You could buy two Vision Pros at that price and still have change to spare…
I’m not sure whether to call this prohibitive pricing or to just keep scrolling without reacting viscerally, but the folks at Caviar, in their infinite wisdom, have created a version of the iPhone 15 Pro that’s so ludicrously expensive it actually makes the $3500 Vision Pro look affordable. The ‘Vision’ is Caviar’s latest customized iPhone model, designed to pay homage to the Vision Pro. Its rear comes embellished with Vision Pro-inspired details, featuring a close-up of the nose-ridge, along with speaker and camera details along the edge, and a diamond-knurled surface on the top. The entire iPhone’s backplate is machined from Titanium (unlike the regular iPhone which has a glass back), and detailed with jewelry-grade enamel. The collection is limited to just 99 units, and Caviar says it’s perfect for people who want an iPhone that complements their Vision Pro. That’s if you’ve got any money left over from purchasing the spatial computing headset in the first place…
The Vision’s overall appeal lies entirely in the design of its backplate. Under the hood, it’s still your standard 128Gb iPhone 15 Pro with all the features intact. Caviar just takes liberties with redesigning the exterior surface, sometimes embellishing it with rare materials like gold, diamonds, and other jewel-worthy accouterments. With the Vision, while you don’t get any gemstones per-se, you do get an edgy, futuristic-looking backplate that complements your spatial headset. The drawback, however, is the fact that it costs 80 Benjamins (and some more) and you can’t wirelessly charge the Vision because of the metal back.
At this point, discussing the Vision any further becomes a moot point just because of that price tag. Strangely enough, the Vision is still cheaper than some of Caviar’s other custom iPhone models… but ultimately you’re paying for a luxury statement-piece more than anything. People who splurge on Caviar phones are pretty much the creme-de-la-creme of society, with yachts and private jets to their name.
The Caviar iPhone Vision starts at $8060 for the 128Gb model. If you want to upgrade to models with higher storage, the price goes up significantly (why, I don’t know since it isn’t like Caviar’s got anything to do with the storage). The 1TB iPhone Vision has an eye-watering price tag of $9060. Just for context, with that much money, you could buy high-end versions of every Apple product and probably still have enough money to spare for a top-tier iCloud+ and Apple Care subscription.
Power banks might be so common and boring these days, but there was a time when people thought they were more trouble than they were worth. Having to fumble around for a battery pack and cable to quickly plug in a phone may sound like too much of a hassle, so mophie, one of the oldest players in this game, came up with an alternative solution a long, long time ago. The battery case was the answer to that problem, making the iPhone “wear” its extra battery at all times. That design, however, hasn’t been seen for years, making you think battery cases have gone extinct. That was almost the case, pardon the pun, until the recent announcement that the mophie Juice Pack is making a comeback, but apparently only for three out of four iPhone 15 models.
When you first hear about it, battery cases sound like the best of both worlds. You get an extra battery to make sure your phone never runs empty, but you also don’t have to juggle with a separate pack like with a normal power bank. That’s theoretically true until you realize just how much that extra power will cost you in other aspects. Especially when you consider that batteries from five years ago were pretty thick despite having low capacities.
With significant improvements in this area, mophie thought it was time to bring its juice pack back to life, offering a battery case for the current generation of iPhones. The basic concept remains the same, with the battery “hiding” inside the sizable case that wraps around the iPhone like a very thick bumper. Of course, it also functions as a protective case, so that rugged and bulky appearance isn’t without its merits.
Like in previous iterations of the juice pack, there are LED dots on the back to indicate just how much charge the case has left. It also supports passthrough USB-C charging, so you don’t have to worry about having to remove the case just to charge the iPhone itself. That said, given the thickness that the battery adds to the back, it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that it also prevents any sort of MagSafe functionality from working.
The mophie Juice Packs will go for $99.95 for all three iPhone models, though there are different capacities, starting at 2,400 mAh. The iPhone 15 Plus is notably missing from the list, apparently because mophie didn’t want to waste resources on a model that isn’t even selling well. Then again, it remains to be seen how many iPhone users will be willing to bulk up their phones and lose MagSafe compatibility at the same time just for the convenience of not having to plug in a power bank.
You may read the title of this article and think to yourself, “wait a second, isn’t Siri already an AI?” Well, yes and no. Back in the early 2010s, “AI” was a popular buzzword among big tech companies, who described their virtual assistant services as AI companions – which was technically true, due to their reliance on natural language processing to interpret voice commands and output rote responses.
