The iPhone 14 was released mere weeks ago, but we’ve still heard some hot rumours about its successor. Here’s everything we know so far.
Apple’s newest phone never fails to generate huge levels of excitement from the tech community. With a rigid annual launch cycle, it’s just natural that no sooner than the latest iPhone hits the shop shelves, we’re already smacking our lips in anticipation of what could come next.
While the iPhone 14 series delivered some exciting new features and much-awaited upgrades, few of us would describe the clutch of new devices as perfect; there’s always room for improvement, and so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll see some these positive changes kick in for the iPhone 15 series. In this article, we’ve collected all the rumours and speculation we’ve come across so far regarding these planned new smartphones. Read on to prepare yourself for next year’s launch.
Release Date
iPhones follow a fairly predictable launch schedule, with the new one appearing every year in the early autumn. Don’t just take my word for it; the list below shows the announcement dates for all recent mainline iPhones:
Based on this pattern, we’d estimate that the iPhone 15 will probably be released in mid- to late-September, though there’s nothing certain just yet. The devices will typically be available to pre-order as soon as the announcement is over, and will hit the shop shelves a few days after that.
Price
While the iPhone 14’s price remained the same in its home market of the US ($799 for the base model, rising to as much as $1,099 for the iPhone 14 Pro Max), we weren’t quite so lucky here in the UK. British customers got hit with a £70 price increase from the iPhone 13, with the iPhone 14 starting from £849.
So far we’ve not had our eyes on accurate pricing information about the iPhone 15, and as we’re so early in the launch cycle there’s every chance that this has not been set in concrete just yet. It’s too early to speculate, but we’re just hoping that the new prices put customers worldwide on a more even playing field.
The most eye-catching claim so far (from LeaksApplePro) is that a brand new top-tier handset could be added to the range. This iPhone 15 Ultra, as it’s currently known, will no doubt come with an ultra-expensive price tag to boot; not least because it will apparently be cast in titanium, just like the new Apple Watch Ultra.
Design
The design is where we could see a major shift in Apple’s policy that many believed would never happen. This is of course the switch to USB-C over Apple’s proprietary Lightning port, a change that would make the iPhone a lot more versatile and compatible with charging cables for Android phones.
The Bloomberg report Mark Gurman, one of the best sources on the internal workings of Apple, claimed that the introduction of USB-C is “essentially a lock” for the iPhone 15. This is the strongest word we’ve yet heard on the subject, and the change of direction was almost certainly influenced by a European Parliament vote on the subject.
Another rumour indicates that Apple will even go a stage further than that, making its USB-C ports support the Thunderbolt 4 standard. According to LeaksApplePro, the Pro models of the iPhone 15 series will thereby boast much higher bandwidth for higher data speeds, though unfortunately it seems that the standard non-Pro variants will miss out next year.
One feature, however, which will apparently be present across the entire range (both Pro and non-Pro alike) is one of the defining aspects of the recently-released iPhone 15 Pro; yes, the Dynamic Island will apparently be universally adopted by all iPhone 15 models.
This nifty new look replaced the standard notch that had been present ever since the iPhone X, and our Editor, Max Parker, described it as a “big improvement” since it adds “an extra layer of interaction to the phone”; this little pill includes details of concurrently running apps so that you can multitask with ease, and we’re very excited to see that capability arrive on more Apple devices.
Camera
For a while now, it’s been rumoured that a periscope lens could come to join Apple’s line of smartphones in 2023. On that score, at least according to the latest rumours, we’ve got some good news and some bad news.
The good news is that, yes, it will be present: reliable Apple source Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that the high-ASP periscope would indeed arrive for the iPhone 15 series. However, after issuing the above tweet he later clarified that it would only be present on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the most expensive handset of the whole series. So if if you happen to buy a standard iPhone 15, or even the souped-up iPhone 15 Pro, it looks like you might miss out on this killer new feature that could let you snap clearer close-ups than ever before.
