Every year there’s a new iPhone. Apple presented this Tuesday from its Californian headquarters the new iteration of its range of smartphones, the iPhone 15 and its Pro version, which will be marketed on September 22. If the new features of these devices had already leaked to the specialized press, and no “one more thing” appeared, the conference ended with a pleasant surprise.
While analysts were betting on a significant increase in the price of the iPhone 15, this will ultimately not be the case. Better yet: in France, the prices of this range of smartphones are (slightly) lower than those of the iPhone 14 when it was released last year. Good news for consumers’ wallets.
Here is the ultimate from Apple, 2023 model year. Equipped with a 6.1-inch (Pro) and 6.7-inch (Pro Max) Super Retina XDR screen, the iPhone 15 Pro is eyeing image professionals .
The brand promises very high performance for capturing photos and videos of up to 4K at 60 frames per second, and rapid transfer of files to a computer thanks to a USB 3 port. The device will also capture “ spatial videos”, that is to say visible in 3D thanks to the future Apple Vision Pro augmented reality headset, planned for the beginning of 2024 in the United States for 3,500 dollars.
The iPhone 15 Pro is dressed in titanium, which gives you a device that is both lighter and more resistant. But the most interesting thing is hidden in the bowels of the smartphone. It is equipped with the A17 Pro chip, Apple’s most advanced, capable of performing twice as many machine learning operations as the A16 chip, within the device itself.
The iPhone 15 Pro contains a graphics processor capable of managing Ray Tracing, the realistic display of light sources in a video game. Forget the rudimentary graphics of most mobile games. Apple has announced that the video games Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 Remake, released on PlayStation 4 and 5, will arrive on iPhone 15 Pro. Same thing for Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the new opus of the Ubisoft saga scheduled for the beginning of October on new generation consoles. It will also be released on iPhone 15 Pro in early 2024.
The iPhone 15 Pro will be sold in France for 1,229 euros, or 100 euros less than the iPhone 14 Pro when it was released. The Pro Max version is sold for 1479 euros, the same price as last year.
Available in five pastel colors and naturally less expensive than its Pro version, the iPhone 15 is equipped with the A16 chip, the one that equipped the iPhone 14 Pro last year. Here again, its size comes in 6.1 inches, and 6.7 inches for the 15 Plus.
In addition to its chip, the iPhone 15 inherits from the iPhone 14 Pro the “Dynamic Island”, i.e. the intelligent and adaptive display of notifications and background tasks on the top of the smartphone screen.
Among the advances made possible by the A16 chip, we note the significant improvement in the quality of calls made from a noisy area. The artificial intelligence integrated into the device will in fact isolate the voice of the iPhone owner, and muffle ambient noise! The interlocutor will therefore not hear the noise of traffic, jackhammers, or angry children. Another new feature enabled by AI is changing the point on a photo already taken on the phone.
The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are sold for 969 and 1,119 euros respectively, compared to 1,019 and 1,169 euros for the 14 versions last year.
No more Lightning cable to charge your iPhone. The iPhone 15 is switching to USB-C, the same connection as all Android smartphones on the market. This new feature also applies to Airpod headphones and Earpods.
These changes are due to European legislation. From the end of 2024, the European Union will ban the sale of phones, e-readers or tablets that are incompatible with USB-C chargers. Apple therefore had no choice but to comply to maintain access to a market of 450 million consumers.
The iPhone 15 remains compatible with Apple’s MagSafe wireless charger.
The iPhone is such a star of Apple’s keynotes that we almost forget the company’s other connected devices. The conference opened with the Apple Watch Series 9, which has 18 hours of battery life and a chip twice as fast as the previous model. It will be sold from 449 euros, and is the company’s first device whose manufacturing is carbon neutral.
Among the new features, we retain the possibility of interacting with your watch with your fingertips. Is your hand caught by the dog’s leash, a shopping bag or a coffee and you can’t tap the screen of your Apple Watch? Simply touch your thumb to your index finger twice in a row. The watch senses the movement, and will pick up the phone, end a call, stop an alarm, or start a timer.
Thanks to the voice assistant Siri, Apple Watch owners will be able to consult their health data on their watch. And the connected watch will be able to detect iPhones lost from sight, as well as Homepod connected speakers in order to play music.
Extreme athletes can opt for the Apple Watch Ultra 2, equipped with a battery of up to 72 hours, a screen adapted to extreme brightness, and operating in the sea depths. Sale price from 899 euros.
