iPhone 15 event: all the news on Apple’s new phones

Apple injects a little more iOS into the Mac today as it releases macOS Sonoma, aka macOS 14.0. Sonoma brings with it features like persistent desktop widgets, a new iOS-style lock screen, and a game mode that promises better gaming on your Mac. The file clocks in at 7.7GB for us, so you’ll want to make sure you have a little space to get it in.

In a refreshing change, the Sonoma update is out just over a week after Apple dropped iOS 17. The new version of the iPhone operating system hit, as always, very soon after its iPhone 15 event earlier this month, but the company usually takes about a month longer to get its next macOS version out the door. That can make for a sometimes frustrating dissonance given Apple’s ecosystem interplay, for those of us who tend to update our devices as soon as we can. (I need the ability to send The Verge’s Alex Cranz annoying custom stickers in iMessage from my Mac, y’all.)

Capcom announced at Tokyo Game Show 2023 that Resident Evil Village for the iPhone 15 Pro phones and M1-and-up iPads will debut on October 30th. The game will cost $39.99 — $10 more than the macOS version — with the Winters’ Expansion DLC pack also available for another $19.99. The Resident Evil 4 remake for iPhones, iPads, and Macs is listed on Capcom’s site as “available 2023.”

Capcom says preorders for both games will hit the Apple App Store “soon.” The company adds that if you order Village and Winters’ Expansion during a launch window that the company will announce later, you’ll get an extra costume for Rosemary Winters in the Shadows of Rose DLC.

Ever since our reviews for the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro went up on Tuesday morning, you’ve had a ton of questions to ask about the phones — in comments, on The Vergecast, on Threads, an Instagram App, and in a live Q&A.

So we thought we’d put all that information together in a nice little smorgasbord of nerdy tidbits and philosophical pondering and pick out a few favorites in the process.

If you pick up an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, you’ll notice one thing missing: the mute switch. It’s been a fixture on iPhones since the very beginning, but the 15 Pro models have swapped it out for a new button that’s dubbed the Action Button. 

Like the Action Button on the Apple Watch Ultra series, you can customize it to do almost anything you want. It can open up a specific mode on your camera, turn on your flashlight, and, if you’re crafty, even order your favorite seasonal beverage from your neighborhood Starbucks. 

The iPhone 15 and 15 Pro have several features that aren’t on past iPhones, and now we can add new battery information and control features to the list. As pointed out in this post by @Tech_Reve, a new section in the iOS 17 “About” screen shows how many charge cycles your battery has been through as well as its manufacturing date and when it was first used (via MacRumors).

Those on older phones still have third-party options like CoconutBattery for the Mac to get more information about the battery, but it would be nice to just, you know, have it already there. iOS Shortcuts are also an option for accessing this information, though Verge editor Dan Seifert says the one he’s been using for years no longer works after updating his phone to iOS 17.

In a recent interview with IGN, an Apple executive claimed that the iPhone 15 Pro was “going to be the best game console.” I was skeptical; although Apple boasted about the capabilities of its new GPU in its A17 Pro chip and said high-fidelity games like Resident Evil Village, the Resident Evil 4 remake, and Death Stranding would all be coming to the iPhone 15 Pro, I didn’t believe they would run very well in practice.

But after actually seeing footage of Resident Evil Village in action on an iPhone 15 Pro, I’m coming around to the idea that Apple’s vision isn’t as far out as I thought.

Next year’s Pro iPhones are both “expected” to have the “tetraprism” zoom lens Apple is using for the 5x telephoto camera in the iPhone 15 Pro Max, according to a new post from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. That tetraprism optical system, which is intended to replicate a 120mm lens of a full-frame camera, is exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, so if it comes to the smaller iPhone Pro next year (which I’m guessing will be called the iPhone 16 Pro), both the Pro and Pro Max might be on closer footing.

Here’s how the tetraprism system works, as described by Apple’s Misha Scepanovic during Tuesday’s “Wonderlust” event:

Apple’s new iCloud Plus plans offer more storage at a higher price — and they’re available to purchase now. Starting today, you can sign up for the 6TB plan at $29.99 / month or the 12TB plan for $59.99 / month.

Apple first revealed the new storage options during its iPhone 15 event last week, which it will offer alongside the existing 50GB plan for $0.99 / month, the 200GB plan for $2.99 / month, and the 2TB plan for $9.99 / month. While 6TB and 12TB may seem like a lot of storage space, the new plans could come in handy for professional photographers or hobbyists who want to take full advantage of the iPhone 15’s upgraded 48MP main camera or store hefty ProRes files.

