Poll: *** The Official iPhone 15 thread (it has USB-C and everything!) ***

[monkeyspank]

I bet you thought it was cool when iPhones bent too.

curved, not bent

 

[jeffk]

Could they release a pro with those cameras and proper zoom? Yes. Would they rather release it next year and claim it as “new” ? Yup. It’s all a business.

That’s part of it but supply of components comes into it too. Apple sell hundreds of millions of phones a year. They sometimes simply can’t procure 225 million of the very latest component the year that it becomes available.

That’s how the Pro line was born. Apple wanted to put an OLED screen on their phones but no supplier at the time could produce them in the quantity and quality that Apple needed.

 

[ChrisD.]

That’s part of it but supply of components comes into it too. Apple sell hundreds of millions of phones a year. They sometimes simply can’t procure 225 million of the very latest component the year that it becomes available.

That’s how the Pro line was born. Apple wanted to put an OLED screen on their phones but no supplier at the time could produce them in the quantity and quality that Apple needed.

I thought the X, a non Pro branded phone, was the first with an OLED display?

 

[jeffk]

I thought the X, a non Pro branded phone, was the first with an OLED display?

It was and was effectively the first Pro model. It came out at the same time as the iPhone 8.

 

[ChrisD.]

It was and was effectively the first Pro model. It came out at the same time as the iPhone 8.

Fair point, I completely forgot about the 8.

Still wasn’t called a Pro though.

 

[Tejstar]

I believe the reason for the lacklustre performance upgrades for the pro this year is TSMC. Tsmc didn't do anything wrong; the issue is that the nexts fabrication node, 2nm, won't be ready till 2026.

That means the iPhone will be stuck on 3nm this year and for 2024 and for 2025. So Apple needs to milk 3 years of performance upgrades out of 3nm, so they have to take it slow. If they gave us all the benefit of 3nm right now they'd have nothing to give next year and the year after

That must be the reason. I was expecting a much better performance and/or efficiency improvements so was quite disappointed with the A17 Pro. A shame really, but Apple do not need to pull such a gap to the older phone - they will stick with steady improvements as she goes, which has been the way for a while now.

 

[Bigpig]

that non pro yellow in the 15 is starting to grow on me but after a quick check there's no matching case. That's just hot trash

 

[kona786]

There’s way too much emphasis piled on the camera tech in modern phones - personally I don’t get it.
Don’t get me wrong, I like having a good camera for quick snaps but realistically how much camera tech does a person need to send snapchats of their food and make their TikTok videos - because let’s be honest, that’s what the vast majority of it is used for.
IF image quality is of such critical importance then just invest in a dedicated camera. Look at all the YouTubers out there who look to heap praise on the camera tech within phones, do they use said tech for their content creation? Of course they don’t.
I honestly don’t mean to be facetious about it but even the most bog standard of cameras outperform the highest end phones.

If you're actually any good at photography you can get blinding shots out a good camera phone. It's a hobby for many and I have even ditched my DSLR now. I can take a pic and edit on the fly. No faffing and no carrying a ton of bulk.

 

[kona786]

Apple really stuffed the cameras on the new 15 Pro and Max.

Everything was driven by higher marketing numbers - most users will get worse image quality than on the 14 Pro & Max phones.

• 7 lenses : 4 of these ‘lenses‘ are cropped views, why stop at 7 lenses, you could have a ‘100 hundred‘ lenses using this method ! This is Apple trying to keep up with other phone makers who have more real camera lenses.
• The 120mm Telephoto lens on the 15 Pro Max is okay, but if you shoot less than this (below 119mm) then you will get a cropped view from the 24mm lens. Producing a small MP photo showing garbage results. All about Apple marketing a ‘5x zoom’ to keep up with competitors.
• The default MP size has been increased to ’24MP’ (upscaled from a real 12MP) which increases the file size of each photo, meaning eventually you will need to pay more monthly to increase Apple Cloud storage.
• All the other Apple marketing BS associated with the camera is just deceptive

Apple really going the wrong way on the camera with this phone !

I agree on the 5x front. Give me a good 3x before you add a 5x as its just more pleasant to use. The new oppo has both a quality 3x and 5x iirc.

