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By Jon Porter, a reporter with five years of experience covering consumer tech releases, EU tech policy, online platforms, and mechanical keyboards.
In September, Apple is widely expected to reveal its iPhone 15 lineup of flagship smartphones. Like last year, 2023’s range is expected to consist of four models: the base iPhone 15, an iPhone 15 Max, an iPhone 15 Pro, and an iPhone 15 Pro Max. There’s a chance that the latter device might be branded as the iPhone 15 Ultra, although a more recent report suggests this branding might not be used until 2024.
2023 is shaping up to be an interesting year for Apple’s bestselling device. Rumors suggest the company could finally make the switch from Lightning to USB-C while the Dynamic Island, which was exclusive to the Pro models in 2022, might trickle down to the non-Pro iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Max.
Read on for all our coverage of the latest leaks and rumors about this year’s iPhones.
Sep 15
Emma Roth
The iPhone 15 Pro could come with better 5G connectivity. That’s according to data from SpeedSmart (via 9to5Mac), which indicates that the iPhone 15 Pro will offer up to 24 percent faster download 5G speeds when compared to its iPhone 14 Pro predecessor.
As shown by the data from SpeedSmart, the biggest jump occurred on Verizon’s network, which showed an average download speed of 195.83Mbps on the iPhone 14 Pro, as opposed to 243.06Mbps on the iPhone 15 Pro. Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Pro on T-Mobile had the fastest average 5G download speeds at 300.92Mbps, as opposed to 204.34Mbps on AT&T.
Sep 6
Jon Porter
We could be in for a muted iPhone color selection this year. YouTuber Jon Rettinger has gotten his hands on dummy units in what appear to be the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro’s launch colors. Those are black, white, light blue, light yellow, and a soft pink for the 15, while the 15 Pro could come in blue, dark gray, light gray, and white.
Aug 30
Wes Davis
This post on X (formerly Twitter) could show the colors for the standard iPhone 15 — at least, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo lists similar colors in a blog post on Medium.
Kuo also corroborates the oft-rumored titanium frame for the 15 Pro phones, which may have contributed to production issues. He also mentions a possible iPhone 15 Pro gray color, which has been rumored recently.
Aug 28
Wes Davis
Apple said last year it will bring USB-C to the iPhone, and now alleged pictures of the iPhone 15’s USB-C port hint at light blue and green colors for Apple’s new non-Pro phones, according to leaker Majin Bu (via AppleInsider). The images, which were shared on X (formerly Twitter) this morning, show three naked USB-C modules in the two colors, as well as a dark, black shade. In addition, Majin Bu shared pictures of somewhat crude mock-ups of the phone, including one with an apparently off-center hole for the USB-C port.
Majin Bu later clarified that the existence of a green USB-C port doesn’t mean there will actually be a green iPhone at launch, guessing Apple will release it in the spring, something the company’s done with lighter colors for a few years now.
Aug 24
Jay Peters
9to5Mac reports that the iPhone 15 Pro won’t come in a gold option. Instead, the publication says you can expect space black, silver, a new gray that “embraces the natural color of titanium,” and a dark blue. There apparently won’t be a red.
—
Update August 24th, 6:07PM ET: 9to5Mac posted images of what appears to be the new “Titan Gray” color for the iPhone 15 Pro. I think it looks really nice.
—
9to5Mac expects the iPhone 15 non-Pro to come in black, green, blue, yellow, and pink.
Aug 22
Emma Roth
As spotted by 9to5Mac, the iOS 17 beta 7 has a new haptic feedback pattern that makes the “phone vibrate more prominently” to signal when silent mode is on or off.
That would make sense if Apple ends up replacing the mute switch with a solid-state action button, as the vibration could help users determine which mode it's in.
[9to5Mac]
Aug 18
Jess Weatherbed
Apple is set to introduce the iPhone 15 in the next few weeks, and the device’s long-rumored transition from Lightning to USB-C may provide a boost to its charging speed. According to 9to5Mac, some of the new iPhone 15 models will support charging up to 35W, compared to the 27W speeds that the current iPhone 14 Pro is limited to.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo made similar predictions last year, claiming that Apple’s supply chain indicated the company would ditch Lightning in favor of USB-C in 2023. According to Kuo, the switch would enable faster charging speeds for iPhone 15 Pro models, but the feature may only be supported via Apple-certified cables. Apple stopped bundling its iPhones with power adapters back in 2020 to try and combat e-waste, so the company may instead recommend that customers purchase the 35W dual USB-C charger it released last year, or the 30W USB-C charger that’s designed for the MacBook Air if it isn’t planning to sell a dedicated iPhone 15 charger.
