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Apple has recently updated the iPhone to use USB-C. It seems that this update was prompted by the EU. This change has made purchasing a new iPhone different than in previous years. Now you need to decide whether to buy a new iPhone 15 series with USB-C and replace all of your cables, or stick with Lightning and buy an older model. The best option is to get an iPhone 15 and use USB-C or stick with MagSafe for wireless charging.
In this article, we will help you find the best iPhone model to buy, regardless of whether you want the latest and greatest or an older version. It’s important to note that not everyone needs an iPhone 15 Pro Max, even though it is currently the best on the market.
Best Overall iPhone: iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 15 Pro Max brings major changes to the camera and titanium
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is by far the best iPhone that you can buy right now. While on the outside, it looks like a pretty minor update compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max, it does have quite a few changes. The most significant change is Titanium. Apple went with titanium for the frame, which not only makes the iPhone 15 Pro Max lighter but also easier to hold in the hands. Previously, from the iPhone 12 Pro to the iPhone 14 Pro series, Apple used Stainless Steel, which looked great, but it was heavier and also had sharper edges. Making it sort of uncomfortable to hold. That’s not the case with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. In fact, I want to use mine more often without a case than with.
The other big change for the iPhone 15 Pro Max this year was, by far, the camera. With the camera, Apple finally gave us a 5x telephoto camera. But that’s not the whole story. Apple is also letting you shoot at 1x, 1.2x, 1.4x, and 2x on the main camera, which is a 48-megapixel sensor. Making it so that Apple can punch in and give you these different focal lengths. Apple likes to tout that it is like having seven different lenses on your phone. I don’t quite agree, but having 35mm is a big deal. I shoot almost all of my photos at 35mm, and absolutely love that natural bokeh on a lot of the shots. In addition to that, having a 5x telephoto is really good to see too.
Powering the iPhone 15 Pro Max is that A17 Pro chipset. It’s the first 3nm chipset from Apple, so what does that mean? Well, it will be more powerful and should be more power efficient. While we did see quite a few overheating issues at launch, none of which I had. My iPhone 15 Pro Max only got warm doing things that you’d expect to warm up the phone – using the camera for a long time, playing games, etc. Apple has seemingly fixed it with iOS 17.1 which was released in late October.
The chipset itself is a pretty impressive one, with Apple saying you’ll get console games on your iPhone now. One of those being Resident Evil Village, which is a brand new game, and it looks incredible on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I have not yet had a chance to play it on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, but from those that have played it, it seems to work really well.
While not everyone likes having a bigger phone, that includes myself as I normally go for the smaller Pro, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is an incredible phone, and we believe it is the best iPhone you can buy right now.
Best Small iPhone: iPhone 15 Pro
A small phone that doesn’t skimp on performance or camera
Apple is one of the few companies that still makes a fairly small phone. Sure there are some out there that want an even smaller phone, but the iPhone 15 Pro at 6.1-inches is a pretty good size. Especially considering the space needed for these crazy cameras that Apple has included here.
The iPhone 15 Pro is also made of titanium, like the Pro Max model. Which makes this iPhone a lot easier to hold onto, and more comfortable. It’s much lighter this year, while also being more durable, which is rather interesting. Apple is selling the iPhone 15 Pro in four colors: black, white, blue and natural titanium. While many prefer the natural titanium, I really couldn’t go with anything other than the Blue Titanium for mine. It’s also no longer a fingerprint magnet like the Stainless Steel iPhone 14 series was. Which is definitely good to see here.
There are fewer upgrades here, compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but it does also get that A17 Pro chipset. This is a pretty powerful chipset, benchmarking ahead of the competition. But as I’ve always said, benchmarks really don’t matter. In day-to-day usage, I do notice a difference with the A17 Pro over the A16 Bionic that was in the iPhone 14 Pro. You should see much better performance here, with slightly better battery life.
The A17 Pro is also great to use for gaming, as Apple is even bringing console-level games to the iPhone 15 Pro. Making it so you can have a console in your pocket now – Nintendo Switch who? The first of those games has already launched – Resident Evil Village. It looks amazing on the iPhone 15 Pro, but it’s much better with a controller. The Backbone controller is a good option.
Of course, we can’t forget about USB-C. Finally, the chargers for Android phones will work with your iPhone. I’ve been using the iPhone 15 Pro for over a month, and it’s still weird plugging in a USB-C cable to it. Mostly because I use MagSafe almost exclusively on my iPhone, and have since the iPhone 12 Pro series. Unfortunately, Apple did not give us any faster charging speeds this year, but that’s probably a good thing, considering how fast the batteries degraded on the iPhone 14 series.
Best iPhone for Most People: iPhone 15
The iPhone 15 ditches some “pro” features for a cheaper price
For most people, you won’t need something like a 120Hz display, a telephoto camera, or titanium. And for those people, the regular iPhone 15 is the best option. The iPhone 15 starts at $799, with options for up to 512GB of storage. As mentioned, it does ditch quite a few “pro” features, like the ProMotion display, the telephoto camera and also the titanium frame. Instead, Apple is using an aluminum frame, which is fine. It’s still pretty durable and should survive a few drops with ease.
Something new that Apple did this year for the iPhone 15 was, give the back a matte finish. This was sorely needed, since the iPhone 12, 13 and 14 series all were fingerprint magnets on the back. Now, that’s not an issue on the iPhone 15 series either. Even though most people are going to stick to using their phone in a case, now you have the option to not use a case.