Edit. My mistake on the Oppo. It's a 2.8x optical with a 5x crop. Big sensor though making the 5x crop a good one.

 

[Cern]

I agree on the 5x front. Give me a good 3x before you add a 5x as its just more pleasant to use. The new oppo has both a quality 3x and 5x iirc.

So, is the camera system on the 15 Pro the better option over the 15 Pro Max for anyone who isn't bothered about the 5x and is mostly interested in wide angle, macro and short telephoto (i.e. portrait)?

 

[kona786]

So, is the camera system on the 15 Pro the better option over the 15 Pro Max for anyone who isn't bothered about the 5x and is mostly interested in wide angle, macro and short telephoto (i.e. portrait)?

3x is good for things like portraits and street photography.

5x is good for longer range stuff that I'm not particularly interested in.

So the choice is yours.

 

[Cern]

3x is good for things like portraits and street photography.

5x is good for longer range stuff that I'm not particularly interested in.

So the choice is yours.

Yeah, the bit I seem to be unclear about is how the 5x behaves when you shoot at less than 5x with it, let's say 3x. Is the 5x lens on the Max shooting at 3x the same quality as the 3x on the normal Pro?

 

[Irish_Tom]

Yeah, the bit I seem to be unclear about is how the 5x behaves when you shoot at less than 5x with it, let's say 3x. Is the 5x lens on the Max shooting at 3x the same quality as the 3x on the normal Pro?

My understanding is 3x on the Max uses the 1x lens with some digital cropping. So in theory, the IQ would be lower than a 14 Pro at 3x.

Whether that’s actually the case or not, we won’t know until the reviews are out.

 

[kona786]

Yeah, the bit I seem to be unclear about is how the 5x behaves when you shoot at less than 5x with it, let's say 3x. Is the 5x lens on the Max shooting at 3x the same quality as the 3x on the normal Pro?

They cropping in from the 1x so I can't see it being anywhere near as good as a native 3x.

Let's wait for the actual review to be certain before it's not clear cut as to how it'll pan out due to computational photography and different hardware. I. E. The bigger sensor cropped in with CP vs native focal length and smaller sensor etc.

 

[Cern]

My understanding is 3x on the Max uses the 1x lens with some digital cropping. So in theory, the IQ would be lower than a 14 Pro at 3x.

Whether that’s actually the case or not, we won’t know until the reviews are out.

They cropping in from the 1x so I can't see it being anywhere near as good as a native 3x.

Let's wait for the actual review to be certain before it's not clear cut as to how it'll pan out due to computational photography and different hardware. I. E. The bigger sensor cropped in with CP vs native focal length and smaller sensor etc.

Thanks for confirming what I thought might be the case. As you both say, we'll have to see what the full reviews say.

 

[Matrix]

Well I own an iPhone 12 Pro Max my wife has a 12 pro .

Was planning on swapping as we buy the phones outright but little unsure if I’m going to notice much difference .

Any advice please ?

Thanks

 

[Joeyuk]

I've gone for the black, that looks like the blue. Is it just the blue that suffers the marks?

However, as much as I'd like to have the phone naked I just can't risk it, mine will be going in a Mous case from day one. I did the same with my XS and the case has done me well surviving plenty of drops over the years.

I’ve gone Mous again this time. Mous Clarity 2.0 and Hybrid screen protector. Same as my 12 which apart from dust build up looks in great condition.

 

[Kainz]

Going to wait for reviews before I jump in. Whilst it isn’t a major thing but the camera lens observations and battery life I am interested in.

If there isn’t much of an improvement over the 14 Pro then I’ll likely settle for that if I can get a refurb at decent enough price.

 

[ChrisD.]

Looking forward to seeing if there's any Wi-Fi improvements with the Pro models now 6E capable.

 

[Bigpig]

Going to wait for reviews before I jump in. Whilst it isn’t a major thing but the camera lens observations and battery life I am interested in.

If there isn’t much of an improvement over the 14 Pro then I’ll likely settle for that if I can get a refurb at decent enough price.

And deal with the extra weight?