Intro:
Alright, this is Apple's new and improved iPhone 15, the latest iPhone. However, it doesn't have anything that's really new or that we haven't seen on other phones. But this does not mean that it is not a good phone. It can be a high-quality phone without being innovative.
They are not mutually exclusive things. And it turns out that that is precisely the strategy that Apple used with this phone. The more I use it, the more I see that Apple is applying its classic strategy of taking advantage of its late entry into the market.
Basically, what they do is take something we've seen before and implement it in Apple's signature style. So, coming to the exterior, how would you describe the design of this new phone? Something familiar, somewhat reminiscent of the 14. How does Apple describe it? The iPhone 15 has a completely new design that is simply beautiful.
Oh, really? Completely new? Clear. Well. I'm not sure if it's completely new. In fact, this phone inherits the same overall look and design as last year's. But what's at least partially new is how it feels in the hand. I already said this in the 15 Pro review, but they've done a good job smoothing out the corners. It still looks square and has an aluminum frame, but it's more comfortable to hold because the corners aren't as sharp and are slightly rounded. In addition, this is the first iPhone that is not from the Pro range that has a glass back with a satin finish.
And I love how it looks. It looks like nice frosted glass and is smooth to the touch. I know there's also a super complicated process to get this single piece of glass on the back to be two different colors and two different thicknesses. And I respect and appreciate that, but honestly, this year's colors are super light. People were saying in my last video that the color grading must be wrong because it looks white instead of blue.
But no, this blue phone doesn't really look very blue under almost any light. It's like 1% blue. Still, between the aluminum and the light colors, these are probably the most fingerprint-resistant iPhones in years. The buttons, speakers and mute switch are in the same location. There is no Action Button on this phone.
I think you could even put an iPhone 14 case on it. And if we go to the front, we have a new screen, well, as I already said, it is not new per se, but it is new for this iPhone. This year, non-Pro iPhones also get the Dynamic Island, which is the hole in the screen for the camera, but Apple style. So the notch is finally gone, although it could return with a new iPhone SE in the future.
Who knows? Little by little, application developers have incorporated the Dynamic Island in a useful way, and I already have some favorite uses. Airline apps give me real-time flight information, as well as weather, Uber, and more. Since we are talking about the screen, it is also brighter. Now it reaches 2000 nits. It looks amazing outdoors.
Basic:
However, I should point out that it's 2023, and this is an $800 phone and it still has a 60 hertz display. I find this fascinating. It's so strange. I don't understand. On the one hand, for most people who buy this phone, it's completely fine. It's a new basic iPhone. Have you talked to anyone buying a new basic iPhone? They literally don't care.
It's not something they pay attention to. If you asked them right now how many frames per second their phone has, they would have no idea. As long as it works and everything is relatively smooth like last year and the year before and the year before, it is not a relevant factor at all. I've literally given people a 120 hertz phone next to a 60 hertz phone, and even having them side by side, they can't tell the difference.
Or if they see it, they just see something subtle that seems pretty cool, but it doesn't make much difference to them whether they have it or not. So it's fine for the target audience of this phone. But on the other hand, Apple, which is the richest technology company in the world, often makes changes that ordinary people will practically never notice.
They are subtle improvements or changes here and there that go unnoticed, but they do them all the time. Do you think anyone really noticed when they swapped the LCD screen on basic iPhones for an OLED? Or if we think about last year's A15 Bionic chip and now's A16 Bionic, do you think people really notice the difference? Or how about when they added 5G to the iPhone and most people didn't care? Making subtle improvements over time is what modern smartphones are known for today.
Features:
And I would argue that a higher refresh rate is more noticeable to more people than some of the other improvements they did incorporate. I think that, if today I were given an unlabeled iPhone with an A15 Bionic chip and another with an A16 Bionic chip, even though I am a professional, I would have a hard time discerning the differences between them.
And on top of that, you have to keep in mind that it is incredibly cheap, easy and reasonable to get a phone with at least 90 hertz. For example, the new Moto G is about 90 hertz and costs $170 or something like that. I'm sure that screen looks horrible compared to this iPhone. It has a resolution of 720p and a brightness similar to that of a box of crayons.
But Motorola decided to include that feature in that phone because it knew enough people would notice the difference and experience the smoother visual performance. This provides a higher level of perceived performance.
So, knowing how easy it would be for Apple to do it, I find it incredible that this phone doesn't have at least a 90 hertz display. But they refuse to do it because they have linked that function with the word “Pro”. It's "Promotion," for Pro phones.
Ultimately, this seems like just another strategy to keep widening the gap as much as they can between Pro and non-Pro iPhones, and they do it without any problem, even if this means that the iPhone 15 is the most expensive phone in the world that has a 60 hertz screen.
Speaking of widening that gap, this year's Pro phones also have a new A17 Pro chip, but this iPhone 15 gets the A16 Bionic from last year's 14 Pro. Honestly, I think the most interesting thing is the name change of the Pro chip because it implies that it's definitely not going to be carried over to the entry-level phone next year. But either way, the A16 Bionic is more than enough for a phone at this price to perform daily tasks, play games, and browse iOS at 60 hertz.
And an indisputable advantage of 60 hertz is the battery life because, despite all the problems that have been mentioned, the battery life on these phones is quite good. I don't know if you saw it, but Apple has officially addressed the battery and heat issues that some people, including me, have reported with these iPhones. So there's an update coming to iOS and some specific third-party apps, like Instagram, that were also having issues. On average, the battery life on my iPhone 15 has been better than my iPhone 15 Pro.
There are other features that are not so new. Areas can now be downloaded for offline use in Apple Maps and there are interactive widgets. And finally, they incorporated an 80% battery charge limit into the settings. I made a video of the iOS 17 update, in which you can see all this.
I will leave the link below the Comment button. If you are interested, you can take a look at it later. One of the standout features I mentioned in that video is the standby mode. When you place the iPhone Pro on the charger and turn it on its side, the screen stays on because it can reduce its refresh rate to one hertz thanks to its LPO display. But on the non-Pro iPhone, since it does not have LPO, the refresh rate is locked at 30 or 60 hertz.
It cannot be reduced to one hertz. Therefore, Apple decides to turn off the screen after a while, which feels like it's defeating the purpose of this feature. Then you have to move the table or touch the stand to wake it up, like with an Apple Watch charger.
This is a notable difference between the Pro and non-Pro iPhones. Last but not least, the new cameras are a bit strange, but in a good way. They've updated the iPhone 15 with a new set of cameras: a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle and a new 48-megapixel main camera.
The sensor is smaller than what the Pro has, but it makes up for it with a larger maximum aperture of f/1.6. And then it does a combination of grouping and detail transfer, and defaults to a 24-megapixel photo. Now, if you were paying attention before, you'll remember that this new iPhone has the same chip as last year's iPhone Pro.
