iPhone 15 Review: big camera upgrade, but still no ProMotion

It's been a while since the last time Apple made any visible changes to its entry-level flagship, but the iPhone 15 is different in that regard. The first thing you notice is that the notch has been replaced with the Dynamic Island which debuted with last year's Pro models, so now all of the lineup looks the same at the front.

The second thing you notice when you grab the iPhone 15 in your hand — it feels arguably more comfortable to hold than the last three generations. That's because of the new every so slightly curved/contoured edges. The physical difference is small, but for me it felt like the handling it was noticeably more comfortable and pleasant.

Apple has gone a little fancy with the back panel this year, with a new color-infused back glass panel which comes in a new matte finish. I am happy to say that this new matte texture does reduce greasy fingerprints, keeping the back clean and good-looking!

There's also the new USB-C port at the bottom of the phone, which we will talk about more a bit later when we touch upon the charging speeds. For now, all you need to know is that it does not come with the faster transfer speeds as the Pro models, they remain the same as before (USB 2.0 speeds).

In terms of colors, the iPhone 15 comes in five variants. The one we have here is the black version, and there's something very nice about it. Most of the back panel has a graphite hue to it, while the camera island and Apple logo are in jet-black.

The display of the iPhone 15 is a bit of a mixed bag. The previously Pro-exclusive Dynamic Island has now trickled down to the less expensive models alongside all of its software functionality and features, such as Live Activities which show real-time information from apps. This could be your next direction in Maps, the amount of time you have until your flight starts boarding, your food delivery status, and more.

Sadly, Apple has decided to keep the screen refresh rate capped at 60Hz on the iPhone 15 (and 15 Plus), most likely to push more people into buying one of the more premium models. This is probably the biggest let-down, which we did expect, but it still feels like a letdown.

Most other phones on the Android side in this price category (and cheaper ones) have been offering a higher refresh rate display for years now, so it is hard to not see this as an obvious flaw in the iPhone 15. Of course, if you are coming from an older non-Pro iPhone you might not register this as an issue or a deal-breaker, but if your eyes have ever experienced the glory that is a smooth 120Hz or even a 90Hz screen refresh rate, then you would definitely feel its absence here.

Apple has made this year's iPhones capable of reaching a higher 1600 nits peak HDR brightness and 2000 nits peak outdoor brightness (almost 2x more than iPhone 14). This is not a change you will notice immediately when you buy the phone, but if you were to place it against an iPhone 14 or older, the difference is visible. HDR content in streaming platforms like Netflix look better too, with improved contrast levels that make the image pop out more than before.

Everything else about the display remains the same, meaning a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED panel with a pixel resolution of 2532 x 1170 and a pixel density of 457 PPI (pixels per inch).

Probably the most exciting upgrade the iPhone 15 comes with (that is if you like shooting photos and videos with your phone) is its new camera system and the improvements in some of the camera features.

For starters, there is the new 48MP main camera which can shoot full 48MP images resulting in highly-detailed shots. By default, however, the camera uses pixel binning technology (which combines multiple pixels into larger ones to capture more light) to produce more storage-efficient 24MP photos, while still offering higher more detail compared to the last generation.

Compared to the 12MP shots that the iPhone 14 and previous generations were shooting at, the new 24MP default does take up a bit more space, but not too much. Of course, you can still go into the phone's settings and make the camera default to 12MP shots if you want to save more space, and they still look better than before thanks to the larger sensor.

We initially thought that Apple wouldn't let users utilize the full 48MP on the non-Pro models, but to our surprise there is also a toggle in the Settings app that makes that possible. Ones turned on from settings, you get a an option to switch between the full 48MP and whatever default mode (12/24MP) you have. Just keep in mind that when shooting in 48MP it is advisable to have an abundance of light, as that mode sacrifices some of the low-light capabilities of the camera.

The higher megapixel count also allows the iPhone 15 to crop in on the image sensor and achieve a high-quality 2x zoom compared to its predecessor. Keep in mind, however, that this is not the same as a dedicated telephoto camera. That said, there is a neat little feature that comes along with this 2x sensor crop and it is continuous zoom, meaning that while you zoom in and out from 1x to 2x the movement stays smooth and seamless.

Apple has automated, so to speak, the Portrait mode this year. With iPhone 15, even if you don't switch to Portrait mode, the phone will automatically detect if there is a person or pet and capture the required depth information automatically. Users can then go to the Photos app and turn the photo into a portrait after it has already been taken, as well as switch the focus from one subject to another.

The new 48MP camera and the 24MP photos it churns out are simply gorgeous! The higher levels of detail are definitely noticeable and set the new iPhone 15 apart from its predecessor. This is probably the most defining upgrade from all. HDR also seems to be better, meaning that it no longer tries to overcompensate the shadows by brightening them up too much.

When the amount of light in the scene is exceptionally low, the iPhone 15 goes down to shooting in 12MP, in an effort to capture more light. This results in a less detailed and sharp image, but one that is well exposed. Again, we are happy to see here that the shadows remain dark and are not overly lifted to make the image appear brighter.

You might notice that the third image is sharper compared to the first two. That's because the phone decided there is enough light to shoot in the new 24MP default setting, so as long as you have enough artificial light you can still make use of the improvements in detail.

