While we won’t see the upcoming iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro until Apple’s “Wonderlust” event scheduled for September 12, the latest leaks from credible sources have revealed all the colorways expected to be announced.
Earlier on Friday, Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities – a financial services company in the Asia-Pacific region that works closely with Apple’s supply chains in the region – shared confidential information about the new models in the lineup.
iPhone 15 To Come In Muted Colors, Gold Will No Longer Be An Option
According to the analyst, iPhone 15 and 15 plus models will be available in black, pink, yellow, blue, and green, meanwhile, the Pro variants will do away with gold and come in gray, white, black, and blue shades.
The absence of gold is significant because it will be the first time since 2018’s iPhone Xs and Xs Max that Apple’s highest-end iPhones won’t be featuring the color. The last time gold was not an option was in 2017 when the company released the iPhone X.
Veteran tech leaker Sonny Dickson put out a series of X (formerly Twitter) posts that revealed photos of dummy models featuring the new colors, giving followers an idea of what the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro could look like. The pictures confirmed Ming-Chi Kuo’s assumptions on the latest colorway.
Dickson showed iPhone 15 dummy units in pink, green, yellow, and black. The pictures also confirmed the long-standing rumor that Apple is replacing its iconic Lightning port with USB Type-C for this year.
The iPhone 15 dummies appear to be more muted than usual, especially the 15 Pro models. This confirms yet another rumor suggesting that Apple is using a titanium body frame for its higher-end phones, making them lighter and more durable than the stainless steel iPhone 15 and 15 Plus variants. The titanium body means it is tougher to produce vibrant colors.
Interestingly enough, insiders say Cupertino is set to introduce a “Titanium Grey” color on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
Apple Resolves All iPhone 15 Production Hiccups
Apple had a hit production roadblock this year related to iPhone 15’s camera sensors, OLED panels, batteries, and titanium frames. Kuo’s post notes that these issues have since been resolved and the new iPhones will be available for pre-order on launch day.
However, the analyst warned that the production of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is running a little slow compared to the rest of the lineup because it was the last one to enter mass production, which means the bigger Pro will be short on supplies at launch.
Kuo says the issue with the supply of stacked CIS, a new image processing sensor technology that will be included in the iPhone 15 models, has been resolved after Sony increased its production capacity. But the issue is still expected to affect about 10-15% of the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus shipments.
The problem with the OLED panel, which is being manufactured by LG and Samsung, was resolved after Apple changed its supplier shipment ratio to ease production. Issues involving the batteries, which expanded when exposed to heat during testing, were cleared by improving the production yield.
Another major challenge faced by Apple was the titanium frame, which was highly difficult to process and had to go through various design changes during development. Reports suggest that in Q2 2023 Apple binned plans to introduce a “Virtual Button” on the Pro versions of the iPhone 15.
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What Will Be The Ultimate iPhone?
Apart from these rumors, there is another explosive one doing rounds. A questionable leak suggests that the iPhone 15 Pro Max won’t be the ultimate iPhone. A more costly iPhone 15 Ultra is apparently under work at Cupertino, taking the mantel from under the Pro Max’s nose.
This time the leak came from accredited leaker Mjin Bu, who got the information from iPhone case manufacturers. Although there was supposition last year that Apple would be rebranding the Pro Max to Ultra following the release of the Apple Watch Ultra, nothing was concrete.
But now Majin Bu says the Ultra will an entirely new iPhone that will top the Pro variants in terms of specifications and price. In his X post, Bu says that he personally knew that Apple tested two 6.7-inch models during development that were completely separate from each other.
Based on the insider information he could obtain, the leaker says the company will be releasing a Pro Max version with 6GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage, and another model called the iPhone 15 Ultra that will presumably start out at a similar specification point but would go up to 8GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. The Ultra would pack a more sophisticated camera and should be priced at a $100 premium over the current highest-end Pro Max model.
However, Majin Bu says it is not clear when or if the iPhone 15 Ultra will be released. The rumor cannot be taken at face value because case manufacturers are usually not given information ahead of time by Apple.
Apple is set to release the iPhone 15 range on September 12, 2023.
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