Is the new iPhone 15 worth your money?

By Leo Andrew Cruzat on October 1, 2023

September is typically associated with the fall season and pumpkin spiced latte. But this month, Apple had its ‘Wonderlust’ event that introduced the long-awaited iPhone 15 and 15 Pro series. After all the speculations and leaks, is it worth your money or should you wait for the iPhone 16?

The Good

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room – the iPhone 15 series completely removes the 10-year-long Lightning Connector in favour of USB-C including the new AirPods Pro 2 making all Apple products completely USB compatible from transferring data to charging. One major advantage of Apple’s USB-C compared to Lightning Connector is the transfer speed. The USB-C can go up to 10 Gbps (Gigabits per second) while the Lightning Connector can only handle up to 480 Mbps (Megabits per second) or 0.48 Gbps transfer speed.

Speed and performance have also improved, well, for the iPhone 15 Pro series at least. With the new A17 Pro Bionic chip, the Pro series can compare its gaming performance to PlayStation 5 and can natively play modern game titles such as Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, Resident Evil Village, and The Division: Resurgence. The new chip also helps to conserve more battery in heavy use compared to the previous chipset and according to Apple, it can achieve 25 – 29 hours of video playback.

The iPhone 15 Pro series also upgraded its material from ceramic to titanium making it more durable and lighter, so dropping your phone is now less of a concern although I still don’t recommend you doing it to your personal phone as a test.

The camera of the Pro and Pro Max will now have a periscope zoom which means you can zoom in on a faraway subject without losing the quality of video or photo. So if you are planning to shoot some cinematic shots, this is the phone for you.

The Bad

Despite the addition of USB-C and improved speed, the new iPhone is still the same face but in a different material. Massive changes are not prominent with the new lineup other than the new Dynamic Island on 15 and 15 Plus. You will mostly see the same concept and style but in new packaging.

If you think the base iPhone 15 series gets the maximum speed of USB-C, well don’t get your hopes up because it is only limited to the Pro series. Despite still having a USB-C connector, the 15 and 15 Plus will still get the Lightning Connector speed.

If you think performance is improved for the iPhone 15 and 15 plus models, well I have some bad news for you. Both models will have the last year’s chipset which means it is the same speed as the previous model.

The Awful

While USB-C is part in the box, you are only getting the speed of the Lightning Connector and if you want to have the maximum transfer speed of 10 Gbps, well you have to spend minimum $85 in Apple Store.
While the improved internals, new material, and the addition of USB-C are some of the good things to have, the price isn’t as good as it sounds. With the Pro series upgrading to a more durable material, the price also had an upgrade, literally, with a starting price tag of $1,449 for the Pro and $1,749 for the Pro Max compared to $1,349 and $1,649 for last year’s model. Not really a good marketing approach from Apple if they want to convert Android users to iPhones.

Overall, is the new iPhone lineup worth the upgrade? Short answer, No. Long answer, well depends on what you are looking for. If you have an iPhone 13 or 14 then don’t buy it, you are not missing out on new features other than the Dynamic Island, internal improvements, and the camera. But if you have a phone that is older than iPhone 13 and want to get the latest technology that Apple has to offer, then this is the right time to do so.