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00:00The iPhone 15s are just around the corner.
00:02We're expecting them to launch the new 15, 15 Plus, Pro, and Pro Max around September
00:0612th or 13th, and then launching a couple of weeks later at the end of September.
00:10And the rumours are coming in thick and fast, but obviously nothing's been confirmed yet.
00:14It's all speculation, so take everything with a pinch of salt.
00:17But here's what we know so far, and if you do enjoy this little bit of reckless speculation,
00:21then a like and subscribe would be lovely.
00:24So same as this year, there will be four new phones.
00:26And let's start with the two Pro models, as they're likely to get the lion's share
00:30of the upgrades this year.
00:31And first up, thinner bezels.
00:33We're expecting the new iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max to have around 30% thinner bezels
00:38around the edge of the screen, down from 2.2mm on the Pro 14 to just 1.5mm, which would make
00:44it the thinnest bezels on any smartphone ever.
00:47And apparently Apple will use the same over-moulding technique that they used with the recent Apple
00:51Watches on the iPhone so they can shrink the bezels, and I would definitely appreciate
00:55that, particularly with the 6.7-inch Pro Max.
00:59It is a big phone, and if they can shrink the bezels a little bit, make the overall
01:02footprint a little bit smaller, particularly on the width, I would definitely appreciate
01:07that.
01:08So they're most likely going to stick with the same 6.1 and 6.7-inch screen sizes, just
01:11with a slightly smaller footprint.
01:14Sticking with the Pro and Pro Max, Apple's also rumoured to switch out this stainless
01:18steel material for the band, the frame around the edge of the phone, to titanium on the
01:22new 15 series of the Pro and Pro Max, whereas the standard iPhone 15s will still be aluminium
01:28like the current models.
01:29But the idea is, using titanium like we see on the Apple Watch Ultra should be more durable,
01:33a little bit lighter, and also hopefully, a bit less fingerprinting.
01:38Okay, finally, USB-C. No more lightning cables, we think, and that's I think largely down
01:46to the EU regulations kind of forcing Apple to do it, but the idea is we're no longer
01:51going to have lightning ports on the iPhone 15 series across the board for the regular
01:54ones and the Pros, which is great because pretty much every other device, well, every
01:59other device in the world does support USB-C, so no longer will it be one charger for iPhones
02:04and one charger for everything else, and of course, MacBooks and iPads already support
02:08USB-C.
02:09The downside is you're going to probably have to buy new chargers and also new accessories.
02:12I've got my very fancy Tech Chat branded AirPod Pro 2s here, and of course, these still use
02:17lightning.
02:18So until Apple refresh all their devices and all their accessories to USB-C, we may basically
02:23have a bit of a transition year where you'll still have to bring a lightning cable, even
02:27if the new 15s are USB-C.
02:30It's hard to know if we will get faster wired transfer speeds and charging, although there's
02:35a chance the Pros will get USB-C 3.2, possibly with Thunderbolt 3 or 4 speeds, but we'll
02:40have to wait and see.
02:41Next up, new chips, and the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are expected to have Apple's brand
02:46new A17 Bionic chip, which is built on a 3nm architecture, a little bit smaller than
02:52the 4nm in the A16, which we'll still have in the regular 15 and 15 Plus.
02:57So just like the current 14s, the regular non-Pro phones will basically get last year's
03:02chip in them, which is still an upgrade, but a generation behind the Pro models.
03:06The problem is these chips are already so incredibly capable that we don't really see
03:10that much difference in performance year on year, so I'm hoping the new chip can unlock
03:14some new camera features and perhaps also improve the efficiency and save us some battery.
03:19Plus there are also rumours around extra RAM as well.
03:22I'm also expecting Apple to add WiFi 6E support finally, and perhaps even a UWB or Ultra Wideband
03:28chip for faster and more accurate connections.
03:32Let's talk about these cameras, and the rumour is that the primary lens will have a bit of
03:36an upgrade in terms of the aperture, going from f1.8 on the current 14 Pros down to f1.7,
03:42which is not a huge upgrade, but it will allow more light to be let in and hopefully reduce
03:46noise and give us slightly better low light performance.
03:49But nothing significantly different there, still with the same 48MP main lens, which
03:53of course was upgraded from the 13's 12MP camera, and still a triple lens setup for
03:59the Pros.
04:00A bit more exciting than a wider aperture though is that the rumoured 15 Pro Max will
04:04exclusively get a new periscope telephoto lens, giving us either a 5 or 6x optical op
04:10from the current 3x.
04:11Because I guess my biggest issue with the iPhone's camera at the moment is the longer
04:14range zoom isn't as good as some of its rivals, particularly the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
04:19So a long range zoom would be great, the problem is though it's rumoured that it will only
04:24be coming to the Pro Max, which is a bit of a shame and the regular Pro will miss out
04:27on that.
