Apple announce iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max

Apple today announced iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models during their Wonderlust event. The new devices are manufactured from titanium and offered in black, white, blue and natural titanium finishes. The latest generation processor named A17 Pro, is manufactured using a 3nm fabrication process and is capable of 35 trillion operations per second. The GPU is 20x faster at peak performance. Apple spent a lot of time showcasing the console quality gaming capabilities of the new devices, which features ray tracing, a more realistic depiction of the way light hits and reflects of different surfaces.

Camera

The new camera system on the 15 Pro Max features a telescopic lens module with a floating sensor capable of 10,000 adjustments per second, double that of the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max and able to move in every direction. 5x optical zoom, up from 3x on the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. This year marks a return to a differentiation between the camera systems in the Pro models.

Action Button

The mute switch which has featured on every prior model of iPhone, has been replaced on the Pro variants with a new action button. Highly customisable much the way it is on the Apple Watch Ultra, with shortcuts, workouts and many other options available. The default is to activate silent mode by pressing and holding the action button with haptic feedback. Unlike on the Apple Watch Ultra, the action button is not finished in international orange.

USB-C

The worst kept secret was the addition of USB-C, replacing the lightning connector. On the pro models this allows for 10gb transfer speeds via an optional cable.

Pricing

Quite the surprise. Most rumours claimed we would see a jump this year following several years of static pricing. iPhone 15 Pro starts at $999US, £999UK. The iPhone 14 Pro from last year launched with 128GB base storage for £1049 in the UK. The 15 Pro Max starts at $1199US, £1199UK. This is the base storage of 256GB and is equal to the iPhone 14 Pro Max price at the same storage level. Both iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are available to preorder from 15/9 and ship on 22/9.

New accessories were also announced including FineWoven cases replacing the leather options offered previously. Silicone cases remain available.