colors at launch, though, as usual, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are available in a different selection of shades to the standard iPhone 15.
This year’s crop of Pro colors include black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium, and natural titanium, all four of which you can see in the image above.
iPhone 15 Pro design
- Thinner bezels, titanium sides
- Mute switch replaced by Action button
Apple has opted to give its iPhone 15 line the biggest design shake-up since the iPhone 12 launched in 2020.
Specifically, the straight sides of the iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro have been replaced by iPhone 11-style curved sides, which are made of aerospace‑grade titanium on both iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Apple says the move away from stainless steel makes the iPhone 15 Pro stronger and lighter than its predecessor (the company’s latest flagship weighs 191g, where the iPhone 14 Pro clocks in at 206g), and the newer phone’s bezels are even thinner, too.
Both the Dynamic Island and brushed glass rear panel return from last year’s device, and the iPhone 15 Pro is once again protected by Apple’s Ceramic Shield, a transparent material containing ceramic crystals for extra screen protection.
The most significant design changes, however, are more functional than aesthetic. The traditional, physical mute switch has been replaced by an all-new Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro, which Apple says can be configured to trigger all manner of useful actions (in a similar fashion to the Action button on the Apple Watch Ultra).
Every iPhone 15 model sports a USB-C port, too, which replaces Apple’s proprietary Lightning port. USB-C is the latest universal standard for the wired connection of smart devices – if you buy a smart device in 2023, be it one of the best Android phones, best laptops, or best smart speakers, it’ll likely feature a pill-shaped port to support USB-C charging and data transfer – and Apple’s adoption of this technology makes the iPhone 15 Pro more compatible (read: practical) than its predecessors.
For instance, the iPhone 15 Pro’s Thunderbolt 3 version of USB-C makes the device compatible with 4K monitors, meaning you’re be able to display certain types of content on a separate screen – as you can with the best iPads.
iPhone 15 Pro cameras
- Similar triple-lens setup to the iPhone 14 Pro
- Sensors have been improved
The iPhone 15 Pro doesn’t stray too far from its predecessor’s (admittedly excellent) triple-sensor setup. The phone boasts the following three lenses: a 48MP wide (24mm, f/1.78), a 12MP ultra-wide (13mm, f/2.2) and a 12MP telephoto (77mm f/2.8) with 3x zoom.
The key upgrade here is the addition of more focal lengths – Apple says “it’s like having seven pro lenses in your pocket” – though the phone’s 48MP main camera has been updated, too, allowing you to capture super‑high‑resolution photos with even more detail and color.
Portrait mode has also been overhauled on the the iPhone 15 Pro; you no longer need to switch to Portrait mode manually. If your subject is a person, dog or cat, the phone automatically captures depth information, so you can choose to instantly see your photo as a portrait, with an artful blur effect, or later in the Photos app.
On the front, the iPhone 15 Pro boasts the same 12MP selfie snapper as its predecessor.
iPhone 15 Pro display
- Same 6.1-inch Super XDR OLED screen
The iPhone 15 Pro sticks with its predecessor’s excellent 6.1-inch Super XDR OLED screen, with Apple’s ProMotion technology – which varies the refresh rate between 10Hz and 120Hz, depending on the content displayed – returning, too.
As mentioned, the Dynamic Island digital cutout also returns – though this notch is now a feature of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, too – and the iPhone 15 Pro’s bezels are largely non-existent, which bodes well for Apple’s ultimate dream of creating a totally bezel-less iPhone in the not-too-distant future.
In other words, this is indisputably one of the best phone displays on the market, and we’re not fussed that Apple hasn’t messed with a winning formula here.
This story is developing. We’ll continue to update the below information as Apple’s September 2023 event unfolds.
iPhone 15 Pro features
- Will reportedly use the super-fast A17 Bionic
- Potentially more RAM
- AI could feature prominently
The iPhone 14 Pro rocks the latest version of Apple’s silicon – the A16 Bionic – which makes it one of the fastest phones (if not the fastest phone) money can buy right now. And yet, the iPhone 15 Pro will be even faster.
Apple’s next Pro-level iPhone is reportedly in line for an A17 Bionic chipset, which is rumored to be more efficient than the A16 Bionic. In fact, Chinese outlet DCInside reports that the A17 Bionic will boast a 20% more powerful CPU than its predecessor, meaning the iPhone 15 Pro should enjoy sizable speed gains over the iPhone 14 Pro.
