For 2022, it was the iPhone 14 Pro models that saw all the love, while the iPhone 14 got a little left behind. Not only did it not get a new design, but it didn’t even really get a processor bump, sticking with similar to what we saw on the iPhone 13 models. That’s all changed for this year, though. The underdog is fighting back. The iPhone 15 Pro is taking a little bit of a back seat (only a little bit, mind), not only allowing the new super flagship iPhone 15 Pro Max to shine but saving the rest of the limelight for the humble iPhone 15 and its larger sibling, the iPhone 15 Plus. This is the year that the standard models make complete sense. Here are my first (very good) impressions of the iPhone 15 (green) and iPhone 15 Plus (pink).

iPhone 15 design

The standard Apple iPhone 15 models are all about refinement. They take a well-versed – and well-liked – design and make several incremental changes. These changes all add up, though and the result is a couple of pretty exciting devices overall – certainly more so than the iPhone 14 was, even though I adored the iPhone 14 Plus. The flat, squared-off edges of the iPhone 14 remain, as do the dual camera lenses on the rear, arranged in a diagonal position. Elsewhere, however, there are plenty of changes to the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus that make them two of the most exciting announcements from Apple’s Wonderlust event. Starting with the front – the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus see a move away from the notch we have seen on the iPhone since the iPhone X launched in 2017.

For the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, the notch is replaced with the Dynamic Island we first saw introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro models. The pill-shaped cut-out not only houses the front camera and Face ID sensors, but it’s interactive, adapting to whatever is happening on your device, whether that’s Live Activities, Apple Pay, Apple Music, a timer, or another app. I loved Dynamic Island on the Pro models last year, and I’m expecting to be saying the same for the iPhone 15 models this year. It’s a clever feature that completely changes how you use your iPhone and is executed brilliantly. Its name is a little cheesy, but it is smart, reactive, fun, and useful.

On the back of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, you’ll still find a glass rear and front sandwiching the aluminium frame, but rather than a glossy finish; there’s now a matte finish with the colour threaded into the glass plus some really lovely colour options. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus come in Black, White, Pink, Yellow, Green and Blue, and they are very muted, pastel shades rather than the brighter options we saw on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. The finish is also soft-to-touch, and its glorious to hold.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, the same changes as the iPhone 15 Pro can be found – a move to USB-C over Lightning – though there’s support for different standards compared to the Pro models, so that’s worth keeping in mind. This isn’t a change many will notice on a surface level – the USB-C and Lightning ports are pretty similar in terms of size, but it will make a difference in terms of day-to-day use and how much easier life could become when you need just one cable.

The rest of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus’ design is pretty much on par with the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. While the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max get a customisable Action Button in place of the silence toggle, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus stick with the toggle we’ve come to know and love since the iPhone’s beginning.

iPhone 15 and 15 Plus display

I mentioned that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have switched up their display to include the Dynamic Island, and that marks one of the biggest changes to the iPhone 15’s display. It’s not the only one, though. The other changes are just less noticeable, though as important, if not more so. You get slimmer bezels on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus compared to their predecessors, and while they aren’t as slim as the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, there’s still a difference. You don’t get ProMotion, so the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus remain at a standard 60Hz, but that’s OK. It’s difficult to tell the difference between 90Hz and 120Hz in practice and while you might notice the difference between 60Hz and 120Hz, you’d only notice in certain scenarios – gaming for example.

The lack of ProMotion does mean one thing though – no Always-On Display for the standard models still. This is a little disappointing as just as Dynamic Island is fun and useful, the Always-On Display is good too. Still, you get a choice of a 6.1-inch OLED display with the standard iPhone 15, and a 6.7-inch OLED display with the iPhone 15 Plus model and both are lovely on first impressions, exactly as I expected. Colours are lovely and bright with plenty of pop, while the blacks are very deep and black thanks to that OLED technology.

Brightness has increased too – now topping out at 1600nits for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. It’s not as bright as the iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max that have a peak brightness of 2000nits, but there’s still plenty of brightness here. Viewing angles are good too and from what I could tell, the screens are both very responsive. I’ll have to spend some more time with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus to determine how good the displays are in use, but I don’t foresee any issues based on what I’ve seen so far. It’s also worth mentioning that Dolby Vision is now supported on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus so I’ll be checking out some compatible content in my full reviews of that too.

Hardware and specs

Let’s talk about what’s under the hood. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus borrow from the iPhone 14 Pro, just like the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus borrowed from the iPhone 13 Pro. It means the iPhone 15 Pro models have a more advanced processor than the standard iPhone 15 models – more so this year than last year too, but that also would be something you wouldn’t know what you were missing out on unless you had the four devices running side-by-side. I didn’t experience any performance issues with the iPhone 14 compared to the iPhone 14 Pro so I suspect the same will be the case for the iPhone 15, though I’ll need to test it properly to know for sure. The iPhone 15 runs on the A16 chip and it comes in storage options of 128GB, 256GB and 512GB.

Apple didn’t specifically mention whether the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus would offer battery improvements compared to the iPhone 15 so that’s something I’ll be sure to test during my full reviews. I was very impressed with the iPhone 14 Plus last year though, finding that it performed better than the iPhone 14 Pro Max in that department, so I have high expectations for the iPhone 15 Plus this year.

Like the rest of the iPhone 15 models, the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will arrive on iOS 17. The software brings a number of improvements and features, from Check In and NameDrop to Contact Posters and Messages enhancements.

You’ll get these features on older compatible iPhones so you don’t need the new hardware to take advantage of the new software, though the processor updates will likely help the software run smoothly. There are also a couple of additional features coming for the iPhone 15 models including Roadside Assistant and there’s also something called Voice Isolation for better audio calls.

iPhone 15 Camera

The Apple iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have a dual rear camera setup like its predecessors, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. There has been one upgrade though and it isn’t small. The main sensor of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus moves to a 48-megapixel sensor in a similar move to what the iPhone 14 Pro made, though it’s a slightly different sensor in that it’s not as large. The higher resolution of the main sensor means you should get better quality images from the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus compared to the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, though this is something I’ll be testing in my full review as more megapixels don’t immediately translate to better images by default. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will produce 24-megapixel shots by default and there’s a new 2x zoom feature on board too, thanks to the extra resolution combined with some AI wizardry.

Additionally, there are also some improvements to portrait mode. When a person is detected in a shot, you’ll be able to switch to portrait after the shot was taken and adjust the background blur, or switch the focus altogether. It’s clever and it appears to work well in use based on the demo I got, though this is definitely an element that needs proper testing, which I will do in my full reviews of these two devices. The Ultra Wide sensor remains the same as the iPhone 14 at 12-megapixels. Apple does a great job of computational processing, so the results are expected to be great from the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, especially with the bump in resolution and extra tricks so I’m excited about the shots these devices will be able to take.

First impressions

The Apple iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are significantly more exciting than the iPhone 14 was – the iPhone 14 Plus was exciting because it was a new format so I’m, not counting that in this statement. The majority of the design remains the same for these standard models (which isn’t a bad thing), but the additional of new colours, a new matte finish which is absolutely delightful and Dynamic Island make for fresh devices and ones that will deliver a different experience too.

That’s just surface level too. Add to that the upgrade in processor and upgrade in main camera sensor and things get even more interesting. The iPhone 14 wasn’t all that exciting when it launched in 2022, but there’s already more to be said for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, and that’s before we’ve used them properly in the real world. First impressions suggest that if you don’t opt for the iPhone 15 Pro Max this year, the standard iPhone models could definitely be the ones to buy.