https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/apples-new-iphone-15-pro-gets-new-chips-better-cameras-and-a-titanium-frame/
iPhone 15 Pro still starts at $999, Pro Max at $1,199, available September 22.
Overall this event was pretty mid imo 🥱
Beginning to feel like this industry is stagnating. Just doing enough to appease the stockholders and pump the stock.
Phones are completely boring now, colours should not be newsworthy but they always get a mention because everything else moves at snail's pace.
At least Jobs had vision to push innovation.
They're "boring" because they're at their limit. The form factor can do what it can do.
Foldables will eventually enhance the experience, but the materials that are available don't do the job. Until then there's only iteration.
Foldables are never going to take off.
What we really need is rollables. Give me a scroll type phone please.
A slap bracelet smartwatch sounds interesting.
It would probably need a breakthrough in flexible batteries as well as better displays though.
batteries could sit on the flat parts of the wrist (top/bottom). the real issue is the softness of flexible displays that wouldn’t have a clamshell protecting them from exposure.
That's a lot less viable than a foldable is. It's absolutely an improvement in theory, but that doesn't mean we can do it any time soon.
Or until the device category itself is displaced. It’s easy to forget what a sea change the touch screen smartphone model created by the iPhone was.
Somebody at some point is going to have another “iPhone moment” which shifts us all again.
That's glasses. Apple's on the front line of that though. They're not in a portable form yet, but Apple's is the closest to viable AR (or "spatial computing", which is messaging I love), even if it's still too big.
Maybe, it’s a while away yet though if going to be viable. I think a lot more miniaturisation is needed before AR/VR is going to win wide public appeal.
I heard about a product called Humane AI Pin recently. It’s an AI assistant device that attaches to a shirt like a pin badge, and interacts with the user though a combination of voice and a laser projector. It’s designed by two ex Apple people as it happens. I’m not entirely convinced by the concept itself but it’s a sign there are other avenues to explore.
One hurdle both of these have to overcome is the matter of always on, public facing cameras. It’s not just the technology, there are cultural challenges that will shape the post smartphone era to consider as well.
I think vision pro is the first viable AR at all, and I want it bad.
It will definitely be a while before you can actually do glasses, but I don't really see there being a lot in the mean time.
I wish the cameras were something that would cause cultural opposition, but I don't see it. What portion of the planet (or US/Europe, at least) already broadcasts everything they do on purpose (before the 500 extra trackers on every web site and spyware apps on their phone)? It's a lot. People should care about privacy, but the second it's inconvenient they stop caring.
I miss how innovative phones in the 00s used to be. They were seriously trying out every style and form factor possible, now they're all a slab.
There’s a reason why none of those crazy styles stuck around.
They all sucked pretty hard or were too niche to become popular enough for economy of scale to bring the price down.
And touchscreen keyboards (and their haptics) got significantly better, too.
Most of those cool designs were attempts at either maximizing the screen, giving a qwerty keyboard, or both. There were a few odd ones like the ones with the rotary dials, the n-gage, etc. But now we’ve got a form-factor that gives a real good keyboard and a real large screen.
Until I can buy a foldable with a more robust screen (eg one that can’t be permanently damaged by fingernails), I’ll stick to traditional phones.
The tech has peaked. There aren't gonna be any new bangers. No one has needed to upgrade for like 6+ years now
Yeah pretty much! Everybody keeps complaining that the new phones aren’t very innovative and like… what do you want them to do? I can’t really even imagine anything more a phone can do with current technology other than incremental improvements. Maybe I just lack imagination, and I guess there’s some stuff I want like USB C and maybe to eventually get rid of the notch for FaceID… but I just don’t care enough to replace my phone until it dies. Honestly my current phone is barely any different from my phone from 10 years ago for all intents and purposes. The only thing I want my phone to do that it doesn’t already is software stuff… Like allowing sideloaded apps, or better support for things like nfc for transit systems… Hardware wise… What could I possibly even want?
Yup. See them parroting USB C as if some kind of new shit. Lmao, Type C has been on Android for years and Android Manufacturers have long stopped it as some Marketing feature.
They spoke usb-c like a minute, two tops. While speaking of the environment for a good fifteen.
What you describe did not happen, at all.
Colour: grey-variant
Wish this had the fun non-pro colours. Looks a like solid polish model year
I was hooked on the midnight green from the 11pro. The blue on the 15pro looks nice. Probably better in person.
Not that I’ll ever see it, since I’m just gonna slap a case on the phone anyways.