04:28And also I hope it isn't just a straight switch out from the current 3x telephoto because
04:32I really like that focal length for taking portraits.
04:36If it just goes from a 1x ultrawide and then a 5 or 6x where we miss that kind of middle
04:40ground, I think that would be a shame.
04:42So my hope would be that they simply add a fourth lens like we have on here, but I suspect
04:46we will stick with three and they'll just use various cropping and AI to give us the
04:50sort of zooms up to that 5 or 6x point.
04:53Apple may also add a more power efficient LiDAR sensor, although am I the only one who
04:57uses this just for the measuring app?
04:59So on paper these camera hardware upgrades don't seem particularly significant, slightly
05:02wider aperture, longer range zoom on the top spec model, but I think what we saw with
05:07the recent Fold 5 and Flip 5 from Samsung is even though that camera hardware was pretty
05:12much unchanged from last year's models, what we did see was the improvement with the ISP
05:17in their new chip.
05:18So you know, improved processing, dynamic range and detail and all that good stuff.
05:22I think we have to see what Apple's magic can do in terms of the software and the processing.
05:26Then we have the dynamic island and this year it's expected all iPhone 15s, including the
05:31regular 15 and 15 Plus, will have this dynamic island notch around the selfie, which is currently
05:36only on the 14 Pros.
05:38Now some people don't like it, especially as it does take up more screen space than
05:41the older notch, but as more apps have started using it, everything from your boarding gate
05:45for flights, Uber, your audio waveforms, it's functional, it looks interesting, I really
05:50like it.
05:51And perhaps for some people who don't care quite as much about the chip or the RAM or
05:55the camera megapixels and more about appearing to have the latest iPhone, that might be a
05:59nice aesthetic reason for them to upgrade.
06:02So that's the main stuff, but a couple of extras, including new colours.
06:05It wouldn't be a new iPhone launch without new colours and the rumour is that the Pro
06:08series will have a new dark blue kind of colour and the regular 15 and 15 Plus will have a
06:13light blue and also maybe a pink model.
06:15It has also been rumoured that Apple may actually replace these physical buttons with haptic
06:20solid state buttons and also an action button to replace this mute switch.
06:24That said, it looks like the haptic volume buttons may have been delayed, but it looks
06:28like the new action button may still make it onto the 15 and I would actually be pretty
06:32excited about this.
06:33You could use it as a shortcut for the camera or shutter button to launch a particular app.
06:37It could even be made context sensitive so its function changes depending on the app.
06:41Either way, the extra usability this provides could turn out to be one of the 15's standout
06:45features.
06:46But it's not all good news.
06:47The rumour is Apple will be increasing the prices of the new iPhones.
06:51The regular models may stay the same, the Pro and Pro Max may go up between £100 and £200,
06:55which would definitely be disappointing and of course Apple have acknowledged that fewer
06:59people are buying iPhones.
07:00It may be a tougher sell to upgrade this year.
07:03The other problem is it sounds like the regular 15 and 15 Plus will still have a 60Hz refresh
07:08rate, not this 120Hz ProMotion, which is really annoying because a high-end phone that costs
07:14£600, £700, £800 in 2023 should not have a 60Hz display.
07:19High refresh is not a Pro feature.
07:21So I'm hoping that's not true, but it does look like it's going to be the case.
07:25Now speaking of which, we don't know everything of course, this is all speculation and there
07:29are a few things that I hope we do also see that we don't know yet, like an improved
07:33battery.
07:34Because actually the 14 Pro Max that I have here, which I've been using every day, the
07:37battery doesn't last as long as my 13 Pro Max.
07:40The difference isn't that significant, but actually combined with the fact that after
07:4310 months of use, the battery health on this has gone down from 100 to 91%, I hope we do
07:50see a bit of an improvement in the battery.
07:52I'd also love to see faster charging, because again, 25W just feels a bit slow in 2023,
07:57although we do also need to give Samsung this memo as well.
08:00And finally, I'm hoping iOS 17, which will ship on these new iPhone 15s, will be a little
08:05bit smoother and less buggy than last year.
08:08To be fair, it has got better, but initially when this launched and over the few months
08:12with the 14 series and iOS 16, I definitely did experience a few bugs with this and I
08:16think a lot of you guys did as well.
08:18So I'm hoping the new software with the new phones will be a smoother experience.
08:23But what do you think?
08:24Would you be tempted to buy a 15 or 15 Pro based on the rumored upgrades so far or not?
08:29Let me know what you make of it in the comments below and also make sure you do hit that subscribe
08:32button because I will of course bring you my first impressions, full reviews and tons
08:35of comparisons when these do launch in the second half of September.
08:39So stay tuned.
08:40Thank you so much for watching guys and I'll see you next time right here on The Tech Chat.