iPhone 15 Adds USB-C, Dynamic Island, 48MP, and Pretty Colors

The USB-C iPhone has arrived. 

Apple announced the iPhone 15 today at its 'Wonderlust' event in Cupertino, California. As expected, the company has ditched its in-house Lightning connector in favor of USB-C, with both new iPhone 15 models featuring the new port. For consumers, that means it will be easier to connect the new iPhones to a host of different devices, including Apple's own MacBook computers. However, it also means old Lightning accessories won't work with the iPhone 15 without an adapter. Conveniently, the move to USB-C also means the new iPhones are in compliance with upcoming European Union regulations designed to limit electronic waste. 

As with the iPhone 14 line, Apple will offer the iPhone 15 in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch variants, with the latter retaining the 'Plus' branding of last year's model. New to the iPhone 15 is the Dynamic Island display cutout Apple introduced in 2022. Previously, that feature was only available on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Apple has also equipped the iPhone 15 with a new Super Retina OLED screen that can display HDR content at 1,600 nits of brightness. In sunny conditions, the new screen can max out at 2,000 nits of brightness, or twice as bright as the display on the iPhone 14. Both new iPhone 15 models also come with Apple's A16 Bionic chip, which the company first introduced alongside the iPhone 14 Pro last year. Thanks to a bigger battery, Apple is also promising "all-day" battery life on its latest pair of mainstream smartphones.

For photographers, iPhone 15 offers an entirely new main camera array that includes a 48-megapixel primary sensor and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens. If that sounds familiar, it's because Apple moved to a 48-megapixel the iPhone 14. For selfie mavens, the iPhone 15's front camera has autofocus and portrait lighting.

The company will offer the new handsets in a host of cheerful colors: Black, Green, Yellow, Pink, and Blue. Apple will begin accepting preorders for the iPhone 15 this Friday (September 15), with general availability to follow in September. Pricing for the iPhone 15 starts at $799. Meanwhile, iPhone 15 Plus pricing will begin at $899.   

Separately, Apple announced that iOS 17, the next iteration of its mobile operating system, will arrive as a free update on Monday, September 18. The company has been publicly testing the new software since this past June when it first previewed iOS 17 at its annual WWDC conference. The update will bring a host of new features, including a redesigned call screen that users can customize to their liking and a Check-In, a feature that alerts trusted contacts when you’ve arrived at a destination safely.

Update 09/12/2023: Added information about the release of iOS 17 in paragraph 7.