Price, availability and specs

The iPhone 15 is the most affordable model from the new family, starting at $799. Pre-orders open on 15 September, and watch out for those trade-in discounts. The iPhone 15 Plus starts at $899 for that bigger option.

The iPhone 15 Pro costs from $999, so there’s a nice progressive price increase for the new iPhone models. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is slightly adrift, however, starting at $1199, but this does start at 256GB storage, so you’re getting double the storage for your money.

Below are the specs for the core models to quickly glance at what you’re getting.

The Apple iPhone 15 and 15 Plus ditch the notch for this year, like the iPhone 14 Pro models did in 2022. That sees the two standard models offering the Dynamic Island feature, marking quite the change for the standard iPhone. The iPhone 15 Pro models also retain the Dynamic Island this year, so it’s a little harder to distinguish between the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro than the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro.

The standard iPhone 15 models also move to a matte glass finish, replacing the glossy finish that’s been on the standard iPhones since the iPhone XR, and it’s lovely to hold. The big differentiator here is colour, however – the iPhone 15 comes in an array of colours – pink, yellow, green, blue, black – while the iPhone 15 Pro is much more serious with its colouration – and the material that it’s made of, which we’ll come to in a second. The iPhone 15 is available in Natural Titanium, Blue Titanium, White Titanium, and Black Titanium. If you haven’t guessed by now, it has a titanium frame rather than aluminium.

That means that the iPhone 15 Pro is more premium, lighter and stronger through that frame, although the 15 Pro is still 10g heavier than the standard iPhone 15, and that is noticeable when you pick the models up – less so than the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro mind.

All models carry an IP68 rating, so there’s no change there. However, the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max replace the silence toggle switch with a customisable Action Button that you can setup to launch various features from Focus modes to Magnifier, like Back Tap. On the rear, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have a dual rear camera setup, while the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max both have a triple rear camera, so from the back, the difference between these models is more apparent than from the front.

iPhone 15 vs iPhone 15 Pro display

On the surface, the Apple iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro look similar in terms of display, and the specifications aren’t too dissimilar either. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro both feature a 6.1-inch OLED display like the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, and they have the same resolutions, too, at 2556 x 1179 pixels. The iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max, meanwhile, have a 6.7-inch OLED screen, and they also have the same resolutions at 2796 x 1290 pixels for those interested in the larger models.

The bezels have been reduced on both models, which in turn has reduced the size of all of the devices compared to their respective predecessors. These bezels are slightly slimmer on the iPhone 15 Pro models, but you probably wouldn’t notice that unless you had the devices side-by-side. Where you will notice a difference between these models, however, is the Always-On Display. While the standard iPhone 15 models have adopted the Dynamic Island feature, they don’t have Apple’s ProMotion technology, so they don’t offer the Always-On Display. You’ll find a standard 60Hz refresh rate on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, while the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max both have adaptive 120Hz refresh rates with an Always-On Display.

iPhone 15 vs iPhone 15 Pro cameras

There are a few differences in the camera department of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus both see an upgrade to the 48-megapixel main sensor, though it is a different sensor to the 48-megapixel main sensor in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The main sensor on iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus has a f/1.6 aperture, compared to the iPhone 15 Pro’s f/1.78 aperture. All four models have a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide sensor, though this sensor is also slightly different between the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. The standard models have a f/2.4 aperture, while the iPhone 15 Pro models have a f/2.2 aperture for this sensor.

There are some other differences, too. Despite not offering a telephoto lens, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have 2x optical zoom. The iPhone 15 Pro, meanwhile, has 3x optical zoom and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens with f./2.8 aperture, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max has 5x optical zoom from its 12-megapixel telephoto lens with f/2.8 aperture. When it comes to features, quite a few translate between the regular and Pro models, such as the ability to apply portrait mode after a shot has been taken and adjust the background focus for shots with people detected. The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max offer night mode portraits, though, as well as the ability to choose between three different focal lengths – 24mm, 28mm and 35mm. There are a couple of differences in video recording, too, with the iPhone 15 Pro models offering ProRes video recording up to 4K at 60 fps with external recording, which the standard iPhone 15 models don’t have.

On the front, all four iPhone 15 models have a 12-megapixel sensor with f/1.9 aperture, so there should be no difference between the standard and Pro models when it comes to snapping the perfect selfie.