I can’t believe it’s already that time of year again. We’re (allegedly) just 3 weeks away from the announcement of the iPhone 15 lineup, and as has become custom over the past bunch of years, we mostly know what to expect. The Pro iPhones will see the biggest changes since the introduction of the iPhone 12 in 2020 while the non-Pro updates will be more incremental. Since I’m on Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program, getting a new iPhone each year is kind of a no-brainer, but this year is going to be the most difficult one in a long time.

I love my iPhone 14 Pro

There are a few iPhones that I consider my favorites. The original, of course. Definitely the 4 and 5, and the 11 Pro stands out for some reason. I’ve also switched back and forth between the large and small models, either because of feature differences or because I wanted a change of pace. But now I think I can safely say that my iPhone 14 Pro is my favorite…ever.

I love the smaller size, the always-on screen, the Dynamic Island, the overall speed, but most of all, I love the Space Black finish. I’m typically a huge fan of purple and I almost ordered the Deep Purple iPhone last year, but I’m so glad I went with Space Black instead. This is the best finish on an iPhone since the 7’s Jet Black, except this one doesn’t scratch the way that one did.

There’s a part of me that wants to hang onto this iPhone beyond the 15’s release, but unfortunately, the upcoming changes make this one of the best years ever to upgrade.

New Materials and Design

Apple has used stainless steel in iPhone designs since the iPhone X. It’s incredibly strong and lends a premium feel to the phones, but it’s very heavy and it’s a fingerprint magnet. This year, the Pro iPhones will feature a titanium frame instead, which should be a major upgrade (the regular 15 and 15 Plus will most likely still be aluminum). Titanium is as strong as stainless steel, but it’s much lighter and has a matte finish that won’t show fingerprints. I’m a big fan of the titanium Apple Watch Ultra, so I’m excited to see what they do with the iPhone 15 Pro.

The major question I have is, what colors will they offer? Apple has used titanium in some version of the Apple Watch for a few years, but they’ve only ever come in silver or black. Ever since the iPhone 11, the Pro iPhones have come in some form of silver, gray, gold, and a special color: Midnight Green on the 11 Pro, Pacific Blue on the 12 Pro, Sierra Blue on the 13 Pro, and Deep Purple on the 14 Pro. The rumor is that the 15 Pro will offer some shade of dark red, which should look pretty good. My fingers are crossed that they’ll stick to a very dark Space Black like the 14 Pro. But otherwise, I’m curious to see what they do. Can they still make gold look as good with matte titanium? Will the silver model still have a white glass back? So many questions!

Design-wise, it’s also rumored that the Pro iPhones will have a slight curve around the edges rather than the fully flat sides we’ve seen since the iPhone 12. I was never a big fan of the fully rounded edges of the iPhone 6 through 11, but a lot of people don’t like the sharp edges of the 12 through 14. This new design sounds like it’ll be a nice blend of the two.

Action Button

The Apple Watch Ultra introduced the idea of an Action Button; a side button that can be customized to do almost anything. You can set it to launch an app, change modes, turn on the flashlight, or even run a Shortcut.

This year, Apple is replacing the iPhone’s long-standing mute switch with a similar action button. I think this is brilliant. I do appreciate being able to see that my phone is muted just by glancing at the position of the switch, but it’s easy enough to swipe down for Control Center to hit the mute button. A customizable Action Button will be far more useful. Imagine being able to quickly take a voice memo or instantly launch into a Quick Note to jot down information. This should be fun.

Better Camera Zoom

I always appreciate it when the Pro and Pro Max iPhones have the same features, but that doesn’t happen every year. This year, the Pro Max will feature a periscope zoom lens, which will allow for much better optical zoom than what’s possible with a standard lens. The 14 Pro is limited to 3x optical zoom (you can technically zoom further than that, but it becomes digital zoom, which starts to look kind of terrible). With a periscope lens, the optical zoom capability could be anywhere from 5x to 10x. Unfortunately, the smaller 15 Pro will be stuck with a standard zoom lens. So once again, if you want all of the best new features, you have to go with the largest iPhone.

USB-C

That’s right, it’s time for another port change. When Apple introduced the first iPhone, they carried over the 30-pin connector from the iPod. Then in 2012, the iPhone 5 introduced Lightning, a “modern connector for the next decade.” 11 years later, it’s definitely time to put Lightning to bed. USB-C will allow for much faster data transfer, which is important considering the massive 4k ProRes video files the iPhone can produce. It should also offer faster charging, which is always welcome.

Personally, I’m excited for the simplicity of using one cable for everything. My MacBook Air, iPad Pro, and iPad mini can all charge over USB-C, so it’ll be nice to use the same cable for my iPhone (I prefer MagSafe on the MacBook Air, but nevertheless…). Of course, I still have a few Lightning devices…AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, MagSafe Battery Pack…but this is still an important step toward a one-cable-for-all future.

Side note: This is one feature that’s coming to all of the iPhones across the line.

Other Tidbits

MacRumors put together a nice chart detailing the upgrades to the 15 Pro over the 14 Pro, so it’s worth checking that out. I’ll run through a few of those here.

The bezels around the screen should be a little smaller, allowing for a slightly larger screen in the same body size (or possibly the same screen in a slightly smaller body).
The A17 Bionic chip will be fabricated on a new 3nm process, which will make it faster while consuming less energy.
The OLED driver will be more efficient (better battery life).
It’ll support Qi2 for faster wireless charging.
Storage capacity may start at 256GB with the option for up to 2TB.
The largest iPhone may be called “iPhone Ultra” instead of “Pro Max.”
Oh…and longer braided color-matched cables!

So yeah, this is the biggest upgrade to the Pro iPhones in a long time and it’s a great year to trade up. If you’re not an iPhone Pro user, you should wait until next year when most of the extra bells and whistles will trickle down to the non-Pro models.

For me, as much as I love my Space Black iPhone 14 Pro, I know I’ll have to upgrade to the biggest iPhone Ultra to take advantage of all this new stuff. I’m hoping that the titanium frame’s reduced weight will make it easier to use, especially one-handed. Every time I’ve switched from the larger iPhone to a smaller one, it’s felt like a bit of a relief, but then it seems the following year, they force me to go big again because of some exclusive feature. Depending on how this year goes, I may finally say I’m done with giant iPhones regardless of the feature differences.

What are your thoughts? Are these new features enough to make you want to upgrade? Let me know in the comments below!

My impending iPhone upgrade