Apple iPhone 15

At Rs. 327,499, the Apple iPhone 15 is priced as a premium phone, so it has to be judged against both newer iPhones and older Pro models.

Main advantages: a light, comfortable 6.1-inch body, the Dynamic Island, a very bright OLED screen, USB-C, a 48MP main camera with sharp 24MP photos and a 2x option, excellent video, and loud, rich stereo speakers.

Main compromises: a 60Hz screen with no always-on mode, no telephoto lens, slow USB 2 transfers, slow charging, no Apple Intelligence support, and a 128GB base model that fills up quickly.

In Pakistan, used official PTA-approved units sell for far less than new ones, which makes the 15 one of the more practical ways into a recent PTA-approved iPhone. If you want a smoother 120Hz screen and zoom, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max (Rs. 318,699) is the main alternative, but it has an older chip, a Lightning port and a heavier body.

Verdict: a good buy for users coming from an iPhone 11 or older who want a compact, reliable iPhone. Owners of an iPhone 13 or 14 gain little, and gamers or heavy scrollers may prefer a 120Hz phone.

The iPhone 15 has a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with a 1179 x 2556 resolution, HDR10 and Dolby Vision. It reaches 1000 nits in high brightness mode and up to 2000 nits peak outdoors, so it stays easy to read in harsh sunlight, a clear improvement over earlier base iPhones.

• Dynamic Island: replaces the notch and shows live information such as timers, flight details and ride updates.
• Quality: sharp, bright and colour-accurate, with good HDR playback.
• Durability: the Ceramic Shield front is very crack resistant; the screen can survive bumps that scratch the body.

Limitations: the 60Hz refresh rate makes scrolling and animations feel slower to anyone used to a 120Hz phone, although many people coming from older iPhones will not notice. There is also no always-on display, so StandBy mode turns the screen off after a while instead of staying on.

The Apple A16 Bionic (4 nm), first used in the iPhone 14 Pro, has a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU, paired with 6GB of RAM. It is roughly 20% faster than the iPhone 14's chip.

• Everyday use: apps open quickly, and the phone handles around 20 apps in the background without stutter.
• Gaming: PUBG and Genshin Impact run smoothly at the highest settings. After 45 minutes of each, temperatures stayed at a comfortable 37 and 39 degrees.
• Heat: the compact body warms up during long 4K recording, large file transfers, outdoor video and gaming sessions of around an hour and a half, but the aluminium frame helps it cool down quickly.

Limitations: it lacks the hardware ray tracing needed for the console-level games made for Pro iPhones, and it is slightly less powerful than similarly priced current Android flagships. It does not support Apple Intelligence.

The iPhone 15 has a 48MP main camera (f/1.6, sensor-shift OIS), a 12MP ultrawide and a 12MP front camera with autofocus. The main sensor is smaller than the Pro's, but the wide aperture and processing make up for much of that.

• Daylight: photos are saved at 24MP by default, with excellent detail and pleasing contrast. Colours sometimes lean too warm.
• 2x zoom: a 12MP crop from the main sensor gives clean 2x shots, ideal for portraits without distortion. There is no telephoto, so zoom beyond that drops off.
• Portraits: the phone captures depth automatically when it sees a person or pet, so you can turn any shot into a portrait later and change the focus.
• Night: strong detail and contrast, with good control of glare.
• Ultrawide and selfies: the ultrawide has less detail but matches the main camera's colours. Selfies can make darker skin tones look richer than in real life.
• Video: a highlight. 4K 60fps footage is very stable, you can switch between ultrawide, 1x and 2x while recording, and Cinematic mode reaches 4K 30fps with natural background blur.

ProRes and Apple ProRAW are not available, and you cannot switch between front and rear cameras mid-recording.

The iPhone 15 has a 3349mAh battery. It lasts longer than earlier base iPhones and even beats the iPhone 15 Pro on average, but reports differ on how long it lasts:

• General use: roughly 5.5 hours with the screen on, enough for a full day of social media and browsing. With gaming and video recording added, a recharge may be needed by early evening.
• Other reports: a daily screen-on time of 6 to 7 hours, in line with enthusiast phones.

Charging:

• Wired: about 50% in 30 minutes with a fast USB-C adapter, and roughly an hour and a half for a full charge. No charger in the box, only a USB-C cable.
• Wireless: 15W with MagSafe or Qi2.
• Reverse wired: 4.5W through USB-C, handy for charging earbuds, a watch or a game controller.

An 80% charge limit setting helps protect long-term battery health.

The iPhone 15 launched with iOS 17 and is upgradable to iOS 26.

• Dynamic Island: apps such as airlines, weather and ride-hailing use it for live updates.
• Voice Isolation: cuts background noise on phone and video calls, and works in any calling app.
• Battery tools: the 80% charge limit option.
• Other features: offline Apple Maps, interactive widgets and StandBy mode, although StandBy turns the screen off after a while on this model.
• USB-C: works with monitors, keyboards and other accessories, and lets you charge small gadgets from the phone.

Apple Intelligence: not supported; Apple lists it only for the iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 models onwards.

Updates: Apple does not publish a fixed number of iOS upgrades per model. A few more years of updates are expected, but that is an estimate rather than a promise.