iPhone 15 & iPhone 15 Pro Announced: Features, Prices, Availability

Apple has released the all new iPhone 15 series, including the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The Big Change: USB-C Port for Charging on All iPhone 15 Models

The biggest change to come from the entire iPhone 15 lineup is that it now uses a USB-C port for charging, doing away with the Lightning port.

This means all of your existing Lightning charging cables will no longer work with the iPhone 15 series, and you’ll have to invest in new USB-C charging cables. Optionally, you can also purchase a $29 USB-C to Lightning dongle from Apple.

On the plus side to the USB-C switch, if you already own a newer model iPad Pro or newer model Mac, you likely already have USB-C charging cables laying around, and you can use those to charge with every model iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro.

If you do not have any USB-C wall chargers, Apple will sell you one separately.

Apple includes a USB-C cable within the box of iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro that can be plugged into an existing USB-C device like a Mac to charge the iPhone, but it does not include a wall charger, which Apple will sell you separately.

iPhone 15 Pro Features & Tech Specs

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature a new A17 Pro chip, a titanium frame design, the Mute switch has been replaced by a customizable Action button, along with the typical series of annual incremental updates; there are improvements to wi-fi, cellular networking, a marginally improved camera (with the exception of iPhone 15 Pro Max which gets a nice boost to a 5x optical zoom lens), etc, all the things you’ve come to expect at the annual iPhone launch events.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max is available in four color options, each of which looks quite nice and professional:

New iPhone 15 Pro Action Button

The iPhone 15 Pro also does away with the Mute switch, and instead has introduced a new Doohickey Action button, that can be set to perform a task of your choice. You can allow the Action button to function as a mute switch, which is the default option, or you can have it do something like open the camera, run a Shortcut, open a specific app, or toggle Focus mode.

iPhone 15 is New, but Old

Then there’s the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. Hardware wise, the iPhone 15 is basically the iPhone 14 Pro in that it uses last years the A16 chip rather than the A17 chip, but it includes a slightly different design with new color options, camera improvements (although there is one less lens than what was available on iPhone 14 Pro), and iPhone 15 also introduces the new USB-C charging port.

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus is available in a series of pastel color options:

iPhone 15 Pricing

Pricing for the iPhone 15 series is as follows:

• iPhone 15 – 128GB – $799
• iPhone 15 – 256GB – $899
• iPhone 15 – 512GB – $1099
• iPhone 15 Plus – 128GB – $899
• iPhone 15 Plus – 256GB – $999
• iPhone 15 Plus – 512GB – $1199

iPhone 15 Pro Pricing

Pricing for iPhone 15 Pro series is as follows:

• iPhone 15 Pro – 128GB – $999
• iPhone 15 Pro – 256GB – $1099
• iPhone 15 Pro – 512GB – $1299
• iPhone 15 Pro – 1Tb – $1499
• iPhone 15 Pro Max- 256GB – $1199
• iPhone 15 Pro Max – 512GB – $1399
• iPhone 15 Pro Max – 1TB – $1599

Remember, those prices do not include a USB-C wall charger, or sufficient iCloud storage capacity to actually be used for backing up a device. Therefore, it is helpful to factor in the added cost of at least one USB-C wall charger, and a year (or more) of adequate iCloud storage so that you can actually backup your device and its photos, videos, and data.

iPhone 15 Pre-Orders Begin September 15

You can pre-order the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro beginning on September 15.

iPhone 15 Release Date is September 22

If you’re in the market for an iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Plus, or iPhone 15 Pro Max, you can pre-order the iPhone 15 series on September 15, and it will ship to customers or be available in stores on the release date of September 22.

And of course the new iPhone 15 models will come with iOS 17 preinstalled. For all other iPhone users, iOS 17 will be available on September 18.