iPhone 15: Everything we know so far

According to Ming-Chi Kuo a 48-megapixel sensor main camera with a f/1.6 image sensor will be built into the iPhone 15, which is a faster (wider aperture) than the Sony IMX-803 which is in the iPhone 14 Pro and is expected to be retained in the iPhone 15 Pro.

(Don't expect Apple to allow access to the ProRaw feature on the non-Pro phones, however, so pixel-binning to 12MP and better digital zoom is all this will be used for.)

Everyone is expecting a periscope zoom lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It seems there will be a new slightly better sensor at 12.7MP in the telephoto camera but the more significant potential improvement to telephoto image quality will be a variable optical zoom, "like a real camera."

The iPhone 14's sensor is capable of 8K but the feature was never enabled in software. Will things change this time?

We now know that Apple has an even on 12th September, and the company has paid for "Hashmoji" or "Hashflags" – a dedicated version of the Apple Logo which they can use on social media to match the September event artwork.

The design is a blue and grey design which has an almost 3D effect, hinting, perhaps, at some cunning metalwork? The event is called 'Wonderlust'.

The latest leaked video of cases seems to suggest that the iPhone 15 Pro will be broadly similar but there is certainly enough room for a USB-C port rather than the traditional Apple Lightning connector and looked at carefully it appears that the button layout is changing too.

The case leaks below (which originated in China, and spread via Weibo, a Chinese social media site) also show a smaller cutout for the mute switch – some think this confirms the idea we're expecting a mute button with the new phone.

A lot of rumor sites have covered the idea of a capacitive 'Action Button' instead of the physical mute slider. This would have the advantage that the button could be re-purposed (hence 'Action button') by the OS, but at the cost of a definite physical switch. It might also be harder to operate with gloves.

Actions could include: flashlight on/off, Do Not Disturb mode on/off, rotation lock, screenshot, home screen, lock screen, and, of course, ring/silent.

Tipster Ice Universe claimed that the iPhone 15 Pro Max would have a 1-inch sensor (though we explain why that isn't as big as you think in our news). Others are expecting a pricier iPhone 15 Ultra (a new top tier category like the Watch Ultra) which might make more sense).

According to a leak shared in reliable source Forbes, the Pro models of the iPhone are expected to jump in price by $200 over the iPhone 14. That could come as a significant shock for those who like to buy their handsets outright (and will put contract rates up too).

For example, an iPhone 14 Pro Max with 256GB would jump from $1,299 to $1,499.

What that means for other territories hasn't been explored yet, but Apple prices have been rising in the UK, especially since Liz Truss's shift in the established economic balance.

From what we've heard so far, there is gonna be a pretty big camera upgrade in the standard iPhone 15 and 15 Plus models. The sensor is set to not only jump from 12MP to 48MP but according to Live Mint it looks like it may feature a stacked CMOS sensor which won't be present in the Pro models. 

A stacked image sensor will enhance the camera's performance allowing for more noise reduction, brighter image rendering, more detail and overall better quality photos but we won't be able to tell how much better it'll really be until we get the phone in our hands.

Yes. Well, we can't be sure about the US version, but it'll be legally required to in the European Union, and since Apple has already switched to USB-C for the iPad, we can't imagine why they wouldn't for every market at once.

MacRumors have shown an image of one that looks pretty convincing.

We expect the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max to be equipped with the 3nm (nanometer) A17 Bionic chip, while the rest of the iPhone 15 range (iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus) will feature the A16 Bionic manufactured by TSMC.
The reason not all phones will have the newer processor is the high cost of silicon production – according to Phone Arena Apple's Pro phones will be the only ones all year with a 3nm process.

We expect an announcement event in early to mid September 2023. That's because, in recent years, Apple have traditionally held a launch event for iPhone in September.

It was September 7th in 2022, September 14th in 2021, and September 10th in 2019. The exception to the rule is the iPhone 12 wasn't announced until October 13th 2020, though this was during the pandemic and Apple had also had a Watch event on September 15th that year.

We expect the iPhone 15 to be available for preorder very soon after the presentation, and to be in stores (at least for those that pre-ordered) about a week later. The iPhone 14, for example, was in stores in 30 countries including UK and USA, on the 16th of September – 9 days after the announcement.