Aug 7
Umar Shakir
The Information reports that in Apple's deal with TSMC, the costs of defective chips are eaten by the chip manufacturer instead of Apple, its biggest customer. It's a boon to Apple over competitions as it moves forward using new 3nm technology that has lower production yields.
Apple’s also paying more than ever for the chips. That might be why there’s a continued split on new iPhones, with the top chips going to the most expensive models.
[The Information]
Jul 30
Jacob Kastrenakes
Some big changes are expected to come to this year’s iPhone 15 Pro lineup — but they might come alongside a price hike, too. In Bloomberg this morning, reporter Mark Gurman confirmed a handful of details that have been floating around all year about what to expect when the next iPhone lineup is announced in just over a month.
The new Pro models will both come with titanium frames, instead of stainless steel, making them stronger and lighter, according to Gurman. Their screens will also have thinner bezels, thanks to a new display technology, shrinking the size of the black border by about a third. (Earlier leaks show what that might look like.) And as previously reported, expect the mute switch to be swapped out for a customizable button and the Lightning port to be replaced by USB-C.
Jul 27
Emma Roth
The upcoming iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are expected to come with an action button — similar to the one on the Apple Watch Ultra — that replaces the device’s ring/silent switch. But now, we have a better idea of what it might be able to do.
As spotted by MacRumors, code in the iOS 17 beta 4 suggests you can program nine different functions into the action button, potentially allowing you to quickly access the Camera app, turn on the flashlight, launch the Translate app, and more.
[MacRumors]
Jul 24
Jess Weatherbed
According to a new report by Bloomberg, Apple is allegedly planning to hike the price of its upcoming iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models in a bid to increase revenue during a projected slump in smartphone sales.
The publication claims that Apple has a target to produce around 85 million iPhone 15 units this year, which isn’t far off the 90 million iPhone 14 units the company is said to have requested from its suppliers last year. Essentially, Apple is hoping it can produce a similar number of devices but keep its revenue high (in spite of things like ongoing inflation and lower demand for consumer tech) by increasing the price of its more expensive iPhone models, according to “people familiar with the matter.”
Jul 4
Jess Weatherbed
Poor Google doesn’t have much luck with keeping its unreleased Pixel devices under wraps, and the Pixel 8 Pro is no exception. Two leaked photos of Google’s upcoming Pixel flagship were posted to Reddit on Monday, giving us our first look at the front and rear of what appears to be a real Pixel 8 Pro out in the wild. Those original pictures were swiftly removed from Reddit, but thankfully, not before Droidlife could grab a copy.
The design is recognizably that of a Pixel device, though there are a few notable differences compared to its predecessor, the Pixel 7 Pro. The photo of the back of the Pixel 8 Pro gives us a clear view of the new triple-camera setup, which is now housed entirely in a single glass oval, unlike the 7 Pro’s separate telephoto lens. A new sensor that can measure the user’s body temperature can also be seen under the flash. There’s no additional information regarding the camera specifications, though previous leaks suggest it’ll be equipped with a 50-megapixel main sensor, 64-megapixel ultrawide, and a 48-megapixel telephoto.
Jun 19
Richard Lawler
In a pair of tweets, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple would “aggressively” upgrade hardware specs with an eye to the ecosystem around its $3,499 headset.
That includes bumping the iPhone 15’s ultra-wideband (UWB) chip to a new 7nm process and a likely update to Wi-Fi 7 on the iPhone 16. Wi-Fi 7 devices should support faster mesh networking features and lower in-home latency. Qualcomm has said it will enable “peak speeds up to 5.8 Gbps” to a single device.
May 16
Thomas Ricker
Next year’s iPhone 16 Pro display will jump from 6.1 inches (iPhone 15 Pro) to 6.3 inches, while the Pro Max will jump from 6.7 (iPhone 15 Pro Max) to 6.9 inches, say analysts Kuo and Young.
Kuo says the extra space will make room for periscope lenses with better zoom performance, also expected on this year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max.