When tech corps talk about AI today, they’re primarily referring to chatbots using generative AI models like ChatGPT, which are vastly more advanced – and costly to operate. These have far more agency to “guess” correct information – even if you only provide limited input – thanks to sweeping advancements in machine learning. If you’re used to talking to Siri, Alexa, Cortana, or Google Assistant, you probably know there’s only so much these assistants can do… without a reasonable amount of extra programming to make them speak to far more advanced AI software like ChatGPT.
Throughout 2023, generative AI has dominated the entire conversation about artificial intelligence, and for that reason, a large chunk of software has been retrofitted to include some form of generative AI to help users navigate faster. Now, according to a Bloomberg report by Mark Gurman, Apple is racing to implement a similar model into Siri in iOS devices as soon as next year – with the release of iOS 18. That’s exciting on paper, if not for the fact it feels like Apple is putting the cart before the horse; chasing flashy new features while letting its most loyal users deal with quality control issues.
iPhone 15 Pro models are still overheating
You can’t really escape the fact that the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max overheating issue happened. Period. More importantly, it’s still happening. The iOS 17.1 update that Apple promised would fix the overheating issue – which caused everything from periods of system instability to OLED burn-in – isn’t even fully released yet, as of the writing of this article. What it does include, however, is a large number of fixes that should have launched with the $999+ iPhone 15 Pro and $1,199+ iPhone 15 Pro Max to begin with, nearly one month ago.
On one hand, this whole situation feels like it was caused by a simple quality control error. The fact it’s evidently simple enough to fix over a couple of smaller software updates and one larger update, one month on, still raises questions on an organizational level. But in any case, adding a generative AI layer on the OS level is likely to make any existing issues worse, for reasons I’ll explain later on.
Overheating seems to be a software issue
As I previously mentioned, the overheating issue in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max seems like it comes from an interaction between iOS 17 and the iPhone 15 Pro itself. It’s easy to speculate what’s going on under the hood without delving deeper into the inner workings of the iPhone 15 Pro/Max or the massive interlocking systems of code powering it.
But again, purely from a software standpoint, Apple won’t easily escape the potential quality control issues that could come up by making its existing code exponentially more complex and demanding with advanced AI features. That follows the logic of why Apple is introducing more fixes than features with iOS 17.1 – it sorely needs to, in order to satisfy the disappointed iPhone 15 Pro owners – but the fact it’s apparently dropping “$1 billion per year” on integrating AI at this exact moment feels like an example of over-eagerness to catch up with a trend it doesn’t already have its thumb on.
Running generative AI models locally is system-intensive
A sizeable number of programs that use generative AI, do so by outsourcing their AI processing to external providers (like ChatGPT) via API calls, or just by telling a less intelligent program to manually send a command to an AI chatbot through a web interface. This is because the amount of computational power it takes to run an LLM locally is rather high. Some AI processes can work well locally, even on phones, thanks to specialized chips that are optimized for those purposes. For instance, the Google Pixel 8 is inherently built to run a wide number of AI-powered services, like Zoom Enhance, without using any external API.
On an indirectly related note, I can use my NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti to double the framerates in video games with DLSS 3 and Frame Generation, both of which use an AI model to (locally) enhance the image of my games before they reach my display. That’s the sort of thing you can generally do with specialized chips, without pushing your CPU or other internals beyond their limitations.
Running an LLM locally, which the current iPhone generation isn’t equipped to do, is a whole different thing. And yet, it’s the only conceivable improvement to Siri that would make sense when Apple talks about “upgrading” Siri with AI features. As an Apple user: yes, I want the functionality of generative AI in Siri, but I’d like to not have to worry about it tanking my system performance or rely on an always-on internet connection to work.
Siri likely won’t win the generative AI race
An LLM-based Siri would be behind the times, even if it came out in 2024 as a local function within the next generation of iPhones. That’s already highly unlikely for the reasons I described above. And since we already have so many powerful web-based LLM chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Microsoft Bing, it’s not like the addition of a Siri-based AI chatbot would provide a ton of additional value – except to diehard Apple users who wouldn’t ever dip outside of Apple’s ecosystem anyhow.
At this point in the race, it feels like Apple is chasing the hype train rather than defining it. Once again, it’s the cart placed before the horse.
Improved Siri AI is still coming, inevitably
Everyone is adding some form of generative AI bot to their software, so why not also do the same thing to iOS 18? It would add sorely-needed functionality to Siri, making it a true AI assistant with the ability to – for instance – fully manage an iPhone or iPad’s calendar. It could also help iPhone users learn how to use the system more efficiently, and take care of other menial tasks. If Apple is putting as much effort and capital into the project as is evident by the Bloomberg report, it’s definitely coming at some point.