The new A17 Pro 3nm chip comes with hardware Ray Tracing, so we will expect the next gen Apple M3 series GPU performance boost. Hopefully, the gap with discrete GPU get closer.
It gets closer for a bit and then gets further away again. It'd need to be a huge leapfrog for me to want to give up the ability to replace a discrete GPU with an integrated one. Probably good for the laptop crowd though.
I did not plan to upgrade this year, but also didn’t expect Spatial Video capture until next year. I’d like to start capturing video for the Apple Vision Pro as soon as possible.
Pricing though… translating my local price back to US it will be $2245 for the Max with 1TB 🤢
Wow, has it always been like this? I thought it was because of the exchange diff between USD and CAD, but I checked and it’s currently 1:1.35-6. So if translating the $1599 USD cost to CAD, it should be $2,168.06 for iPhone Pro Max 1TB
Canadians getting an extra $200 tax from Apple 👀👀👀
Smartphones have just been so boring for the past few years. Ever since they all started getting full screen displays and multiple cameras, every year has felt like small incremental upgrades. You probably wouldn't gain very much by upgrading even from a 3 year old phone.
iPhones won't be interesting to me again until they get a completely new form factor like folding or something.
Nothing creative, someone do something different please. I like seeing the hidden cameras that was true innovation.
Give me 2 legit day battery life and a dock that can give a full desktop experience.
Apple'd never do it but that dock thing would be so cool if you could just plug into any USB monitor and have a legit MacOS computer running on your phone.
Ubuntu phone was close…just maybe a touch early in the market. Now that we are over 8GB of RAM in a lot of phones and 1TB storage is an option….all we need is more interest in it. Apple might not do first but as soon as there is one successful phone/laptop hybrid they might be forced too.
Honestly the last iPhone I felt truly excited for was the iPhone X. That felt like the phone Apple was leading up to for a decade. Then the 14 Pro came out and I'll admit, the Dynamic Island was very creative. Not really innovative, but creative.
What was so cool about Jobs is that he had this brain that wanted to take risks and come up with crazy shit that may have only been theoretically possible, and push the talented engineers to make it happen.
That being said, I don't know why people are so surprised. Jobs isn't around anymore, and smartphones have matured to a point where there's nothing to push. What exactly are people hoping to change?
Biggest upgrade for me were foldable screens and 120Hz refresh rate. High refresh rate feels so good when you first try it. But generally speaking it is all incremental and not worth yearly investment. In general I buy devices every 4 years or so but most of my devices end up being used at least 6-7 years.
Yeah, my 12 Pro is going strong and I don’t see any reason to move. USB-C is the biggest feature upgrade for me.
I have a 12Pro as well, and, honestly, I think the cameras on this thing are kinda trash. I like the phone and it still works well, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued with the new phone.
To each their own. I carry a mirrorless when I want good photos. Apple’s post processing is obnoxious and if I’m going to shoot RAW I’d rather have options on glass and settings.
USB-C is nice (although I don't relish having to replace all my Lightning accessories), and the camera improvements are always good, but I think I'm still happy with my 13 Pro for now.
I can't believe I'm saying this but if I have to replace my 12 Mini right now, I'm not sure if I would go with a 13 Mini or that Samsung Flip.
Losing SMS on my iPad, personal MBA and work MBP would suck but I did get into Beeper so maybe I could get by until they offer something I'd actually want.
Losing SMS on my iPad, personal MBA and work MBP would suck
Google Messages has a good web app. It works really well with my ancient Pixel.
I work in a store after sale service and I see far too much foldable phone for the quantity of these phones we sell... I would avoid them if I were you.
Between the dead pixels, the inner screen protector problems and the rest... at least Samsung seems to take care of the buyers(in Europe were I am at least) because they always repaired or changed the screen protector without any terrible(except the obvious broken phones) But I wouldn't want to have this kind of phone out of warranty, of and the battery is shit too, but that is known.
Much appreciate that information! Unfortunately I’m from the states and only get to Schengen and/or Bulgaria 2-3 times a year and would totally get screwed on the warranty.
Out of curiosity have you ever seen a claim from someone physically outside of the EU get accepted?
No idea about that because in that case we would ask that person to deal with Samsung directly.
With foldable phones you have to set expectations correctly. They are not as fragile as everyone seems to claim but at the same time if you are not careful with your devices in general you will not have a good time with a foldable. The very nature of flexible screen means no scratch resistance. So if you are one of those who work in construction yard and don't like wiping hands or you just throw your phone in your pocket without thinking, chances are you'll damage your device.
