iPhone 15 Ultra: Everything we know about Apple’s rumoured premium flagship
The rumour mill is pointing towards an unprecedented iPhone Ultra appearing on the scene, and here’s everything that we know about it so far.
The iPhone 14 series has only just been released, but already the internet is heating up with more rumours about the next range of Apple handsets, and none of the tidbits we’ve heard so far are as exciting as the news that an iPhone 15 Ultra is potentially in the works.
This would be Apple’s highest-spec smartphone of the year, eclipsing even the likes of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and so in the article below we’ve collected all the information that we know about it so far.
Release Date
The iPhone 15 Ultra, if it appears, will probably be unveiled alongside the rest of the iPhone 15 line, which we expect to appear around mid- to late-September 2023. In fact, we’d put the smart money on it being the very last product unveiled that day, thanks to Apple’s traditional style of showmanship.
The release date schedule for the iPhone is fairly well-established by now, and so while we’ve not come across an official or unofficial launch date just yet, it’s a fairly safe bet that we’ll see the new iPhone series (and potentially the Ultra as well) in the early autumn based on previous years:
- iPhone 14: September 16, 2022
- iPhone 13: September 24, 2021
- iPhone 12: November 13, 2020
- iPhone 11: September 20, 2019
- iPhone XS: September 21, 2018
While the device would likely be available to pre-order on the night, it will be delivered, and available on shop shelves, a few days after the launch.
Price
There are a number of big questions around the iPhone 15 Ultra, but one of the very biggest is the price of such a proposition. Top-end iPhones of today are hardly cheap, and logic dictates that this will be the priciest of them all, so let’s just say that this is not going to be a budget buy; you should only be thinking about buying this beast if you’ve got serious money to burn.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max, currently the most expensive smartphone offered by Apple, retails for $1099/£1199, so you may have to expect an increase of a couple of hundred pounds or dollars on top of that in order to get some extra premium features.
Design
The design is the one area where we’ve received the most information about this potential new iPhone. For starters, it’s very likely to have a USB-C port rather than a Lightning port, as Apple executive Greg Joswiak confirmed (less than enthusiastically) that, following an EU ruling on the matter, “obviously we’ll have to comply, we have no choice.”
Aside from that, potentially valuable information arrived courtesy of LeaksApplePro, a Twitter source which claimed that the new iPhone 15 Ultra would be cast in titanium. This certainly made some sense seeing as this is the same metal used in the construction of the Apple Watch Ultra, and perhaps points to Apple’s next phone being very rugged in the same way.
What we’d like to see
So far, rumours are fairly thin on the ground regarding the iPhone 15 Ultra. All told, it’s not certain that there will be one at all, and we’ll have to wait until more substantiated leaks come through before we can truly start the countdown to launch.
However, based on our experiences with the iPhone 14 series, there are still a few changes that we’d like to see embodied in this perhaps mythical device.
For starters, our editor Max Parker suggested that this could be the perfect occasion for Apple to embrace the foldable form factor for the first time, writing that such a rethink “makes a lot of sense” and “would give the higher-end phone a distinct differentiation from the Pro models.” We’ve seen Samsung have increasing success with this format, especially with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, and it would be undeniably interesting to see how Apple might execute a similar idea.
If we’re looking for some slightly more modest tweaks to the formula, then there are a few suggestions we came come up with just based on our experience with the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The first of these would be that Apple could consider adding curved sides to the phone screen, which would make a large-display device much easier to hold, especially with a size of 6.7-inches or more, as the straight edges can otherwise feel uncomfortable when holding it especially for extended periods.
Beyond that, we’d definitely recommend a bit more attention is paid to the zoom capabilities, as currently the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra can clearly beat Apple’s best offerings on that score.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
