iPhone 15 vs iPhone 11: how do four years of iPhone evolution look like?

The evolutionary speed of mobile phones might have slowed down in the last decade or so, but four years is a time gap that is still large enough for us to notice some major improvements throughout the different generations of a device. The example we will be looking at in this comparison is that of the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 11.

Like its older predecessor, the iPhone 15 is a well-rounded device (minus the actual sharp edges of its body). In fact, it is quite reminiscent of how the iPhone 11 felt for its time, which is to say overall a great phone, but with a display that leaves more to be desired because of one major setback that placed it behind its Android competitors.

As hinted earlier, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 11 have a four year gap between them, with the former coming out in September 2023 and the latter in September 2019. As you probably suspect, the newer model is better in all regards, with the most striking areas of innovation being in the camera department, as well as the chipset.

But enough beating around the bush, let us walk down memory lane together and see how the iPhone has changed throughout the years.

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The iPhone 11 was the last generation to feature a more pebble-like body with curved, smooth edges all around. In contrast, the iPhone 15 has the same boxy body with sharp edges we have come to know throughout the last three years. One small change here is that the edges connecting the back panel and the frame are now every so slightly less sharp.

Speaking of the back panel, it is now made out of a matte-textured glass, compared to the glossy one on the iPhone 11. The change is visible when you are looking at the phone, but we are hoping it also helps keep fingerprints away.

The other major design change is transitioning from notch to the Dynamic Island that Apple first included with last year's iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. Combined with the different body shape, this change really makes the iPhone 15 look like a different phone compared to its much older sibling.

Another way in which the iPhone 15 is differentiate from the iPhone 11 is the massive camera lenses housed on its back. The cameras on the iPhone have been getting larger and larger each year, so given how much time has passed the contrast here is striking.

One less noticeable change is the transition from Apple's Lightning port to USB-C. This change also comes with the first USB-C to USB-C cable inside the box, which is braided unlike the previous USB-C to Lightning cables Apple included in the box.

As for the size itself, the iPhone 15 is not too different from the iPhone 14, which is to say around 5.81 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches. In other words, not that much new on this front, with the iPhone 11 measuring 5.94 x 2.98 x 0.33 inches. That said, it is a bit lighter, comin in at 6.03 oz compared to the iPhone 11's 6.07 oz.

It took Apple quite a bit of time to include OLED screens in its base iPhones. The iPhone 11 was the last generation to not feature one, and it wasn't even full HD resolution. This was a major disappointment at the time.

Thankfully, with the iPhone 12 series, Apple finally upgraded all of its iPhones to have OLED screens, and so does the iPhone 15. But just like its 4-year-old predecessor, the new base iPhone lags behind compared to the Android competitors on the market, this time by sticking to just a 60Hz screen refresh rate.

The good news is that it is much brighter, now maxing out at 2000 nits of peak brightness, as well as 1600 nits of peak HDR brightness. The iPhone 11, on the other hand, goes only up to 625 nits.

Apple is known for manufacturing some of the best mobile chipsets on the market, and the A13 Bionic that came with the iPhone 11 in 2019 seems to do the job pretty well even though it has been almost four years. That being said, iPhone 15's A16 Bionic processor is around 30-40% better in comparison.

Besides the jump in CPU and GPU performance, the iPhone 15 chip is much more power-efficient in comparison to the A13 Bionic.

For RAM, the iPhone 15 should get 2GB extra, making it 6GB in total, and it should be the faster LPDDR5 type.

Lastly, both phones support iOS 17, which comes with several improvements, many of which improve the way you communicate via FaceTime and the Messages app. Apple has also made it easier to share your contact details with others via a feature called NameDrop.

Of course, the difference is that the iPhone 11 is an older device, so it doesn't have that many years of software updates. Apple typically supports its phones for about 5 years so the iPhone 11 will probably go as far as iOS 18. The iPhone 15, being a brand new model, will continue receiving updates much further into the future.

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Each year Apple has made the cameras on its phones one of the main areas for improvement, with incremental but effective upgrades and sometimes more significant ones that result in a noticeable jump in image quality. This year it is the latter, with the iPhone 15 getting a massively better 48MP main camera.

Thanks to this new 48MP main image sensor, the iPhone 15 should blow the iPhone 11 out of the water in practically every possible way, including detail, sharpness, color, and overall camera performance. Add to that the much improved HDR, Night mode, and Portrait mode, and the two camera systems could not be further apart.

The 48MP main sensor also enables 2X sensor crop, which translates to a 2X zoom that can rival similar image quality to that of a dedicated telephoto camera, essentially giving the iPhone 15 a triple camera setup. The iPhone 11 12MP main camera, on the other hand, starts to fall short rather quickly the minute you start zooming in.

Apart from the main shooter, though, the 12MP ultra-wide camera is also much better compared to the one on the iPhone 11 due to several upgrades like lenses that have more layers in them, improved image stabilization, and a wider aperture. All of these upgrades result in an increased ability to absorb light and as a consequence, sharper images and fewer instances where the camera has trouble focusing.

The 12MP selfie snapper on the iPhone 15 also comes with better image quality, autofocus, and it has optical image stabilization. Not to mention the wider aperture of f/1.9 that, again, lets in more light for the camera to work with.

Apple has had great stereo speakers for a while now, but that doesn't mean they haven't improved since the iPhone 11. Even models before the iPhone 15 already offered louder volumes with a richer sound profile, so the new base model is bound to have much better audio quality than its older sibling. Apple did not mention anything about the speakers during its keynote, but we will find out ourselves once we get to review the phone, so stay tuned.

Haptics, on the other hand, is an area that Apple has pinned down, arguably taking the number one place in that segment. Both the iPhone 11 and iPhone 15 feature the same Taptic Engine, so there shouldn't be any differences here.

Apple was kind of struggling a little in the battery life department around the time of the iPhone 11 series. That drastically changed with the introduction of the iPhone 13 series, however, which was the battery king for its year.

Needless to say, the iPhone 15 blows the iPhone 11 out of the water with how long its battery lasts, even if you somehow manage to find a 2019 iPhone that has 100% battery health in 2023. The A16 Bionic chipset inside the new generation is much more power-efficient.

The iPhone 15 also comes with slightly faster 20W wired charging compared to the 18W on the iPhone 11. The wireless charging speeds have a more stark difference, with the iPhone 15 supporting MagSafe at up to 15W, while the older model can only go up to 7.5W via regular Qi charging.

Check out a summary of both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 11's specs below:

Don't forget that we also have an in-depth iPhone 15 vs iPhone 11 specs comparison table where you can learn more about all the smaller details.

So it seems four generations later, the Apple tree has definitely started producing visibly and greatly improved fruits. It is kind of ironic, however, that the iPhone 15 — just like the iPhone 11 — comes with a display that could have been much better, making Apple's base model lack in that regard compared to its competition.

Nevertheless, the evolutionary road of the iPhone is quite visible here, and this comparison paints a detailed picture of that. While phones are improving slower than before, they are still undoubtedly getting more impressive with time. If you own an iPhone 11 and want to keep using Apple's phones, the iPhone 15 would be a definite upgrade on all fronts.

Then again, if your iPhone 11 is still holding on and working well for you it would still last you a year or two at least when it comes to major iOS updates and security patches. If you don't feel like spending on a new phone, you can rest assured that the older flagship can still be reliable for a little while longer.