I have Fold4 for almost a year now and not a single scratch on the device. I don't pay special attention to it but at the same time I don't put my phone just anywhere, especially not on hard surfaces where a single spec of hard dust can scratch it. Things like blowing dust off of screen before cleaning it is common sense for me knowing that inner screen is pretty soft. I also don't wipe my inner screen with my t-shirt, etc. Common sense.
All this said, Samsung does provide first screen replacement at significantly discounted price, almost symbolical. I also have, for the first time, phone insurance which is few dollars a month and they provide a bit of additional security for me.
Why did they put the 5x only in the Max version... im on 13pro and can switch next year to 15pro. But im missing some new features or what "next gen" portraits do mean.
I will wait what Pixel 8 Pro will do, maybe this year they have more to offer.
(putting my scum bag business exec hat on with obj to pump the numbers)
Because they want you to splurge on the highest tier phone.
Technically, I don’t see a reason what would prevent them from doing so. If Apple didn’t pair the components with the phone, there’s no reason why you couldn’t buy a broken pro max, swap out the camera on the pro, and have 5X Zoom
That's my take too, I don't buy their excuse. They did this in the past on I think the 11 series. The Pro Max had IIRC a better wide angle camera or some such and they withheld it from the regular Pro until the following year.
Annoying but it makes it easier for me to wait out an upgrade when I really don't need one anyway.
There could be space limitation, I couldn’t tell from the keynote images if the 5x module was larger.
Whatever the reason I don’t particularly like that the Pro and Pro Max are diverging in features other than display size. I would prefer to have the best cameras but I don’t necessarily want the biggest screen, this now means making more trade offs when picking an iPhone.
Yeah i hate the big Screen, i like the size of the normal Pro. But i miss the 5x zoom, that nearly all Androids do have on that price tag.
Will we ever solve cameras? How much more can they really do for cameras? Will there ever be a new iPhone if the perfect camera is invented?
They’re just joking about what the future of iPhone could be if Apple reaches “Peak Camera” since that’s been a big ticket upgrade in pretty much each one, even slower years
Where they are so good that improvement is pointless. Like trying to improve audio quality in music. We don’t need higher quality than CDs can provide.
It’s not like they issue the absolute limit of the state of the art in each phone, and new scientific breakthroughs drive what’s in the next phone.
There are occasional breakthroughs in technology but they don’t make it into phones until they become cheap and reliable.
So this year manufacturing processes are really scaled up on Perfect Camera iteration 1005. There are also devices out there that already have iteration 1008 but they are niche and expensive and buggy.
In two years, 1008 will be more reliable and manufacturing will be scaled up for it. They will introduce it into a phone in 2026 and you will roll your eyes and say “gee where did they pull that from!”
But it’s a continuous ramp of improvement: mostly driven by how successfully and how quickly small improvements move from lab experiment to full scale manufacturing.
Interesting how negative the takes are here. USB-C, AOD, a better telephoto lens, action button and future proof SOC (which is fairly standard for iPhones) has convinced me to upgrade from my iPhone 12PM.
The trade in price offered for my old phone was a big part of the reason I’m sticking with Apple over my next option, Pixel Pro. Saves me from having to deal with marketplace. The Australian pricing seems (from memory) to be pretty comparable to what I paid for my 12PM, which considering inflation and the weak Australian dollar is pretty good.
It replaces what was, to me, a worthless switch. I used the switch maybe once a month. So yeah, it’s a benefit.
Wasn't an "action button" something you could configure the Home button to do many years ago on a bunch of other phones?
But no one is complaining about 60Hz screen. When that one arrives it will be daring and revolutionary next year or year after. Reason enough to upgrade.
Theres no reason to upgrade before they actually comply with eus right to repair act, and the older one that says they gotta allow other app stores etc (i do believe that will have to be enforced by the end of next year)
I'd heard something about the Apple usb-c cable being the only one to really get the most performance while limiting the rest, but I suppose we'll have to wait and see.
Edit: Then there's this.
XS Max here and I’m upgrading finally. USB2 transfer is soooooo slow. And I also ABSOLUTELY want 120hz.
I’m in the same boat. The only reason I want to upgrade is cause everything else I charge uses usbc
Same. This phone has been rock solid for me. Only real pain is that it overheats in a leather case in the summer pretty quickly in the sun. Even with my battery at 83% it still lasts all day.
I’m more excited about iOS 17’s live widgets than anything in the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
I hate that Apple never talk about RAM size... I mean, I know most Apple users don't even get to worry about this anymore due to how iOS works... but still, it is hardware after all...