Along with iOS 17, Apple has just released watchOS 10, the newest version of its smartwatch operating system that fundamentally changes the way you interact with the Apple Watch by reincorporating widgets. This update, available on the Apple Watch Series 4 and up, comes just a few days ahead of the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra, both of which Apple will release on Friday along with the four new iPhone 15 models.

The new widgets include the Smart Stack that Apple added to iOS 14, which is a sort of customizable widget bundle that uses machine learning to surface the widgets it predicts you’ll want to see and use. Swiping up from the bottom brings up those widgets, and that has a big cascading effect on the OS. Control Center, where you go to toggle certain system settings like Wi-Fi, has been bumped over to the side button, which bumps the app switcher to a double-press on the digital crown.

iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, Apple’s next major updates for the iPhone and iPad, are now available to download.

With iOS 17, some of the biggest new features come to phone calls. Apple’s new Contact Posters let you pick a photo (or Memoji) and font that fill up the screen when you give someone a call. Live Voicemail will show you a real-time transcript as someone is leaving you a message. The end call button is also in a slightly new spot. Messages gets some improvements, too, including a new way to access iMessage apps, and thanks to iOS 17’s upgraded autocorrect, hopefully your texts will have fewer typos.

Mark Gurman writes in the subscriber edition of his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg from this morning that he expects Apple to finish its transition to USB-C by 2025. Gurman says that, in addition to other products, he expects the company will release USB-C versions of the now-discontinued MagSafe Battery Pack and the MagSafe Duo “eventually. But don’t hold your breath.”

By comparison, Apple took either a little over a month or about two years to totally move over to Lightning, depending on how you look at it.

In recent years, Apple’s presentations have started to feature a new type of messaging: without an Apple Watch, you might be mauled by a bear, drown inside a sinking car, get stuck in a trash compactor, or even succumb to hypothermia after falling through an icy lake.

These disasters have always been averted by the presence of an Apple Watch. But this year, Apple’s messaging has started to change again: it’s not just the Apple Watch that can save you from possible death — but the iPhone, too.

The world is rightfully celebrating the iPhone’s switch from Lightning to USB-C this week. People love to hate on Lightning — and they have good reasons to. Many of the world’s most popular devices now use USB-C ports, including Apple’s own iPads, meaning iPhone owners have been stuck toting around an extra cable just for their phone and its accessories.

But if you’ve been living in the Lightning world for the past decade like I have, things have been great anyway. I’m not ashamed to say it: I’m sad that Lightning is finally going away.

Apple has increased the price of most Apple Watch battery replacements, as reported by 9to5Mac. The swaps used to cost $79, but now, for Apple Watch Series 4 devices and newer, you’ll have to cough up $99. You can see the prices for yourself on the company’s Apple Watch Service and Repair website by sifting through different versions and models.

It’s unfortunate that some of the battery replacement fees are going up, but I’m also not surprised to see it. Apple bumped up the prices of battery replacements in some iPhones, iPads, and Macs by $20 to $50 earlier this year.

Apple officially announced the new iPhone 15 at its Wonderlust event earlier this week, which is now up for preorder and expected to ship on September 22nd. Much like last year, there’s a baseline iPhone 15, a larger iPhone 15 Plus, and a pair of Pro models known as the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. But while the expected processor bump to a new A17 Pro chip is here for the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max (the standard 15 and 15 Plus get last year’s A16 Bionic), what’s vastly different this time around is the presence of a USB-C charging / data port and the inclusion of Dynamic Island on all new models.

While we still have to see how all these new iPhones shape up in our upcoming reviews, early adopters now have a chance to put in their preorders. Below is a breakdown of the various iPhone 15 models and links to Apple’s pricing and configuration details as well as other retailers taking preorders.

Following Apple’s iPhone 15 announcement and the news that the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will come with a Thread radio, I did some more digging into how Apple might deploy this wireless connectivity protocol in its ecosystem.

The smart home is the obvious answer and the one Apple halfheartedly offered (Thread is a main protocol for Matter). But adding the low-power, low-bandwidth, mesh-based Thread protocol could also signal the company is moving away from relying solely on Bluetooth for connecting to peripherals like the Apple Watch. Here’s a look at some of the ways that new wireless connectivity could be put to use.

This week, Apple confirmed longstanding rumors that it was finally abandoning the Lightning connector for USB-C with the debut of its iPhone 15 and 15 Pro phones. The connector’s decade-long run might be over, but that doesn’t mean you need to toss out all your Lightning cables — not yet, anyway.

There are still a number of products in Apple’s vast catalog that haven’t made the switch, and it’s a safe bet that many of them are due for USB-C refreshes in the near future. Here’s a list of everything still using Lightning that we could find new on the company’s online store.