So, overall, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have received the camera system of the iPhone 14 Pro, with just two lenses. Apple calls it the Advanced dual-camera system, which includes a 48-megapixel main camera and an ultra-wide-angle lens. This was the case before, but now we have a more advanced camera system. This has brought about quite a few changes.
The sensor in the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus is significantly larger than in the iPhone 14, which has greatly improved the camera compared to the previous generation. We now have the action mode, advanced HDR video recording, 48-megapixel photos, and of course, in terms of photography, we’ve also got something new due to the ProRAW and the larger sensor. Thanks to this, the “basic” camera is now capable of capturing 48-megapixel resolution photos, as well as the familiar RAW photography. This means that if you pay a little more attention to your photos, edit them, adjust colors, Apple provides even more options for this on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus.
I’ve taken quite a few photos with the iPhone 14 Pro Max, so it’s worth reading my article as well because it will give you everything you need to know about the new iPhone 15 camera: Long-term test and my honest opinion about the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
New, more advanced portrait mode However, what’s not available even with the iPhone 14 Pro is the new, more advanced portrait mode. Apple describes it like this:
“Don’t want to miss the magic of the moment? You no longer have to switch to Portrait mode separately. When you take photos of people, dogs, or cats, the iPhone 15 automatically captures depth data. This way, you can decide whether to view your photo immediately as a portrait with an artistically blurred background or later in the Photos app.”
In addition to this, with iOS 17, the new Photonic Engine enhances your portraits:
“It combines the best pixels from a super-high-resolution photo with another one optimized for light collection. This way, you can automatically capture 24-megapixel images – that’s twice the resolution of before. This resolution is perfect for everyday photography since it’s small enough for storage and sharing.”
Regarding the latter, Apple doesn’t mention that it’s only available on the iPhone 15 or newer devices; I think it applies to other devices with newer camera systems as well.
Up to 2000 nits brightness and Dynamic Island It’s worth mentioning right from the start that the always-on display, often less favored by many, hasn’t been introduced in the iPhone 15 or 15 Plus, even though other display innovations are present, such as Dynamic Island, which was available with the 14 Pro models – I’ve written more about this in this article, but let’s briefly mention it here as well.
It’s important to note that Live Widgets are available on all devices running iOS 16 or iOS 17, but on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, it also shows on the always-on display, which is not available on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus.
As you can see, the delivery information of the Wolt app updates live on the locked screen, and similarly, apps that support this functionality work in the same way. Apple displays this information in Dynamic Island, which can be dynamically changed depending on how long you press it, thanks to the island, continuous pressure tracking is possible.
At the Apple event, I think the company convinced everyone that this is an outstanding innovation, no longer exclusive to Pro devices. Nonetheless, I personally haven’t found much use for it so far. It looked nice, but overall, it was useless until now. I think it still depends on the apps and, therefore, their developers, whether this island will be useful.