Now, with all that said and done, I’m not knocking a hypothetical generative AI-based Siri upgrade – if we were talking solely about utility. If it can work well, it will be a greatly-welcomed addition to the iOS 18 feature set. However, it’s still questionable about how well it will work. For now, I’ll be more impressed when Apple fixes the iPhone 15 Pro’s overheating issues.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max have been out for a few weeks now, meaning users have had plenty of time to break their new phones in. Literally, by breaking their actual phone in more than a few instances. A shockingly high number of reports about users experiencing everything from overheating issues to OLED burn-in have flooded the internet in the short time since release, prompting action from Apple itself as the developer has gradually patched out issues.
If this news is enough to dissuade you from upgrading to an iPhone 15, consider that the issues will eventually get smoothed out across the board; Apple is racing to get overheating and burn-in fixed on a software level. And since these issues are mainly affecting Pro and Pro Max users, regular iPhone 15 owners seem unaffected. Still, despite Apple’s statement to MacRumors that the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s design isn’t inherently causing burn-in, there are indeed a few potential weak points that could make an existing problem worse. Fortunately, iOS 17.1 is now in beta as of yesterday, and it could come with some major fixes, but until then, here are a few potential causes of iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max burn-in to be aware of.
1. Running the screen close to its brightness limit of 2000 nits
The new iPhone 15 Pro Max has the ability to boost brightness levels to a staggering 2000 nits in outdoor settings. This is generally a welcome addition, especially if you do a lot of outdoor photography and/or videography where brightness and color accuracy are important for getting your shots just right. The only major problem is how taxing it can be to run a power-hungry OLED display at 2000 nits for a sustained period of time, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s battery may not be able to sustain 2000 nits of brightness if other software is running the CPU to its limit in the background.
Like any other complex device, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is essentially a series of tightly-woven systems that rely heavily on one another to work – and when just one part of that ecosystem breaks down, it forces every other part to compensate. Pushing 2000 nits through an OLED display for a sustained period of time on a system that doesn’t fully know how to allocate resources to sustain such brightness – even due to a single line of code in the operating system – may be enough to burn out the OLED display.
2. Overheating related to the titanium chassis
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max uses a titanium and glass build design that is sturdier and feels higher-quality, but is less capable of dissipating heat than the aluminum and glass casing used by the iPhone 15 and earlier iPhone models. Overheating can indeed damage an OLED display, including by making images burn into the display.
On a software level, Apple probably optimizes its iOS operating system to work best with iPhones that are cased in aluminum, and some tweaks still need to be made to compensate for the titanium iPhone 15 Pro design.
In any case, you should be aware of when your phone is or isn’t getting enough ventilation. Common sense applies here: you shouldn’t charge it under bedsheets, but also make sure not to keep it in your pocket or running high-resource apps and games if you start to feel it overheating. Place it somewhere with sufficient ventilation and stop using it until it cools down.
3. Overuse of specific apps
iPhone 15 Pro Max
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is capable of running extremely high-performance apps and games, including games that use ray-tracing elements and other software components, like augmented reality, to provide an impressive experience. That all comes with a cost, and sometimes, developers simply don’t program their apps to use iOS efficiently. Combining that with some of the earlier issues I mentioned, playing a poorly-optimized game for a sufficient length of time may trigger a case of OLED burn-in.
A far less likely culprit is burn-in caused by just using the same app all day long (if it has static GUI elements). But even so, my old iPhone XS from 2018 – one of the first iPhone models with an OLED display, when OLED TVs still largely struggled with burn-in reduction – has never had any issues with burn-in during the 5+ years I’ve owned it. And that’s after spending hours a day on social media and in games like Pokémon Go for several consecutive years.
4. Using the Always On Display setting available to recent Pro and Pro Max models
One of the ways OLED displays reduce burn-in is by automatically shutting themselves down in a matter of seconds or after a few minutes of disuse. Since the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max feature a setting that lets you keep your display on indefinitely, using such a feature – before the system can handle it on a software level, mind you – may be a cause of OLED burn-in. This is especially the case when you mix it with resource-draining games and 2000-nit brightness settings.
It may not be the sole cause of harm, but your best bet is keeping the Always On Display setting turned off – at least until iOS 17.1 exits beta and becomes generally available.
5. Manufacturing defects in the OLED panel
Manufacturing defects are a fact of life. Apple is generally very good at shipping products rated to the maximum assurance of quality, but you can’t prevent defects 100% of the time – no matter who you are. OLED displays are notoriously more sensitive to burn-in than regular displays, and though it’s unlikely, a bad batch of iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max units could be the culprit for widespread burn-in.
