We’re still about seven months away from the unveiling of the iPhone 15, and if the rumors are to be believed, everyone will be talking about one thing: the iPhone 15 Ultra.
Like the Apple Watch Ultra, the iPhone 15 Ultra is rumored to have the best of everything Apple has to offer in an iPhone. As Apple’s largest iPhone, it’ll have a similar feel to the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but everything will be upgraded inside and out. Among the credible rumors we’ve heard about the iPhone 15 Ultra are:
A titanium body: Apple has been rumored for years to be working on an iPhone that uses a different material than stainless steel or aluminum, and after the Apple Watch Ultra, it makes sense for Apple to shift to lightweight titanium finally making an appearance. It’s possible that Apple only offers it in a single color like the Apple Watch to accentuate the difference.
Solid-state volume power buttons: Apple will reportedly use solid-state buttons with dedicated haptic engines on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra, eliminating the last of the moving parts.
Periscope zoom: Another long-rumored feature, the iPhone 15 Ultra is expected to get a new periscope zoom lens, which will reportedly raise the optical zoom to 6x or 10x, with digital zoom that will likely reach 30x or 50x with incredible clarity.
A17 Bionic: After Apple separated last year’s Pro models with the A16 chip, it will reportedly do the same in 2023, with the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Ultra getting a new 3nm A17 processor that is expected to bring a significant speed and efficiency boost.
Wi-Fi 6E: After being introduced in the iPad Pro and then the Mac mini and MacBook Pro, Wi-Fi 6E, which is faster and offers more bandwidth than Wi-Fi 6, Is almost certain to make it to the iPhone 15. The latest rumors say only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra will have it.
Thunderbolt: The iPhone is almost certain to switch to USB-C this year, but while the non-Pro models will still have Lightning speeds, the Pro and Ultra model will reportedly have transfer rates as fast as the iPad Pro thanks to Thunderbolt support.
More storage: When Samsung released its Galaxy S23 Ultra in February, it included a nice surprise: a bump to 256GB of base storage. There were rumors last year that Apple was upping the storage to 256GB at the low end for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, so we’re hoping buyers get twice as much storage this year.
A larger screen: Mark Gurman of Bloomberg suggests that the iPhone Ultra could be “an even higher-end iPhone above both Pro models,” rather than a replacement for the iPhone 14 Pro Max. That means it could have an even larger display, which means it would rival—or even top—the 6.8-inch S23 Ultra. The timing is unclear—Apple is rumored to ship the iPhone 15 Ultra this year but Gurman’s report is about the 2024 iPhone—but we’re not counting out a larger model.
That’s a long list of features that will make the iPhone 15 Ultra the most desirable phone of all time. And there may be even more to come: Unknownz21 on Twitter, who leaked the schematics showing Wi-Fi 6E and solid-state buttons, says he has “discovered an apparent new feature/change” on the iPhone 15 Pro and Ultra and will spill the beans “when deemed appropriate.”
So start saving now, because there’s one more feature of the iPhone 15 Ultra: It’s likely going to be the most expensive iPhone of all time. Gurman reports that the iPhone 15 Ultra could be even more expensive than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, possibly starting as high as $1,299.