Well, refer to my last sentence in the previous comment... now that I think about it... they also are never clear about the battery capacity, regardless they have the best software to measure its capacity/battery life to this day 🤔
On a PC, more RAM is always better.
In a phone, more RAM taxes the battery more.
There is a right amount of RAM, and more importantly a right way to tune the process management for power savings.
But the only measurement of that is the end user experience. MB of RAM just isn’t a useful number.
Bruh, I'm currently facing RAM management issues with my Android phone, RAM matters for all aspects of technology especially android phones (my device has 6 GB of RAM, I should have gotten the 8 GB variant because I enjoy all the aspects of a smooth multitasking), in my case probably RAM amount ain't the problem but the aggressive OS RAM killer, but yeah my main point is, there is a reason why we have gotten bigger RAM amounts with smartphones, including iPhones ofc, and it is getting tiring to wait for teardowns to see the Apple offer.
what apple offer is on no iphone ever has anyone had to worry about how much RAM their phone has… its literally irrelevant: it could be 100Gb, or it could be 1Gb for all i care… its just not something that needs thinking about
Well, call me uninterested, but I have never had to think about my RAM size on my iPhones, and I’ve been with them since the 1.0.
Total storage size, yes, but even that is becoming less important with the air of cloud services.
I think if you want to shop specs, Android may be for you.
and I’ve been with them since the 1.0.
Lucky you, I had an iPod Touch 4G, an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 6, and they eventually crapped out because the RAM wasn't sufficient, I think things got insanely better since the iPhone 6S and onwards thanks to those sweet 2 GB of RAM!
Yeah, people who’ve had iPhones for 10 years and never noticed lack of ram, probably do not know what they are looking for.
It was extremely common a couple of years back for apps to close down every time you switched app due to low amounts of ram. It’s much better today though. But definitely noticeable if you stay on a phone to long of a time.
The benefit of iOS is it's optimization towards the hardware it runs on. Android isn't just Samsung. You have Xiaomi, Samsung, Pixel, OnePlus, Asus, Huawei, Oppo... And the list goes on. All these variations in hardware (flagship and lower end devices) that Android has to support makes optimization far more difficult, making high RAM capacities such a desirable feature (although, not the only reason for why some devices struggle).
Software has matured so much that these concerns of iOS vs Android performance does not matter all that much anymore. Each function great in their own way.
As open source, I don’t see why Android can’t be optimized for its hardware, or its hardware developed optimally for the software.
They just don’t do this.
It's not that they don't want to, it's that it doesn't make sense. Android (Google) does optimize for a broad range of hardware, but it would be a waste of time for them to optimize for specific devices.
Their pixel lineup runs stock Android. That's what Google offers, so that's what you'll get.
However, companies like Samsung do ship their devices with custom software, which allows them to optimize it to their hardware (though I'm not sure how much). Then you have the option to install (if the software supports the hardware) an alternative OS (Calyx, Graphene, Lineage, etc). This can remove bloatware and allows the option to de-google your device... Resulting in a better performing device.
Apple is lucky in the sense that they own their own hardware and software. Android owns the software, not the hardware.
When I said “they” I meant OEMs. Google can’t force them all to optimize. But I don’t see why an OEM can’t do exactly what Apple does.
Pro models actually got a price decrease in the UK, unless I’m missing something.
Now I just need to decide whether to match my phone to my watch and get the natural titanium, or whether to go for the blue.
Oh, and, Pro (like usual) or Pro Max (seems a bit big!).
Yes, it looks like a £100 price reduction. It’s rare that Apple products get cheaper in the UK, so at there was at least one surprise at todays event then.
My hands struggle with the 13 Pro, I don’t know how I’d manage with the 15 Pro Max. Anyone know how to grow longer thumbs?
I thought about ditching my 14 pro for a 15 pro just for the titanium.
Then I remembered that I put it in a case anyways.
It's not a titanium frame. It's still same old aluminium, just PVD, that is to say thin layer over same material as before. It's not going to make it any stronger.
The outer, visible portion of the frame is titanium; the inner frame is aluminum. It’s absolutely different and the selling point is the weight reduction. PVD is just how they’re coloring the titanium.
iPhone 15 Pro: 187g
iPhone 14 Pro: 206g
It’s an over 9% reduction in weight.
Did you research the announcement literally at all? First you say it’s not actually titanium, despite that being a marquee feature, and now you’re just making up weights?
bottom side button for?