Apple reveals iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max with USB-C and Action button

As expected, Apple unveiled the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max at its ‘Wonderlust’ event on September 12th. And, contrary to rumours, Apple did not replace the Pro Max with a new ‘Ultra’ variant.

You can learn about Apple’s iPhone 15 and 15 Plus here.

There were few surprises during the announcement, especially after extensive leaks revealed many details of the new devices. Apple made a big show of unveiling the new USB-C port, and the Dynamic Island returned. The phones also sport a new, lighter titanium frame and new colour options. The inner structure is still aluminum, further contributing to weight reduction, as well as making the iPhone Pro more repairable.

There are four new colours, including ‘Black Titanium,’ ‘White Titanium,’ ‘Natural Titanium’ and ‘Blue Titanium.’

Image credit: Apple

As expected, Apple ditched the mute switch and replaced it with a programmable ‘Action button.’ The default behaviour still controls the mute functionality, but there are additional features like turning on the flashlight. Users can also combine the button with Apple’s Shortcuts app for greater customizability.

Apple has a new A17 Pro chip to power the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Apple says the A17 Pro is the industry’s first 3nm chip. It sports 19 billion transistors. There’s a six-core CPU with two performance cores, four high-efficiency cores and a 16-core neural engine that can process 35 trillion operations per second. It also has dedicated engines to power features like ProRes and the Pro display. A17 Pro has a new USB 3 controller with up to 10Gbps transfer speeds.

The company also highlighted the A17 Pro’s improved GPU. It’s up to 20 percent faster for peak performance, while also offering better efficiency for sustained performance in gaming. Apple also touted hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

Moving on to the camera, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max sport upgraded rear cameras. The camera has a new coating to reduce lens flare. The main camera sports a 48-megapixel sensor, enabling high-res photo capture and new software to mimic various focal lengths.

Exclusive to the Pro Max is a new 12-megapixel 5x telephoto camera with a 120mm focal range, achieved using a ‘tetraprism’ lens to reflect light four times.

The 12-megapixel ultrawide camera got a few updates, too, most notably a macro mode.

Thanks to the new USB-C port, Apple said the iPhone Pro can capture ProRaw and ProRes photos and videos and send them directly to a connected Mac.

The iPhone 15 Pro cameras can capture ‘Spatial Video’ for viewing with Apple’s unreleased Vision Pro headset. The feature will be available later this year.

The iPhone 15 Pro starts at $1,449, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,749. Both phones are available for pre-order on September 15th and release on September 22nd.

All of our Apple fall hardware event content can be found here.

Header image credit: Apple