[MacRumors]
May 15
Wes Davis
MacRumors got ahold of a research note from supply chain analyst Jeff Pu at Haitong International Securities suggesting a new 48MP sensor stack for the camera in these non-Pro phones will lead to production issues.
MacRumors notes Pu was the first to claim that “design issues” would keep iPhone 15 Pro models from switching to solid-state buttons, which leaks and other analysts have backed up since then.
[MacRumors]
Apr 17
Jon Porter
Apple’s long-anticipating mixed reality headset won’t be the only piece of hardware it announces at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who’s published a new overview of the event. Expected launches include new MacBooks, as well as a “major” update to the Apple Watch’s watchOS software.
Let’s start with the Macs. Gurman doesn’t explicitly say which macOS-powered computers Apple could announce in June, but lists around half a dozen devices it currently plans to release this year or early 2024. There’s an all new 15-inch MacBook Air, an updated 13-inch MacBook Air, and new 13-inch and “high-end” MacBook Pros. Meanwhile on the Mac side Apple still needs to replace its last Intel-powered device, the Mac Pro, with an Apple Silicon model, and it also reportedly has plans to refresh its all-in-one 24-inch iMac.
Apr 13
Jay Peters
According to MacRumors, a button will indeed replace the mute switch, but the long-rumored unified volume rocker isn’t happening. Instead, the iPhone 15 Pro line will apparently have two separate volume buttons. The news follows analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s report that Apple would not use solid-state buttons for the volume and mute buttons.
Basically, it seems like the only major difference to expect from that side of your iPhone is a mute button. Hopefully Apple treats it like the Apple Watch Ultra’s Action Button.
[MacRumors]
Apr 12
Jon Porter
After months of leaks saying Apple will ditch the physical volume and power buttons on this year’s iPhone 15 Pro in favor of fancy solid-state replacements, one of the original sources of the rumor now says it’s not happening.
“My latest survey indicates that due to unresolved technical issues before mass production, both high-end iPhone 15 Pro models (Pro & Pro Max) will abandon the closely-watched solid-state button design and revert to the traditional physical button design,” reputable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in a Medium post. 9to5Mac reports that another analyst, Haitong Tech’s Jeff Pu, also thinks Apple will stick with traditional mechanical buttons for iPhone 15 Pro models.
Apr 10
Jay Peters
A user on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) shared a video of what looks to be a dummy model of the iPhone 15 Pro (via MacRumors), and it provides a decent look at how big the phone might be in real life. The dummy appears to match up with 9to5Mac’s detailed iPhone 15 Pro renders shared last week. The cameras are enormous.
Apr 7
Mitchell Clark
9to5Mac says it’s gotten more details on the iPhone 15 Pro via a “detailed CAD” file and other sources, and it’s showing us what the upcoming phone could look like. We’ve heard a lot of the rumors before — titanium frame, USB-C, thinner bezels, a great new color — but the renders really bring this story to life.
[9to5Mac]
Mar 20
Jay Peters
The fancier iPhones will apparently switch from a mute switch to a mute button this year, and new renders in a video spotted by leaker ShrimpApplePro reveal that it, well, looks like a button. If this is the real deal, I’m curious if it will be an improvement over the switch, which has been an iPhone staple since the very first one.
In the video, you can also see the iPhone 15 Pro’s rumored unified volume button and that the iPhone 15 will apparently keep the mute switch and separate volume buttons.
Feb 26
Emma Roth
That’s according to leaker Ice Universe, who shared renders of what’s supposed to be the iPhone 15 Ultra, which 9to5Mac later corroborated.
In addition to a USB-C port, smaller bezels, and a buttonless design, the image shows a much less obnoxious camera bump when compared to the one we saw on the render of the iPhone 15 Pro.
Feb 25
Jay Peters
9to5Mac’s latest renders depict the iPhone 15 Plus, which seems to still be in the works despite reportedly poor sales of the iPhone 14 Plus. The Plus phone looks to also be switching over to a Dynamic Island and USB-C, but if I had to pick an iPhone 15 model based on what we know now, I think I’d go with the rumored Pro red.
Feb 23
Jay Peters
9to5Mac has the details. I usually just get a black phone, but I’d seriously consider getting this nice red.
Feb 23
Thomas Ricker
Those supposed CAD files of the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro published by 9to5Mac last week have been turned into more aesthetically pleasing renders by Ian Zelbo. USB-C, curvier edges, and a big boy camera bump, now in color.
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