Four rumored iPhone 15 features that will convince you to go Pro this fall

Now USB-C me

Rumors of Apple switching the connector on the iPhone have persisted for years, but finally, this is the year. Really, this is it. We’re sure.

Probably.

It does seem as though the stars have at last aligned for Apple to shift ports: namely, the combination of regulatory pressure from the European Union and USB-C’s increasing adoption. If the Siri Remote’s recent switch to USB-C is any indication, Apple’s about to go all in on the transition.

Besides getting closer to being able to charge all your Apple devices with a single cable, USB-C also opens up some additional possibilities for iPhones, if the iPad is any indication. Connecting external storage and additional peripherals via USB-C could be useful in some situations—though some less exciting rumors suggest that Apple may lock the port to approved accessories. (Color me more skeptical about that part.)

Up periscope

No, your iPhone isn’t going to have a little camera that pops out of it. One of the challenges with putting a long focal length telephoto lens in smartphones is simply that of available space. To be able to get a larger zoom, you need a combination of lenses and set at distances that, if they were assembled using the traditional smartphone camera layout, would result in an absurdly large camera bump.

So instead, the periscope design uses mirrors–like a periscope–to allow those lenses to run lengthwise along the phone, rather than being limited to its depth. That means the potential for a telephoto lens that could feature a zoom closer to, if rumors are to be believed, 6x, improving on what’s available in the current models.

Foundry

But this may not be an across-the-board improvement. Some rumors have the periscope lens limited to the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max, for example, given the available amount of space in the device. That will be a bummer for those who simply don’t want a larger phone, but it wouldn’t be the first time Apple put its best camera only in its most expensive model.

Model behavior

Speaking of which, another lingering question about the iPhone 15 line-up is how Apple will differentiate its Pro and non-Pro models. This past year, for the first time, the company only put its newest chip—the A16—in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, choosing to leave the standard iPhone 14 and 14 Plus on 2021’s A15 Bionic. Presumably, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will get the A16 this fall, while the 15 Pro and Pro Max move up to the new A17.

But between this and the possibility of some features, like the periscope lens, only coming to the iPhone 15 Ultra/Pro Max model, Apple is definitely making its line-up more complex. Colors, processors, case materials, and even software features are now all ways that Apple has chosen to separate the Pro phones from their non-Pro counterparts.

That’s not surprising, though, given that the company still sees significant headroom at the top of the iPhone market; as Tim Cook said during Apple’s most recent financial results call, “I think people are willing to really stretch to get the best they can they can afford in that category.”

Is this iPhone 15 poised to be a significant update over this year’s models? The smartphone has definitely matured as a product, with year-over-year changes feeling more evolutionary than revolutionary these days, but most people don’t replace their phone every year, so for those trading in a device that’s a couple of years old, the iPhone 15 line may very well feel like a big step up.