All the rumors about this year’s iPhone 15 lineup

Apple’s long-anticipating mixed reality headset won’t be the only piece of hardware it announces at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who’s published a new overview of the event. Expected launches include new MacBooks, as well as a “major” update to the Apple Watch’s watchOS software. 

Let’s start with the Macs. Gurman doesn’t explicitly say which macOS-powered computers Apple could announce in June, but lists around half a dozen devices it currently plans to release this year or early 2024. There’s an all new 15-inch MacBook Air, an updated 13-inch MacBook Air, and new 13-inch and “high-end” MacBook Pros. Meanwhile on the Mac side Apple still needs to replace its last Intel-powered device, the Mac Pro, with an Apple Silicon model, and it also reportedly has plans to refresh its all-in-one 24-inch iMac.

After months of leaks saying Apple will ditch the physical volume and power buttons on this year’s iPhone 15 Pro in favor of fancy solid-state replacements, one of the original sources of the rumor now says it’s not happening.

“My latest survey indicates that due to unresolved technical issues before mass production, both high-end iPhone 15 Pro models (Pro & Pro Max) will abandon the closely-watched solid-state button design and revert to the traditional physical button design,” reputable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in a Medium post. 9to5Mac reports that another analyst, Haitong Tech’s Jeff Pu, also thinks Apple will stick with traditional mechanical buttons for iPhone 15 Pro models.

Look, I know it’s probably too late, but since reports have been surfacing for a while now that Apple is planning to remove the physical buttons from the iPhone 15 Pro, replacing them with solid-state “taptic” buttons. Some new, alleged renders of the iPhone 15 published by 9to5Mac seem to confirm the news: it’s time to bid the physical volume rocker and power switch goodbye, at least on some upcoming models. Surely it is too late to change anyone’s mind in Cupertino, but I’m going to make the case anyway. Please don’t take the buttons away, Apple.

For starters, there’s just no haptic button that feels as good or reassuringly clicky as a physical button. This is a completely objective observation based on data gathered by one individual: me, a person who has been pressing buttons for several decades. They rule.

Apple’s exploring the possibility of launching a more expensive iPhone “Ultra” above the iPhone Pro and Pro Max models, according to Apple tracker Mark Gurman. The high-end device could arrive as soon as 2024 with the iPhone 16 lineup.

Last September, Gurman predicted that an “Ultra” model could replace the Pro Max branding with this year’s iPhone 15, but his latest theory suggests that Apple wants to establish a more powerful — and more expensive — tier of iPhones. That means the device could have an even higher price tag than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which starts at $1,099.

Apple is working on a new in-house chip that would power cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth functionality on its devices, according to a report from Bloomberg. The company is also developing its own chip that would replace the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip it currently uses from Broadcom, Bloomberg says, which it wants to begin using in devices in 2025.

Bloomberg also shared some new information about Apple’s efforts to develop its own cellular modems to replace Qualcomm’s. While Qualcomm recently said during its Q4 2022 earnings that it expects to have the “vast majority” of 5G modems for 2023 iPhones, Bloomberg says Apple will use its own modems “by the end of 2024 or early 2025.” Apple will apparently start by using its custom modem in one product and fully transition them over the course of approximately three years.

We finally have a final official deadline for when new phones sold in the European Union — including future iPhones — will have to use USB-C for wired charging: December 28th, 2024.

That’s because the EU’s new USB-C legislation has just been published in the bloc’s Official Journal, making it formally binding. Now we know the rules will officially enter into force in 20 days’ time, and individual EU member states will then have a maximum of 24 months to apply them as national law.

The iPhone 15 Pro models are in line for a massive upgrade to their wired transfer speeds with the switch to USB-C, according to noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Unfortunately, he doesn’t believe that benefit is coming to the regular 2023 iPhones. He predicts that the 15 and 15 Plus will also swap in USB-C ports but, just like the 2022 10th-gen iPad, they’ll be stuck with the same USB 2.0 speeds they had with Lighting.

Kuo made the prediction in a series of tweets on Wednesday and says the information is from his “latest survey.” (The analyst is known for getting information from supply chain sources.) He specified by predicting that the “15 Pro & 15 Pro Max will support at least USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt 3.” If that’s true, that’d mean they could transfer data at speeds up to 40 Gbps — a boon for people who actually use the Pro phones to shoot a lot of ProRes video and raw photos, where even fast WiFi and cloud uploads aren’t really a good substitute.

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max could swap mechanical volume and power buttons for solid-state toggles that use haptic feedback instead. That’s according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says the buttons could function like the solid-state home button first released on the iPhone 7 that you can’t physically press down but vibrates in response to touch.

The iPhone 8, as well as the second and third-generation models of the budget-friendly iPhone SE also feature a solid-state home button, which is powered by Apple’s Taptic Engine. Apple utilizes this same technology to enable haptic keyboard presses in iOS 16, as well as with the Force Touch trackpads it uses on its MacBooks.

Apple has given its most direct confirmation yet that a USB-C-equipped iPhone will happen now that the European Union is mandating that all phones sold in its member countries use the connector if they have a physical charger.

When asked by The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern if the company would replace Lightning, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak, answered by saying: “Obviously, we’ll have to comply; we have no choice.”

Apple could introduce a new naming scheme when it releases the iPhone 15 next year, replacing the current “Pro Max” branding with “Ultra.” This is according to Apple tracker Mark Gurman, who also expects the iPhone 15 to come with some “bigger changes,” including USB-C.

The Pro Max name first appeared with the iPhone 11 in 2019, and adding Ultra branding to the iPhone lineup wouldn’t be all that surprising. Apple already launched the new Watch Ultra with the moniker earlier this month, and added the name to its M1 Ultra processor. Apple also introduced a minor change to its naming scheme with the iPhone 14, bringing back the seemingly retired “Plus” name to the iPhone 14 Plus.

The iPhone 14 has only been out for a few days, but that isn’t stopping the rumor mill from churning out predictions about Apple’s next iPhone. Supply chain analyst Ross Young says on Twitter that he expects Apple to include the Dynamic Island — the notch successor that currently only comes on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max — on all iPhone 15 models, not just the Pro variations (via MacRumors).

If true, this would make the Dynamic Island the standard across all new iPhones, allowing it to fully replace the notch that Apple first introduced with the iPhone X in 2017 (at least until Apple comes up with another design). Young also indicates that the base iPhone 15 still won’t come with an 120Hz LTPO display that enables the iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on display and snappy ProMotion feedback, citing that the “supply chain can’t support it.”

Apple is testing iPhones that swap the Lightning port for USB-C, according to a new Bloomberg report from Apple whisperer Mark Gurman. But you shouldn’t expect to see it in this year’s iPhone lineup, as the changeover wouldn’t happen until 2023 “at the earliest,” Gurman says. The report follows reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s tweets this week indicating Apple would swap to USB-C in the second half of 2023, which is presumably when that year’s iPhone lineup will be released.

The switch would be a big one, though it’s not a complete surprise. Apple has already moved the iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad Mini to USB-C. And the EU revealed a proposal in September that would require many devices, including smartphones, to include USB-C ports — Gurman says that this legislation was “a key reason” for Apple’s move to consider the change. There are also technical benefits to moving to USB-C, which is capable of faster transfer speeds than Lightning.