The Biggest Differences Between IPhone 15/15 Plus and IPhone 14/14 Plus

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are coming soon, and many of us are already comparing them to last year’s iPhone 14. While the iPhone 14 is by no means outdated, there are definitely some big differences between the two generations of iPhone—nothing, though. revolutionary.

Goodbye Tenderloin

The only difference you’ll immediately notice between the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus is Dynamic Island. Dynamic Island was previously only available on iPhone 14 Pro models. This year it’s available on all iPhone 15 devices, Pro or not.

Gone is the notch that used to take up most of the screen, and is replaced by an expandable island. While this space still houses your iPhone’s selfie camera and Face ID sensors, it can also display app data and live activity, making it useful for everything from seeing what song is currently playing to checking your next one. turns via Apple Maps.

You may have heard talk of Apple removing the mute switch in favor of a programmable ” action button .” Unfortunately, you won’t get this on the iPhone 15 or 15 Plus – it’s exclusive to the 15 Pro. At least you won’t have to worry about saying goodbye to the mute switch just yet if you use one of these devices.

Display and performance

While the notch is gone, the only thing that hasn’t changed between the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus and the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus is the size of the displays. Both base models have a 6.1-inch OLED display, while the iPhone Plus has a 6.7-inch OLED display. All these iPhones have a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz. It’s a perfectly acceptable screen for a smartphone, and it looks great, but it would have been nice to see the 120Hz refresh rate that Apple has reserved for its Pro iPhones.

However, the displays are slightly brighter than last year’s models. The brightness of the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus can reach 800 nits in normal situations and 1,200 nits when viewing HDR content, while the iPhone 15s typically reaches 1,000 nits of brightness, 1,600 nits in HDR playback, and 2,000 nits when used outdoors.

Besides displays, performance is an area where you’ll see some differences. The iPhone 14 and 14 Plus use the A15 Bionic chip from the iPhone 13, which was already a year old when the iPhone 14 came out. The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus now feature the A16 Bionic chip, which is still not Apple’s fastest smartphone chipset (the same chip used in iPhone 14 Pro models). However, the A16 Bionic is more than capable, so iPhone 15 owners can expect a performance boost over their older iPhone, especially in multitasking and resource-intensive applications.

Exact performance numbers for the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are not yet available. But if you are buying purely for performance, the 15 is a better choice over the 14. Since it’s a year newer, Apple will support it longer, which means more iOS updates, security improvements, and possibly improved performance with more optimized iOS updates in the future – although given that Apple just ended support for the iPhone X, any The phone will continue to receive updates for many years to come.

The iPhone 15 lineup also features a next-generation Ultra Wideband chip that enhances the precision search feature found in previous iPhones. While any phone’s Find My feature can direct you to a lost AirTag or AirPods, the app on iPhone 15 can also provide precise directions to point you to a friend who shared their location with you.

Cameras and charging ports

The iPhone 14 saw some major camera changes when it was first released, but the iPhone 15’s cameras take it up a notch. Apple has equipped both the 15 and 15 Plus with a 48MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera, while both the 14 and 14 Plus have 12MP cameras. The larger 48MP sensor means more data every time you take a photo, which should result in higher quality images overall.

While the 15s doesn’t have a telephoto lens, Apple says it can shoot at 2x optical zoom. This is because of the large 48MP sensor, which when cropped gives a better zoom compared to the 12MP sensor on the 14. Plus, you don’t have to switch to portrait mode on the 15s to take portraits: They collect enough information by doing a regular photo so you can add the portrait effect after the fact.

The entire iPhone 15 lineup also gets a huge front-facing camera upgrade, with the 15 and 15 Plus featuring an improved 48MP front-facing selfie camera. The iPhone 14 and 14 Plus still use the old 12-megapixel camera from the latest generation, so selfies taken on the iPhone 15 will look much better, especially with the new camera features coming with iOS 17.

All iPhone 15s use USB-C.

Of course, you can’t talk about the iPhone 15 without highlighting USB-C. Apple has finally introduced a universal port for iPhone , so your dream of carrying one cable for all your tech is a lot closer. Don’t expect faster transfer speeds, however: Apple is still using the same USB 2.0 technology on the iPhone 15 with USB-C, so as with the Lightning ports, data transfer speeds are limited to 480Mbps. On the other hand, the 15 Pro is capable of 10 Gbps speeds with USB 3.0. However, you can use the USB-C port on the 15 and 15 Plus to charge the USB-C case of your AirPods Pro or Apple Watch, so that’s pretty cool.

Ultimately, the iPhone 15 isn’t a revolutionary step up from the iPhone 14, but a few key points make Apple’s newest generation of smartphones worth a look. If you’re planning to upgrade soon, both the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus offer plenty of upgraded features and specifications to justify the move.