Apple iPhone 15 and 15 Plus review: It doesn't have to be flagship to be good

Note: This feature was first published on 9 October 2023.

A better regular iPhone

Context is important but we have poor memories. So let’s take a brief trip down memory to set the stage for this review. When Apple first started selling regular non-Pro and Pro iPhones, the regular iPhones came dangerously close to the Pro iPhones. This was true for the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12. In my reviews, I said the Pro phones didn’t do enough to differentiate themselves.

The TL;DR version:



The regular iPhones received substantial and important improvements this year and could be the models to have if you can live without some niceties, such as an always-on and high refresh rate display.

Apple realised this and decided to create more separation between the regular and Pro iPhones with the iPhone 13 and then to a greater extent with the iPhone 14. I said the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus were “great phones on their own” but try to get an iPhone 13 Pro or Pro Max if you can. In truth, Apple went a bit too far and held back the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus too much.

So for 2023, Apple decided to give the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus more substantial upgrades. The most notable ones are the new displays with Dynamic Island, a new 48-megapixel main camera, a slightly tweaked chassis, and USB-C connectivity. 

The iPhone 15 may be the cheaper iPhone, but its build quality is irreproachable. In the hands, it feels rock solid and expensive. The body is still aluminium, but like the Pro iPhones, they now have rounded edges so they feel less boxy and are more comfortable to hold. 

Glass is still used for the backs, but the colour is now directly infused into it. It’s supposed to be harder to manufacture and I can appreciate that, but the end result is, to put it kindly, subdued. Last year’s iPhone 14 had richer colours. Speaking of colours, there are five to choose from: Blue, Pink, Yellow, Green, and Black. Pink and Blue are my favourites because they look slightly more lively.

Though the body is mostly the same, the display has some significant changes. It’s still OLED and it still comes in two sizes – 6.1 and 6.7 inches – but it gains the Dynamic Island that was first seen on last year’s Pro iPhones. It’s a clever way of hiding the front-facing cameras and it’s getting increasingly useful now that more apps are making use of it.

The displays get brighter too. Maximum typical brightness is up by 200 nits to 1,000 nits and it can get as bright as 1,600 nits for HDR content and 2,000 nits when outdoors under glaring sun. This is very noticeable especially when you are viewing HDR content and when you are outdoors. Compared to the iPhone 14, photos viewed on the iPhone 15 look more vivid and punchy.

Although these displays are generally very good, some problems persist. Their refresh rates are still a measly 60Hz. This is painfully obvious side by side with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max or even any other decent mid-range Android phone. These must be the most expensive phones you can buy with a 60Hz display. Granted, the majority of the iPhone 15’s target audience probably won’t care, but for the people who do, scrolling through webpages and photos feels less smooth, which creates the impression that the phone isn’t as responsive.

The display isn’t always on either. Personally speaking, this isn’t as big of a deal as its slow refresh rate. But it does mean that the display will eventually go to sleep even if you put it in iOS 17’s new StandBy mode, which kind of defeats the purpose of this mode.

Of course, like the Pro iPhones, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus now have USB-C ports too. However, unlike the Pro iPhones which support USB 3.0 speeds, transfer speeds on the iPhone 15 are limited to USB 2.0 speeds, that is 480Mbps. It’s disappointing for sure, but we have to remember that the iPhone 15 is powered by the A16 Bionic chip, which wasn’t designed to support USB 3.0 speeds. More important is the fact that the transition to a USB-C port makes the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus more convenient to charge, particularly if you already own newer MacBooks and iPads, which have USB-C charging ports.

A16 Bionic, haven't I seen you somewhere?

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are both powered by the A16 Bionic, which made its debut in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max last year. You can click this link to read more about it, but in a nutshell, the A16 Bionic has six CPU cores and five GPU cores and remains a very formidable chip. 

It may not be Apple’s latest and greatest, but there's appreciable gains over last year's phones – and last year's phones, it must be said, still remains very fast. As you’ll see from the benchmark results below, it’s more than capable of holding its own against other flagship Android phones. In fact, unless you are talking about a really well-optimised Android phone like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5, the iPhone 15 and its A16 Bionic chip is still faster. In real-world use, it’s more than capable of running any apps you throw at it. As one of the most powerful smartphone chips available, gamers should be happy to know that there’s no game that the iPhone 15 will not run adequately. 

Battery life

Our standard battery test for mobile phones has the following parameters:

• Looping a 720p video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
• Constant data streaming through email

Regulatory filings have revealed that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have very, very slightly larger batteries than their predecessors. The iPhone 15 Plus is the longest-lasting iPhone we have ever tested, and ran for nearly 8 hours before it conked out. What’s interesting is that it ran for nearly 7% longer than the iPhone 14 Plus and 10% longer than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The iPhone 15, on the other hand, lasted significantly shorter than just a smidge over 6 hours, which was also the same as the iPhone 14.

Overall, battery life remains roughly the same. If you need the longest-lasting iPhone, then the iPhone 15 Plus is clearly the choice. That’s one of the few upsides of having a display with a lower 60Hz refresh rate. Since these tests were done with the old testing schema where the screens are at 100% brightness (we're gradually cutting over to a new way to test battery life), it’s safe to say that most people should be able to get by an entire day with these phones with no problems.

Camera system (with loads of sample images)

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus still have dual cameras, but the main camera is all-new and features a 48-megapixel sensor. However, this isn’t the same camera found in the Pro iPhones and actually has a smaller sensor and slightly less wide focal length (26mm vs. 24mm). 

