We think it's a damn shame that the iPhone 15 Pro reveal didn't feature Sia singing Titanium. Our friend Tim Apple could have leaned into the joke by announcing a bullet proof phone with nothing to lose; critics fire away, fire away... oh well.
Here's all you need to know about the new iPhone 15 Pro:
1. The iconic mute switch is gone, replaced by the Action button
The long-rumoured Action button is here and we finally say goodbye to the mute switch on the Pro models. We suspect the vanilla iPhones will follow suit and drop the switch next year and we have mixed feelings about that.
Screenshot: The Verge
Luckily, notifications are muted by default and the new button can be customised to various functions. Choose between quickly accessing the camera or flashlight; activating Voice Memos, Focus modes, Translate, and accessibility features like Magnifier. A press-and-hold gesture with fine-tuned haptic feedback and visual cues in the Dynamic Island ensure that when you press the button, you get the... Action you wanted.2. New 5x telephoto camera, but only on the iPhone 15 Pro Max
There's a new telephoto zoom lens with 120mm focal length at f/2.8 for better portraits and better zoomed in photos. To give you some context, one the most popular zoom lenses on the market for traditional DSLRs have a focal length of 70 - 200mm at f/2.8. We're not saying this will take comparable photos, but at least you have a scale for comparison.
The 3x zoom on the old iPhone 14 Pro was good, but not as sharp as the main camera because of the smaller sensor. We'll need to test that 5x camera to see if it'll replace the main camera for portraits.
Apple's literature claims 7 "lenses" on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but these are digital lenses that mimic different focal lengths settings. The phone still has 3 lenses that can shoot at different focal lengths. Like the iPhone 15, you can also take portraits outside of portrait mode and adjust focus depth later in the Photos app. With one tap, you can click to focus on the foreground or the background of the subject.
3. USB-C, but USB 3
The headlining change to USB-C comes with a new feature that Apple is touting and that's the USB 3 speeds of transfer. The marketing imagines a world where you're shooting with the iPhone and recording it directly to an external harddrive. There's already a use case with Olivia Rodrigo's music video being shot on the iPhone 15 Pro:
The cameras can now capture 4K at 60fps so those file sizes are going to be huge and the ability to plug in directly to a Mac or save to an external disk would help professionals. Our current iPhone 14 Pro heats up like crazy and the battery declines rapidly with 4K 30fps shooting and editing, so we're excited to see how this will perform with 4K 60fps shooting and editing.
4. Introducing a new chip, A17 Pro
Ignoring the technobable about engines and cores and percentages, the new emphasis on this chip is the possiblity it opens up in gaming and AR. To note is that you'll be able to play Resident Evil 4 Remake, a game that was made for next generation consoles.
The keynote hammered home the iPhone's commitment to gaming showing off The Division: Resurgance, Resident Evil Village, Honkai: Star Rail, and Genshin Impact. The Division will be available in early 2024 while the Resident Evil games will come end of 2023.
Are we excited about playing console games on an itty-bitty 6.1-inch screen? Yeah, nah, yeah, jury's still out.
5. It's now made of titanium
Besides the visual difference, titanium is supposed to be stronger and lighter than the stainless steel in the iPhone 14 Pro. It's another visual differentiator for the Pro models this year and there are 4 pretty muted colours to choose from: white, black, blue, and something they're calling natural titanium. The Pro models have never gone too crazy with its colours, but this year's line up is a little dull.
The borders are also slimmer again this time around, but Apple did not specify by how much. Finally, the back glass is bonded to a new aluminium frame that "helps with thermal dissipation and allows the back glass to be easily replaced," according to Apple's press page. That back glass has been lambasted to death by the repairing community and time will tell if it's indeed easier to replace.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max retails for RM5,499 and RM6,499 respectively. The 15 Pro starts at 128GB while the Pro Max starts at 256GB. Both models are more expensive than the outgoing iPhone 14 Pros.