Crunching the numbers, DCInside claims that the A17 Bionic earns a single-core score of 3019 and a multi-core score of 7860 on Geekbench 6, where the A16 Bionic scores 2504 and 6314, respectively. This isn’t the only benchmark leak we’ve seen for the iPhone 15 Pro either.
Naturally, we’d suggest taking these rumored figures with a hefty pinch of salt, but it’s exciting to think that the iPhone 15 Pro might sport benchmark scores to rival Apple’s best MacBooks.
It could also be significantly more powerful than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset powering the best Android phones, as while that’s made on a 4nm process, the A17 Bionic will reportedly be made on a 3nm process, which means far more transistors can be included, likely leading to better performance and efficiency.
As for other performance specs, the iPhone 15 Pro is expected to get 8GB of RAM, where the current iPhone 14 Pro has 6GB RAM. This has been backed up by another leak as well, as well as by a TrendForce report into the iPhone 15 line.
All that said, another leak points to the A17 Bionic being something of a middling upgrade, with one additional GPU core and a clock speed of 3.70GHz rather than 3.46GHz, but no major sounding changes. Worse, the same source claims the iPhone 15 Pro will come with 6GB of RAM, just like last year. So it’s a little unclear just how powerful this phone will actually be.
The most recent leak on the RAM front suggests that Apple has tested the iPhone 15 Pro with both 6GB and 8GB, hence the conflicting the reports, but they’re not certain which configuration will ultimately be used.
Additionally, every iPhone 15 will reportedly feature an upgraded Ultra Wideband (UWB) chip to support the functionality of Apple’s Vision Pro headset. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s U1 chip – currently built on a 16nm process – will be replaced by newer silicon, founded on a significantly more compact 7nm process; with the intention of improving performance, while also reducing power consumption.
And lastly on the features front, the iPhone 15 line is expected to play host to Apple’s next big developments in AI. Specifically, a next-generation iOS Health app could use AI to make tailored lifestyle recommendations based on your heart rate, sleep, diet, and breathing data – something existing iPhones aren’t able to do.
iPhone 15 Pro battery and charging
- Bigger batteries tipped
- Faster charging via USB-C
Judging by Apple’s history when it comes to updating (or rather, not updating) battery sizes with each iPhone iteration, we were expecting the iPhone 15 Pro to boast a similarly-sized power pack to the iPhone 14 Pro (3,200mAh), however recent rumors suggest that the entire iPhone 15 lineup will feature significantly larger batteries than their predecessors.
The iPhone 15 Pro, specifically, will reportedly feature a 14% larger battery than the iPhone 14 Pro, taking its capacity up to 3,650mAh. In theory, then, it’ll boast better battery life, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has corroborated this suggestion by claiming that battery improvements will represent the “biggest enhancement” brought about by the A17 Bionic chip in the iPhone 15 Pro. There’s also a switch in battery technology in the pipeline, apparently.
Another rumor has suggested that Apple is working on a reverse wireless charging feature for the iPhone 15 line, and if true, the iPhone 15 Pro will be able to wirelessly charge other Apple gadgets, where the iPhone 14 Pro can’t.
It’s also worth reiterating here that the iPhone 15 Pro is expected to get a USB-C port, so you probably won’t be able to use your older Apple Lightning cable to juice it up. This version of USB-C is rumored to support the USB 3.0 standard, too – where the iPhone 15 will reportedly stick with its predecessor’s USB 2.0 standard – so the iPhone 15 Pro could get faster file transfer speeds than its vanilla sibling (according to USBMakers, the former could offer 90% faster speeds).
More generally, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had stated that Apple’s proprietary USB-C chargers will offer faster iPhone 15 charging speeds than accessories produced by other manufacturers. The EU recently warned Apple against making such a move, owing to its desire to keep the charging playing field level, but with other rumors claiming that at least some of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 15 devices will support charging up to 35W (an upgrade made possible by the switch to USB-C), we think the company will indeed make its own USB-C chargers better than the rest.
At present, the standard iPhone 14 is limited to 20W charging, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max is capped at 27W. The latter takes around two hours to recharge to full capacity, so we’ll gratefully accept any improvements on that figure for the iPhone 15 Pro.
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