The main technical innovation was what experts were talking about all last year: Apple finally switched to the USB-C connector, as required by the European Union. All MacBook laptops, iPad tablets, iPhone smartphones and the second-generation AirPods Pro, announced today; all of these devices will now be available with a USB-C connector.
The main novelty was the iPhone 15 smartphones. As expected, 4 models were presented: iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The iPhone 15 Ultra has not been introduced, giving critics reason to call the iPhone 15 line a “kingless kingdom.”
The base iPhone 15 gets most of the features that were previously only available on the iPhone 14 Pro. Notably, the base iPhone 15 and 15 Pro now have a Dynamic Island window. The screen has become significantly brighter. Maximum brightness in HDR mode increased to 1600 nits, maximum outdoor brightness increased to 2000 nits. This is double that of the iPhone 14.
The smartphones are based on the A16 Bionic chip and have a new camera with a 48-megapixel main module.
There is also a 12-megapixel TV module with optical stabilization and a new portrait mode that activates automatically. The quality of voice communication has also been improved. Therefore, the neural network now provides active noise reduction and voice prioritization.
“The wish of users of younger versions of the iPhone has come true: that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus had everything (new cameras and a screen with a Dynamic Island cutout) and that they did not have to pay anything for it (phones smart ones have not gone up in price). The main intrigue is whether the flagship camera will be enough for the 15 Plus, to get rid of the image of a “losing smartphone”, because just a year ago, the 14 Plus could not withstand the competition with “The smallest screen,! but cheaper!” of the iPhone 14 and failed miserably in sales,” says Ferra.ru editor-in-chief Evgeniy Kharitonov.
iPhone 15 price from $799 iPhone 15 Plus price from $899
Phone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have matte titanium frames and a matte back panel. The titanium frame is the thinnest of all iPhones, the lightest Pro smartphone. Ceramic Shield protective glass on the front. The new items are equipped with Super Retina XDR Dispaly and have 6.1 and 6.7-inch screens, respectively.
“The titanium case is useless and nice: with it it is better than without it, smartphones have become a little lighter and changed tactilely. But this case did not affect the strength of the iPhone 15 Pro: titanium will withstand hard falls and silicon, OLED matrices and camera optics, no,” Kharitonov is skeptical of the innovation.
Eldar Murtazin, leading analyst at the Mobile Research Group, sees the titanium casing as an attempt to differentiate itself at least in some way from other manufacturers.
“Giving up leather, supposedly for environmental reasons, is precisely to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Apple has never done this. As a result, when you compare something from Apple with competitors, you will face the question: “Do you have a titanium body?” ? ” “No?” “Well, that means Apple is better.” And because of marketing, which the company has historically been at a strong level, this can be done to a certain limit,” he says.
The iPhone 15 Pro is based on the A17 Pro processor, manufactured using 3nm process technology. According to Apple, this is the fastest mobile processor in the world: 35 trillion operations per second. Plus, this means higher productivity with lower energy costs.
It was in the iPhone 15 Pro that another long-awaited innovation occurred. A customizable action button replaces the silent mode switch. You can set it to turn on the voice recorder, start the camera and other options.
The main camera has also been updated. In 2022, the Pro models received a new 48-megapixel module. You can now switch between 24, 28 and 35mm focal lengths by pressing the “1x” button – these are popular lens focal lengths among professional photographers. The aperture of the optics also increased to f/1.78, instead of f/1.9.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max now has 5x optical zoom. This will allow you to zoom in on objects without losing quality. It also has the most advanced stabilization: up to 10,000 movements per second, double that of the iPhone 14 Pro.
An important point: signs of the existence of Apple Vision Pro headphones are also heard here: recording stereo videos with two cameras of the iPhone 15 Pro, in order to later be able to view volumetric videos in virtual reality.
“The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max look like tortured models without the “leader”, the same Ultra. Because the 5x optical zoom camera, although it is the best 5x camera among smartphones, appeared as a phenomenon in smartphones Android in 2019 (Huawei P30 Pro), and already in March 2021, Samsung conquered the pinnacle of 10x optical zoom with almost no loss in quality,” Kharitonov believes.
The smartphones in the Apple iPhone 15 Pro line will be available in four colors.
As for pricing, the iPhone 15 Pro starts at $999 for the $128GB version; iPhone 15 Pro Max: Starting at $1,299 for the $256 GB version. This is the minimum volume; There will no longer be a 128 GB version in the Pro Max series.
Pre-order begins September 15 and sales begin September 22. The iPhone 14, iPhone 13 and iPhone SE (2022) will also remain on sale. The latter costs from $429.
“The most interesting thing about the presentation was the prices of the iPhone, which did not change year after year. The iPhone Pro Max now initially comes out with a 256 GB version, and this version keeps the price exactly the same as the version. Therefore, if talk today “about these devices, we see that price elasticity has ended. “Apple does not run the risk of raising prices,” says Murtazin.
In addition to the new iPhone 15, the Apple Watch 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 were shown at the presentation. They received a series of improvements, among them the most striking, the so-called double tap, which thanks to a snap of your fingers you can now Answer a call even if your hands are full.
The Apple Watch Series 9 display is twice as bright: 2,000 nits vs. 1,000 nits on the Apple Watch Series 8. The minimum brightness of 1 nit protects your eyes from bright light in the dark.
The S9 processor brought an increase in performance. New 4-core neuromodule: thanks to it, common basic requests to Siri are now made on the watch. Voice detection is 25% more accurate than on the Apple Watch Series 8. The second generation of the UWB (ultra wide band) chip has also appeared: you can find the iPhone with an accuracy of up to one meter.
The price of Apple Watch Series 9 starts at $399 (38 thousand rubles), sales start on September 22.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 will receive the same innovations as the Apple Watch Series 9: gestures, touches, second-generation UWB. The screen brightness (3000 nits) is the brightest screen in Apple history.
Otherwise, these are the same Apple Watch Ultra. The operating time has not changed: 72 hours of operation in energy saving mode, 36 hours in normal mode.
The price of Apple Watch Ultra 2 will be 799 dollars (76 thousand rubles). Sales begin September 22.
Finally, Apple offered two additional options for iCloud storage: 6TB and 12TB.
“These devices, of course, will have sales,” summarizes Murtazin. “But they will not be very high. Apple’s iPhone 11 has been the main device so far, and this year it still has a high sales share. That is, it is the best-selling iPhone. Now the iPhone 12 will be the “Price plays An important paper. Everything else is secondary. And here we come across the fact that the new iPhones are too expensive for the market. Not only Russian, but also global,” he says.
According to Murtazin, Apple’s audience in Russia is very loyal and will buy these types of products. “Another thing is that this audience has decreased approximately 3 times in the last 2 years, which also has an impact: the crisis, the lack of Apple Pay, the lack of direct purchase of applications, the risks of there being alternative solutions through the operators. Therefore, if you live in Russia, it is time to switch to Android,” he is sure.
