The iPhone 15 Ultra could have better cameras and more power than the Pro
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The iPhone 14 Pro Max isn’t much better than the iPhone 14 Pro, with the main differences being screen size and battery capacity, but Apple could try to separate the two best entries in the expected iPhone 15 line later this year, based on new iOS 17 revelations.
That is according to information from LeaksApplePro, posting on HowToiSolve (opens in new tab). They claim to have seen iOS 17 code, and it reveals that the iPhone 15 Ultra – which will likely be what Apple launches rather than an iPhone 15 Pro Max – will also apparently have more advanced imaging software than the iPhone 15 Pro as the rest of the iPhone 15 series.
So even if the camera hardware is the same for the 15 Ultra and Pro, it sounds like the iPhone 15 Ultra has an edge in the photography department.
It could also perhaps get more out of its chipset, with the source adding that the performance of the Ultra won’t be as constrained by software as it is with the Pro model. Those performance limits are there to keep the phones from overheating, so if this is true, the iPhone 15 Ultra will presumably also have a better cooling system.
There are also details we’ve heard before, including that the entire iPhone 15 line will apparently have a Dynamic Island rather than a notch, and that while they will all apparently use USB-C, the top two models will offer higher data transfer speeds (similar to USB 3.2 technology).
As for iOS 17 itself there isn’t really much on that here despite this information apparently coming from iOS 17 code but the gist is there will apparently be few visual changes with the focus instead being on stability and efficiency.
However, a number of apps are apparently getting minor tweaks, and the Home app is about to make big changes.
In other iPhone 15 news, some or all models will support Wi-Fi 6E, according to a research note from Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Tom O’Malley, seen by MacRumors (opens in new tab). This would add support for 6GHz Wi-Fi, which is faster – but only when connected to a router that also supports it.
Analysis: The Ultra sounds like the phone to go for
With the iPhone 14 line, it was the Pro and the Pro Max that stood out as the phones to buy – if you could afford them.
The iPhone 14 itself was hardly an upgrade from the iPhone 13, and while the iPhone 14 Plus offered a screen size upgrade without paying for an expensive Pro Max, it was otherwise a somewhat dated-feeling handset, with a notch and a year-old chipset.
That division seems to continue somewhat with the 2023 lineup, but with the iPhone 15 Ultra even above the iPhone 15 Pro.
This time around, the cheapest two models at least get a Dynamic Island and USB-C, which is nice, although leaks show they’re still stuck with an outdated chipset.
The Ultra, meanwhile, might have things like a titanium frame and a dual-lens selfie camera, on top of developments from this latest leak; none of which might be offered by the iPhone 15 Pro. So while this will certainly be a very expensive phone, it’s also likely to be one of the very best phones – and arguably the best iPhone.