There was a lot of talk about the colors this year on the iPhone 15, which is a lot more pastel this year, compared to previous years. Apple is still offering five colors: blue, pink, green, yellow and black. There’s no true white color this time, but the colors are all so light, that you might not even notice. Honestly, the pictures really don’t do it justice. My sister picked up the iPhone 15 in blue and it looks really good. You can definitely tell that it is indeed blue and not white.
A few other upgrades for the iPhone 15 this year includes the camera and processor. The iPhone 15 picked up the 48-megapixel sensor from the iPhone 14 Pro series the year before. Which kind of solves that telephoto problem. Since Apple lets you do 2x lossless zoom on the 48-megapixel sensor. This is because the sensor is so large, that Apple can crop in and give you a 2x zoom without losing any details. That’s a pretty big deal, to be quite honest. Then there’s the processor, it’s the A16 Bionic from the iPhone 14 Pro from last year. It’s not really a new processor, just new for this phone. It’s plenty fast and battery life is pretty decent too, so there’s that.
Then there’s USB-C. Many believed that only the Pro models would get USB-C this year, but that’s not true. As Apple did bring USB-C down to the iPhone 15. Though some will argue that it is still using USB 2.0 speeds instead of USB 3.0, but keep in mind, most other phones on the market do this. Very few offer USB 3.0 or 3.1 speeds, because many don’t transfer files off of their phones – they use iCloud.
With the launch of the iPhone 15, many were upset that it was still using a 60Hz display. I even wrote an editorial about why it’s not coming to the iPhone 15. Apple calls 120Hz, “ProMotion” so why would they add a “Pro” feature to a non-Pro iPhone? Additionally, most people don’t even know what 120Hz is. Which is why the iPhone 15 is the best for “most people”.
Perhaps my favorite feature of the iPhone 15 series is the new Find My Friends feature. This lets you find your friends, just like you put an AirTag on them. It’s thanks to the new Ultra Wideband chip (which they didn’t call U2 for some reason, the 2014 fiasco might be the reason why). This chip gives you better precision finding, the only problem here is that it is only available on the iPhone 15 models, so your friends and family would need an iPhone 15 series phone to use this feature.
Best Value iPhone: iPhone 14
Last year’s iPhone is still a really good value
Apple is surprisingly still selling the iPhone 14. Which is fine, because it is still a really good iPhone. I absolutely loved my red iPhone 14. It was a good size, lightweight and the battery life was really impressive. So the iPhone 14 used the same A15 Bionic as the iPhone 13 series, which seemed odd, but it meant that Apple was really able to optimize for it, offering up really impressive battery life on the iPhone 14.
It does still have that aluminum frame, which looks and feels great, though the back is not matte like the iPhone 15. If you’re going to stick it in a case, or don’t really care much about fingerprints, then that’s not a deal breaker. For me, it was really annoying, and forced me to use a case.
iPhone’s cameras are always really good, and that’s still the case on the iPhone 14. It sports dual 12-megapixel cameras for wide and ultrawide. It does not offer telephoto, and only digital zoom. However, the pictures out of this phone are still impressive. I’m still shocked when I see photos coming out of the iPhone 14 because it’s just on another level.
Now for the real question, is it worth buying a year-old iPhone? Apple is really good with software updates. It updated the iPhone 6s for well over seven years before calling it quits. And we’d expect something similar for the iPhone 14. So even though it launched with iOS 16 and has already gotten iOS 17, we definitely expect it to hit at least iOS 22 or longer. So buying a year-old iPhone is not a big deal. And even once it stops getting new versions of iOS, it will continue to get security updates – Apple just updated the iPhone 4s with a security update in September 2023.
Best Cheap iPhone: Apple iPhone SE (2022)
iPhone SE (2022) offers the iconic design with a home button, for under $430
The iPhone SE (2022) is a strange one, in fact the whole SE lineup is kind of weird for Apple. But with the iPhone SE (2022), Apple basically took the iPhone 8 design, and popped in a new A15 Bionic chipset that powered the iPhone 13 series and iPhone 14 (Plus). So it is updated, and will continue to get updates for many more years, all for a retail price of $429.
I’ve used the iPhone SE (2022) and really couldn’t tell you why people buy this phone. But many really love that home button and fingerprint sensor. That’s something that still hasn’t returned even on the iPhone 15 series. Many prefer Touch ID over Face ID, and I can’t say I blame them, especially if you’re using your phone laying in bed. I can’t tell you how many times I needed to pick up my phone and put it up to my face to unlock it with Face ID. It’s honestly quite annoying. And I’d really like to see Touch ID make a comeback.
On the surface, the iPhone SE (2022) sounds like a pretty good deal. But it’s when you get into actually using the phone that you notice, it’s not all that great. It’s just cheap. It has the new A15 Bionic chip inside, which does also bring 5G. On the same size battery as the iPhone 8. As you can expect, that battery life is not great at all. It also has just a single camera – the same camera from the iPhone 8 – which also means no night mode. But during the day, it takes fantastic images, and can compete with any 2023 smartphone. Just don’t stay out past sun down.
The iPhone SE (2022) would be a good phone for parents, and grandparents. Those that don’t use their phones that much, or don’t leave the house that often. And those that really only need it for calls and texts. For power users, the iPhone SE (2022) is going to be a pretty bad experience, unfortunately.