But like the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, the iPhone 15’s main camera shoots 24-megapixel photos by default. This is achieved using the same image processing pipeline that fuses a 12-megapixel pixel-binned image together with a full-resolution 48-megapixel image. Because both phones process their photos similarly, it’s hard to tell the difference between a photo taken by the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Pro. Despite the smaller sensor, I see no perceptible loss in detail or sharpness. The only difference I can discern is that the iPhone 15 can, at times, correct for white balance somewhat differently, which results in photos having more contrast. But otherwise, the iPhone 15’s main camera takes photos that are just as good as the iPhone 15 Pro’s.

That new 48-megapixel sensor also gives the iPhone 15 more shooting options than its predecessor. For users who want to take photos in full 48-megapixel resolution, the iPhone 15 can also output compressed 48-megapixel images in either JPG or HEIF. You also get a new 2x telephoto option, which, to be clear, isn’t optical zoom, but rather a digital crop that takes the image generated by the centre 12-megapixels of that large 48-megapixel sensor. The images that this feature yields, as you can see are very decent. 

Like the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 15 also gets the automatic portrait mode feature. Whenever the camera detects a face or pet (only cats and dogs), a small “ƒ” button will appear at the corner of the screen, indicating that the camera is capturing depth information and taken in portrait mode. This allows you to make adjustments to the focus and background blur in post, which I’m sure will open up new photo-editing possibilities. It should be noted, however, that this feature only works on the iPhone 15’s main camera.

The ultrawide camera is unchanged from the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, which also means it has a sensor that’s less capable than the Pro iPhones (their ultrawide camera sensors are better). Although it also shoots at 12-megapixels, it is visibly less sharp, particularly at the corners. The difference in most circumstances, however, is marginal and I doubt most people can tell unless they are pixel-peeping on their desktops. It also lacks the macro feature of the Pro iPhones, so you can't take extreme close-up photos.

Sample photos & analysis

Although the iPhone 15's main camera has a 48-megapixel sensor just like the iPhone 15 Pro, its sensor is actually smaller. However, the difference appears to be inconsequential because there's very little difference between these two photos. 

This is proof that Apple's new 24-megapixel image processing works. The iPhone 15 may have the smaller sensor, but its photos are sharper and more detailed than the iPhone 14 Pro Max. And to my eyes, the iPhone 15 handles exposure more consistently and accurately, even compared to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Here, we can clearly see that the iPhone 14 Pro Max is a little washed out.

While the iPhone 15's main camera is very good, the ultrawide camera is less so. If you view the above image at 100% resolution, you'll see that the iPhone 15's ultrawide camera is clearly less sharp and detailed. This is apparent when you look at the temple's gate and at the tile and granite pavement in the foreground.

Despite being what is essentially a digital zoom, the 2x telephoto delivers great photos with excellent sharpness, detail, and colour. 

The 2x telephoto camera yields very decent shots and will give users more framing and photo-taking opportunities. Its 52mm full-frame equivalent focal length is also ideal for automotive photography.

The iPhone has a tendency to oversharpen certain subjects and it does this quite aggressively to leaves, causing the photo to look over-processed. It gives them a very "hard" look.

Dynamic range is decent and colours are punchy. Despite the darkness, sharpness and details in the lit areas are good.

The iPhone 15's main camera sensor might not be as large as the iPhone 15 Pro's, but as you can see from the images here, it takes photos that are every bit as good. Detail, sharpness, and colours are excellent, and in most instances, I think it corrects for white balance more precisely, resulting in photos that have more true-to-life and accurate colours.

Buying advice and final thoughts

These may be Apple’s cheaper iPhones but they still start at well over a thousand dollars. On the bright side, not only did Apple not raise prices, it actually dropped prices for the phones with 256GB and 512GB of storage – from anywhere between S$10 and S$90. That should be viewed as a positive.

Being Apple’s more affordable iPhones, there’s room for improvement. The lack of a high refresh rate is particularly glaring – especially at this price point – and the finishes are disappointingly pale. One could also argue that, at their price, they really should have a telephoto camera too – most phones in this price bracket have triple camera systems.

Even so, there’s no question that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are a significant step up from their predecessors. Build quality remains class-leading; the display is sharp, bright, and vivid; performance is excellent; and the main camera takes some of the best photos you’ll see out of a smartphone. They nail the basics and are proof that good phones need not necessarily have eye-popping, cutting-edge flagship specs.

The way I see it, only get the Pro iPhones if you really need the higher refresh rate display, a telephoto camera, or “pro” camera features like the ability to shoot photos in RAW and record videos in Log.

Previously, I might recommend getting last year’s Pro models, but I don’t think you should do that this year. With the transition to USB-C, I don’t think it’s wise to buy any iPhone with a Lightning port right now. Furthermore, apart from the display having a higher refresh rate, the pro camera and video features, I don’t see any other significant upside to getting an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max over the basic iPhone 15. As we’ve seen in the camera section of this review, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus take sharper, more detailed photos. Their performance are also evenly matched. 

I’ve always thought that it’s harder to design the regular non-Pro iPhone. It’s a balancing act: a certain amount of restraint required so that it doesn’t outshine the flagship Pro phones, and yet it needs to be shiny enough to entice. And this year, it appears that Apple has found the right balance. Not only are the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus all-round solid phones, they are also much more compelling purchases that people can feel good about making.

<img alt="" src="https://cassette.sphdigital.com.sg/image/hardwarezone/26f29ff0eb833fe45dfa609f69449c5e6879d679e1765403888e5f6197f8e614" style="height:200px; width:320px" title="Apple iPhone 15 ">	Click to see the score breakdown
	Click to see the score breakdown

Note: You can find the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus on Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, and the Apple Online Store.

Read next:

• Apple iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max review
• Apple iPhone 15 series buying guide: Which model best suits you?
• Apple iPhone 15 and 15 Pro series: Singtel, StarHub, M1 contract plans and SIM-only plans
• Apple A17 Pro performance review: How fast is Apple’s new 3nm chip?