Due to production problems at Apple’s factories in China, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are practically unavailable in every store. If you were planning to give it to someone, or even buy it for yourself, and you ordered the iPhone 14 Pro or 14 Pro Max and still haven’t received it, you’re basically out of luck, because it won’t happen until at least the end of December at the earliest.
In fact, with the price of the iPhone 14 Pro and rumors of some very enticing features for the high-end iPhone 15 models, you might just want to wait until September 2023 to upgrade. Below you will see some of the features that you can expect and you can just the new additions that you want to wait for.
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra
Apple always makes improvements to the performance of the iPhone every year, so you can expect the iPhone 15 series to arrive with a lot of changes besides probably the design as well as the performance of the future iPhone models.
Part of the reason the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are in such demand this year is because Apple packed them with features that the standard iPhone 14 models just didn’t get. Faster processors, better cameras and a „dynamic island“ make the iPhone 14 Pro much more attractive than the iPhone 14 models similar to the iPhone 13, and the same trend is likely to continue for the iPhone 15 Pro/Ultra.
In fact, Apple may step things up even further by giving the iPhone 15 Pro Max a better feature set than the iPhone 15 Pro, and rumors suggest it may even get a name to reflect the change – the iPhone 15 Ultra. Top Apple leaker Ming-Chi Kuo also agrees, saying that:
„Apple may create ‘greater differentiation between the iPhone 15 Ultra and 15 Pro to increase shipments of the 15 Ultra and improve the iPhone product mix.’
USB-C
The entire iPhone 15 line is expected to switch to USB-C instead of Lightning in 2023, so if you’re a fan of using one charger for your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, the iPhone 15 models will appeal to you.
Apple is making this change to comply with European law that requires smartphones and electronics to use a common charger, but it wouldn’t make sense for the company to create a USB-C iPhone for just one region, so it’s likely that benefit customers worldwide.
All iPhone 15 models will get USB-C, but rumors currently suggest that the iPhone 15 Pro models will support higher-speed data transfer. If, for example, Apple integrates Thunderbolt 3 support into the iPhone 15 Pro models, the transfer speed could reach 40 Gb/s. With USB 3.2 alone, we can expect speeds of 20Gb/s.
Faster A17 processor
The A16 processor was limited to the iPhone 14 Pro models, while the A17 is expected to be exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro models. The A17 could be the first chip built using TSMC’s next-generation 3-nanometer process, which will allow increased performance and lower power consumption.
Periscope camera lens
Apple is working on improved optical zoom, through periscope lens technology, which may be limited to the iPhone 15 Ultra. Periscope lenses are expensive and take up space, which is why Apple can use them as motivation to get people to buy a higher-end iPhone.
With the periscope lens technology, Apple can offer up to 10x optical zoom, compared to 3x in the current iPhone 14 Pro models. Other manufacturers, such as Samsung, have implemented these telephoto lenses with greater reach, combining them with digital zoom for impressive 100x zoom capabilities.
„Touch“ buttons
iPhone 15 Pro models may get additional Taptic Engines to make the volume and power „touch“ buttons feel like buttons, but aren’t. This is the technology Apple uses for the touchpad on the MacBook Pro, so it feels like you’re pressing a button, but physically there isn’t one.
This is rumored to be a feature for the iPhone 15 Pro models and could allow additional functions when pressing certain buttons and could improve water resistance, though exactly how the „touch“ buttons will be used remains to be seen.
Other rumors
There are other rumors about the iPhone 15 Pro/Ultra models, some more reliable than others. Here’s what we’ve heard so far:
• More durable titanium body
• Curved back edges that replace the existing square design
• Qualcomm 5G modem chip
• No Touch ID fingerprint sensor
• No Face ID under the display
Want to keep up with everything that’s coming for iPhone 15? Then follow our site to learn everything interesting about the upcoming iPhone generation.