Last month, Apple announced this year’s lineup of iPhones, the iPhone 15 series. It’s the company’s first-ever batch of smartphones to ship with a USB-C instead of the iconic Lightning port — although this wasn’t by the tech giant’s own volition. I’ve got the 15 Plus on hand, the bigger model of the series, and these are my initial thoughts on the device.
I’m moving three generations from the iPhone 12 Pro Max to the 15 Plus and the first thing I immediately noticed was how much lighter it is. I mean aluminium would obviously weigh less than stainless steel but even if you compare it to last year’s 14 Plus, it’s still slightly lighter on paper and you can kind of notice it. With the decreased weight and the subtlely curved edges, it makes the phone quite comfortable to hold even if, like me, your hands are too small for the larger size.
The back of the iPhone 15 Plus has a beautiful textured matte finish, which also makes it pretty comfortable to touch and while it’s not completely fingerprint resistant, it does much better than any glass back panel. I also love the way the panel seamlessly merges with the square camera module because when combined with the matte design, it gives off the illusion that the bump and the rear panel are part of a single piece.
As always, the flat screen brings the industrial look together and this year, it has relatively thinner but still uniform bezels. It’s also nice to see the Dynamic Island make its way to the non-Pro models. While the dream is to obviously have no notch at all, I’m of the opinion that the pill is a preferred alternative to the previous notch that came out the top. At the very least, it serves some functions albeit a bit gimmicky.
Of course, I have to mention the USB-C port — it’s there. I’m glad that I can now use a single cable for all my devices (save for my 1st Gen AirPods Pro) but it’s a standard that’s been common on other phones for quite a while now, so while I’m happy Apple was forced to make the switch, it’s not exactly something to be ecstatic about. I would’ve been more excited if the company increased the charging speed, something that was rumoured earlier this year, but it seems that we’ll have to wait longer for that to be implemented.
Some of the things I’ll be trying out include the brighter screen that’s now able to go up to 2,000 nits, the second-generation ultra-wideband chip, and the new HEIF MAX format that takes full advantage of the 48MP sensor, so look forward to my full review. Other specs of the iPhone 15 Plus include the same 12MP selfie shooter, the A16 Bionic chipset from the 14 Pro series, and, on paper, a slightly improved battery life compared to the 14 Pro Max.
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