The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are Apple’s latest standard iPhone models, sporting some bigger upgrades than seen in recent years, but how different really are they compared to 2021’s iPhone 13?
Apple released the iPhone 13 in late 2021 and has bumped it down in price since then to make it more accessible as new models have been released, and it now starts at just $599. The latest models, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, start at $799 and $899, respectively.
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus sit in the middle of the iPhone lineup at $699 and $799, but since the upgrades that these devices offer over the iPhone 13 are relatively small, a significant number of users may now be weighing up whether to get the iPhone 13 or the iPhone 15, and skip over the iPhone 14 in their considerations. Likewise, existing iPhone 13 users may be wondering what there is to gain by upgrading to an iPhone 15 model.
Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two iPhone models is best for you, and serves as a way to clearly see the differences that the iPhone 15 brings to the table. This article focuses on the iPhone 13 and iPhone 15, but to understand the differences between the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15, see our other buyer’s guide:
| iPhone 13 | iPhone 15 |
| Aluminum chassis with squared-off edges | Aluminum chassis with contoured edges |
| Glossy glass back | Color-infused frosted glass back |
| Thickness of 7.65mm | Thickness of 7.80mm |
| Weighs 174 grams | Weighs 171 or 201 grams |
| “Notch” TrueDepth camera array | Dynamic Island |
| 800 nits max brightness (typical) | 1,000 nits max brightness (typical) |
| 1,200 nits peak brightness (HDR) | 1,600 nits peak brightness (HDR) |
| 2,000 nits peak brightness (outdoor) | |
| A15 Bionic chip | A16 Bionic chip |
| 5-core GPU | 5-core GPU with 50% more memory bandwidth |
| 12-megapixel main camera with ƒ/1.5 aperture | 48-megapixel main camera with ƒ/1.6 aperture |
| 12-megapixel front-facing camera with ƒ/2.2 aperture | 12-megapixel front-facing camera with ƒ/1.9 aperture and autofocus |
| 0.5x and 1x optical zoom options | 0.5x, 1x, and 2x optical zoom options |
| 24- and 48-megapixel super-high-resolution photos | |
| Photonic Engine | |
| Smart HDR 4 | Smart HDR 5 |
| Portrait mode with Focus and Depth Control | Next-generation portraits with Focus and Depth Control |
| Night mode and Night mode portraits | Improved Night mode and Night mode portraits |
| Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field (1080p at 30 fps) | Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field (4K HDR up to 30 fps) |
| Action mode | |
| Improved audio quality on phone calls | |
| First-generation Ultra Wideband chip | Second-generation Ultra Wideband chip (connects from 3x further away) |
| Precision Finding for Find My friends | |
| Bluetooth 5.0 | Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Emergency SOS | Emergency SOS via satellite |
| Crash Detection | |
| Lightning port | USB-C port |
| Support for Qi wireless charging | Support for Qi2 wireless charging |
| Setting to prevent charging above 80% | |
| Battery manufacture date, first use, and cycle count information in Settings | |
| 19-hour battery life | 20- or 26-hour battery life |
| eSIM optional | eSIM only (in the U.S.) |
| Green, Pink, Blue, Midnight, Starlight, and PRODUCT(RED) color options | Yellow, Blue, Pink, Green, and Black color options |