iPhone 15 Rumor Report Card: The Biggest Hits and Misses

[MacRumors]

Apple this week unveiled four new iPhone 15 models at its "Wonderlust" event. As always, there were many rumors leading up to the event that gave us an idea of what to expect from the devices, but not all of them were accurate.

Below, we have recapped some of the bigger hits and misses from the iPhone 15 rumor mill.

Hits

• All four iPhone 15 models were widely rumored to be equipped with a USB-C port.
• iPhone 15 Pro models have a customizable Action button, and the nine supported types of actions were accurately leaked.
• iPhone 15 Pro models have an A17 chip manufactured with a 3nm process, an increased 8GB of RAM, Wi-Fi 6E support, and a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip.
• iPhone 15 Pro models have thinner bezels around the screen.
• iPhone 15 Pro pricing starts at $999 for the 6.1-inch model, only Pro Max costs more.
• iPhone 15 Pro Max is exclusively capable of 5x optical zoom.
• iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have the Dynamic Island, a frosted glass back, and a 48-megapixel main camera lens.
• iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have a lightweight titanium frame available in Blue, Black, White, and Natural.
• iPhone 15 Pro models have a more repairable design like the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus.
• iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are available in Black, Pink, Yellow, Blue, and Green.
• Apple abandoned plans to add solid-state buttons to the iPhone 15 Pro models, with the devices retaining physical buttons.
• "FineWoven" branding was used for non-leather Apple accessories.
• There is no "iPhone 15 Ultra" (an earlier rumor is a miss).
• Alongside the iPhone 15, the AirPods Pro charging case was updated with a USB-C port.

Misses

• iPhone 15 Pro models do not support Thunderbolt.
• iPhone 15 Pro models do not have a dark red color option.
• Rumors about price increases for both the Pro and Pro Max models were wrong.
• All four iPhone 15 models are not available with color-matched braided USB-C cables.
• There is no 2TB storage option that was rumored for the iPhone 15 Pro models, with the highest capacity remaining 1TB.
• iPhone 15 models did not become eSIM-only in France.
• It was generally expected that iPhone 15 Pro models would have longer battery life with the more power-efficient A17 chip.

Honorable Mention

The second-generation Apple Watch Ultra is not available in Black Titanium... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: iPhone 15 Rumor Report Card: The Biggest Hits and Misses

 

[abatabia]

I for one am glad they got the price increase wrong, even though it did increase in some countries.

 

[chrisdazzo]

Wait a second, the price increases didn't happen again?! That's like, five years in a row! I'm flabbergasted!

 

[till]

It was only one source, but the claim of 6GB RAM a few weeks ago is another big miss.

 

[locovaca]

Other hits:
* Best camera on an iPhone ever
* Fastest iPhone ever
* More pro than ever
* They think we’ll love it

 

[Mlrollin91]

I think its time to stop listening to any rumors on price increases. The 12, 13, 14 and 15 all had months of rumors regarding price increases, some being as much as a $200 price increase. Each year they have fallen flat.

 

[volfreak]

Periscope lens for the camera?

 

[neuropsychguy]

Wait a second, the price increases didn't happen again?! That's like, five years in a row! I'm flabbergasted!

Six years. The iPhone X released at $1000 in 2017. With inflation that is about $1250 now so the Pro Max base model costs the same as the X did. Tech usually gets cheaper so this is continues evidence of that, even with Apple.

 

[cocky jeremy]

I'm surprised there are no new articles comparing the bezels now that it is confirmed.

 

[Jamie0003]

Other hits:
* Best camera on an iPhone ever
* Fastest iPhone ever
* More pro than ever
* They think we’ll love it

Little did they know, we’re on mac rumors, we’re never happy and will all hate it, because we don’t get major features every year despite the fact we’re spoiled and upgrade every year regardless 🤦‍♂️

 

[ninethirty]

Other hits:
* Best camera on an iPhone ever
* Fastest iPhone ever
* More pro than ever
* They think we’ll love it

+ Magical

 

[THE VATICANTS]

Incredibly underwhelming event and the green screen presos getting boring and sterile.

 

[jarman92]

It was only one source, but the claim of 6GB RAM a few weeks ago is another big miss.

For which phones? The 15 and 15 Plus have 6GB; the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max have 8GB.

 

[kiensoy]

Ultra-thin bezels is a miss. They don’t look like the pictures in the link you added.

 

[ninethirty]

Ultra-thin bezels is a miss. They don’t look like the pictures in the link you added.

Yes they do.

 

[munpip214]

It was generally expected that iPhone 15 Pro models would have longer battery life with the more power-efficient A17 chip.

This and only 10% core performance improvement. I guess the M3 won’t be such a big boost that everyone thought.

 

[JGIGS]

Other hits:
* Best camera on an iPhone ever
* Fastest iPhone ever
* More pro than ever
* They think we’ll love it

These statements make me want pull my ears off every time I hear them in a keynote. We should start giving Tim Apple a couple middle nicknames. Tim Captain Obvious Apple

 

[BC2009]

Periscope lens for the camera?

Believe we saw that one on the 15 Pro Max as anticipated. Not sure what the question is about.

• Apple abandoned plans to add solid-state buttons to the iPhone 15 Pro models, with the devices retaining physical buttons.

Kinda hard to confirm that rumor. I could say that Apple abandoned plans for a foldable screen and kept the flat candy-bar form factor with a single screen. We don't really know if Apple had plans for solid state buttons. Sometimes when sources say "Apple abandoned xyz" maybe that is the source simply not wanting to say "oops, I was wrong about that".

 

[steve123]

A17 Pro without Thunderbolt? Disappointing they would only include USB 3 when you can buy a device with 1 TB of storage. And USB 3 should have been included on the A16 models.

 

[sully54]

Seems Apple was able to weed out 7 leakers this time around.

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

Actually most leaks said it would have 6x zoom so that’s a miss. Don’t back track on that!!

Seriously though, that fact it can’t zoom in to 5 seems insane. It just jumps to 5, a periscope lens where it actually can move to zoom in would have been much nicer. The 15 Pro is basically 95% the iPhone 14 Pro. It was such a disappointing event. Just wrapped up old devices on a new case - same for the watch. Tiny spec bumps.

 

[Fousthvk]

Biggest letdown was the non color options for the ultra. That was why I just decided to go from my 7 to a 9 instead of jump to the ultra.

 

[jz0309]

Another miss: full optical zoom on the periscope lens

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I for one am glad they got the price increase wrong, even though it did increase in some countries.

What countries got a price increase pls?

 

[kironin]

A17 Pro without Thunderbolt? Disappointing they would only include USB 3 when you can buy a device with 1 TB of storage. And USB 3 should have been included on the A16 models.

It's really unbelievable that only the Pro actually has USB 3 for the USB-C port. They should be embarassed. and yes, no thunderbolt in the Pro, just par for the course.