When it comes to zoom quality, the iPhone 15 can now utilize a 2X sensor crop mode that offers better quality than a simple 2X digital zoom. Despite that, the lack of a dedicated telephoto camera is still sorely missed on the vanilla iPhones. As you can probably tell from the sample images above, a 2X sensor crop simply does not cut it. Zooming in even further makes text appear weird as the phone does its AI "magic" to make the photo look better.

Not much has changed with the ultra-wide camera. It still shoots 12-megapixel photos with an extra wide field of view. Apple did mention that HDR and Night Mode shots should be better with all the cameras though, and while it does seem that the HDR performance has improved, it is hard to say the same about the low-light shots.

There are slight tweaks to the quality of pictures coming from the front camera, but they mostly look similar to before.

When it comes to video quality, the iPhone 15 remains one of the best devices in the industry beating most of the Android competition with cleaner, crisper video and top-notch video stabilization. And we should add that the video quality between the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro series is actually not all that big.

There is only one real downside you should consider: it uses digital zoom, so it's not the best for zooming.

Those who really care about super high quality video and editing in post, however, should know that the vanilla iPhone 15 does not support ProRES recording, you only get that feature on the Pro iPhones.

We have rigorously tested the camera on the iPhone 15 and above you can see the results of those tests. We carefully measure the performance of all cameras in various test scenes, ranking the performance across important metrics like exposure, subject exposure, color accuracy, detail, artifacts and more. We do these tests for both photos and videos. 

You can learn more about our PhoneArena Camera Score testing protocol here.

The iPhone 15 launched with iOS 17 and it has just received the iOS 17.1 update, which comes with a some new features and important bug fixes.

For starters, the AirDrop upgrade that allows for AirDrop transfers to continue even when the sender and recipient are no longer close to each other is now available and turned on by default. The feature allows your iPhone to transition from a Bluetooth and peer-to-peer WiFi connection combination (which is basically what AirDrop is) to one over mobile data. The cellular connection is not as fast though, so don't be surprised if the transfer speed reduces once you go out of range. You can toggle this on or off if you go into AirDrop settings, it is at the bottom where it says "OUT OF RANGE" and "Use Mobile Data".

Another change that came with iOS 17.1 is the ability to choose a folder in your gallery from which the phone will shuffle the photos inside. This way you can have a specific folder just for wallpapers and select it, instead of going through your whole gallery and selecting specific photos one by one. 

One of the cooler new features of iOS 17 — and bound to be loved by many users — is the ability to customize how you appear on a recipient's call screen. You can choose a photo or a memoji and customize the look of the whole image.

Speaking of calls, an iPhone 15-specific feature of iOS 17 is the ability to share your contact information more easily than before, thanks to the so-called NameDrop. It works by getting two iPhone 15s (or newer) very close to each other, which activates a satisfying new animation, bringing out the aforementioned contact screen you customized to your liking. You can have different contact screens ready to be shared depending on whether you want give someone your business contacts or personal ones, for example.

Apple also announced a brand new app coming with the iOS 17 update called Journal. It is exactly what it sounds like — a dedicated place for journaling your daily life and experiences. Journal uses the places you've traveled to, photos you've taken, music that you've listened to, to offer you suggestions for some reflection.

Audio quality remains similar to that of the iPhone 14, with the iPhone 15 keeping its title of one of the best-sounding smartphones currently on the market. Nothing new to mention here though, and the same goes for the haptic feedback, which is just as amazing as ever thanks to that TapTic engine.

When it comes to iPhone 15's competition, it is quite clear what Apple has to race with: Samsung's Galaxy S23 and Google's Pixel 8.

The Galaxy S23 comes with an extra dedicated telephoto camera with 3X zoom, a smoother 120Hz display, and by the looks of our tests more capable when it comes to gaming. The iPhone 15 did win when it came to battery endurance during gaming though, and overall, so there's that. We would also argue that the iPhone captures significantly better images and video thanks to its new main camera.

The Google Pixel 8, which does not come with a dedicated telephoto camera just like the iPhone 15, does have some neat and useful camera tricks in the form of special software such as Face Unblur, Magic Editor, Audio Eraser, and more. There's also the fact of those 7 years of promised software updates which beats Apple's minimum of 5 years (although sometimes iPhones get more).

It goes without saying that no matter which one of these three phones you choose you are getting the best that is out there, just a different flavor of it. What will probably help you choose at the end is the unique software experience each one brings, as at this point most hardware specs are quite similar in the flagship spectrum.

Compared to the iPhone 14 from last year, the iPhone 15 is somewhat more worthy of being called a "new generation". It has a significantly better main camera compared to its latest predecessors, a more refined design with incremental but very effective changes like the USB-C and curved edges, and finally replaces the outdated notch with the Dynamic Island.

But when we factor in the lack of a higher display refresh rate and the fact that there is zero utilization of the USB-C port, the iPhone 15 leaves us wanting more. It almost feels like a slightly worse version of the iPhone 14 Pro, which can be the better purchase if found refurbished or second-hand for the same price tag as the iPhone 15, which is $799. That is if you don't want USB-C with your new iPhone.

Of course, you can wait for Google's Pixel 8 to see if that tickles your fancy, or take a look at Samsung's Galaxy S23 which does have a 120Hz screen refresh rate and a dedicated telephoto camera, often enjoying healthy discounts, unlike Apple's iPhones.