Apple’s iPhone 15 event today saw the company spend a lot of time (and money) talking about its “Apple 2030” vision for carbon neutrality and environmental responsibility. The irony is, Apple wants you to buy more iPhones, and to do so, it’s introducing new models with slightly different features so you’ll spend your money.
With the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro this year, Apple is also beginning to comply with EU regulations that mandate every new device made by the end of next year support USB-C charging. While that’s good news for most people, it does mean that those who might not have already a compatible wire will have to, once again, get a new charger.
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In addition to the new port (farewell, Lightning!), the iPhone 15 Pro Max gets a zooming lens thanks to a tetraprism system, as well as a so-called Action button that replaces the slider switch on the side.
On the base iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, we’re also bidding goodbye to the notch and saying hello to the Dynamic Island. It looks like with the iPhone 15 series, we’re leaving a lot of things in the past, hopefully for better things.
The most intriguing of these changes is the Action button, which can be programmed to do one of many things. By default, it will still switch between Silent and Ring modes. But by going into the settings, you can customize it to start a voice recording, open the camera, switch focus modes and more.
Within each shortcut, you can get more precise about what the action button does. Say you choose the Camera shortcut. You can tap a dropdown list to choose whether it launches in regular photo mode or in selfie, video or portrait.
I was able to quickly check out the new zoom lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max by taking pictures of media personalities from far away. I used my iPhone 14 Pro to get a picture of Michael Fisher (aka The Mr Mobile) from across the giant demo area, pushing my camera to its maximum 15x zoom.
Then, with a demo iPhone 15 Pro Max, I snapped a pic of another person from slightly farther away, using the maximum 25x zoom. Not only were images from the newer phone a lot closer, they also seemed a bit brighter and clearer.
Of course, that’s not something I can properly evaluate until a real-world side-by-side comparison with fairer setups, but I can already tell you that on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, you’ll get a little window at the top left to show where in the frame you’re zoomed in on. This is basically how all phones with extreme zooms (like the Pixel and Galaxy flagships) do it, too.
Most of the other changes to the iPhone 15 Pro line weren’t things I could test at the demo area, like the performance of the new A17 Pro processor, the second-generation ultra wideband (UWB) chip and battery life.
I did get a sense for how smooth the hardware-accelerated ray tracing looked as an Apple staff member played a bit of Diablo IV for me to see. I also couldn’t plug a USB-C cable into the new port, of course, but I did spend a few minutes gawking at it while taking pictures.
I do like the way the new titanium material feels, though. The iPhone 15 Pros feature a brushed metal finish, and the Pro Max that I spent time with definitely felt noticeably lighter than its chonkster of a predecessor.
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The iPhone 14 Pro Max always felt like it would crush my skull if I dropped it on my face while reading in bed, while the new model felt like it would only gently dent my cranium.
I also briefly fondled a case made from Apple’s new FineWoven material, which is meant to replace leather as the company ceases to sell items made from that. The case felt slightly furry, sort of like suede, and though no one said if this would change, it’s the sort of texture I could see Apple tweaking over time.
The idea is that suede also feels somewhat premium like leather, and though I prefer the feeling of leather over FineWoven, I can live with it if it means better things for the environment.
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