If you’re in the market to upgrade from an iPhone 14 to an iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max – or even if you’re considering options outside of Apple’s newest lineup, such as the excellent Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra or the newly announced Google Pixel 8 Pro – there are a number of new and upgraded features to look forward to.
Of course, there are plenty of considerations involved in any major tech upgrade, and it’s probably a good idea to weigh out your options before dropping $799 or more on a new device.
Designer: Apple
Here are a few of the most standout features included with every version of the iPhone 15 and its variants, and – I want to make this extra clear – if you’re still rocking an older device than an iPhone 13 or equivalent, it’s probably a good time to upgrade. Additionally, things like full-speed USB 3.0 support and telephoto cameras for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max make the premium variants of the iPhone 15 especially attractive for filmmakers who benefit the most from the iPhone 15 Pro’s mixture of advanced video recording features, titanium chassis, and (relatively) petite form.
1. New USB-C charging port
The tech world is increasingly moving toward compatibility with high-speed USB-C connections using the powerful and quick USB 3.0 architecture. Plenty of USB storage devices, computers, gaming consoles, and even other phones are already equipped to speak to one another via USB-C. And now, thanks to the iPhone 15’s inclusion of USB-C (as it does away with the standard Lightning cable format introduced in 2012) you can integrate your new iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro into your existing ecosystem of non-Apple devices and peripherals… in theory.
Counterpoint:
It seems like Apple’s support for external storage devices via USB-C is currently a little too limited to consider USB-C a benefit – yet, at least. For instance, only the iPhone 15 Pro gets USB 3.0 data transfer speeds; the standard iPhone 15 is locked to USB 2.0 speeds much like every longtime iPhone owner’s collection of Lightning cables that are now effectively defunct. It sounds like the real boon here – the ability to record footage directly to an external device – is reserved for those who are willing to shell out for the iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max.
2. Dynamic Island
It’s kind of annoying to have to constantly switch between apps if I’m juggling a text conversation or a game with contextual information from a GPS or ridesharing app. Apple’s convenient Dynamic Island feature returns from iPhone 14 Pro as a standard inclusion in all iPhone 15 models, providing a space for all important notifications to seamlessly blend into the user experience in a way that flows naturally and doesn’t jar you out of whichever activity you’d prefer to be doing. All that, without the guilt or worry of missing important contextual information from other apps.
Counterpoint:
Dynamic Island is really just a fancy way to deliver notifications from other apps, and though it adds a layer of convenience, it’s probably not so terribly life-changing that you absolutely need to buy a new $799 device to get it. If you won’t already get much utility out of the iPhone 15’s other improvements, or if you already own an iPhone 14 Pro, you probably won’t care too much about this one.
3. 48-megapixel front camera
One of the biggest upgrades to all versions of the iPhone 15 is its leap from a 12MP primary front-facing camera with a f/1.5 aperture to a 48MP primary front-facing camera with a f/1.6 aperture and 2x optical zoom. This means photos and videos taken with an iPhone 15 are at least three times better looking than the standard iPhone 14, and roughly on-par with the iPhone 14 Pro.
The new built-in stabilization features, camera quality, and optical zoom get even better with the iPhone 15 Pro, which features a f/1.78 aperture main camera, a triple-camera system including a third telephoto camera for even more impressive ultrawide shots, and up to 5x optical zoom.
Counterpoint:
The standard iPhone 15’s leap from 12 to 48 megapixels on its main front-facing camera is great, and it’s difficult to argue against it being one of the most notable improvements this gen. That said, Apple is still sorely lagging behind Samsung in the phone camera arena. If photography is the main function of your phone, you might want to check out the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – which features a 200MP main camera – before committing to an upgrade. Even the recent Google Pixel 7a features a 64MP primary sensor.
4. Brighter display
The iPhone 15 is remarkably bright. Compared to the iPhone 14’s maximum of 800 nits (or 1200 nits in HDR mode), the iPhone 15’s baseline peak brightness is 1000 nits, which increases to 1600 nits in HDR mode. Once you take it outside, however, it increases that maximum brightness up to 2000 nits. To give you an idea of how bright that is, many mid-range HDR-enabled OLED TVs struggle to display a higher peak brightness than roughly 1000 nits.
Counterpoint:
Just because the iPhone 15 can display at a max brightness of 2,000 nits, doesn’t mean it’s sustainable to keep it running at that brightness level forever. The upgraded battery makes it easier to sustain that brightness in theory. However, users are reporting bugs, including cases of overheating. Not to mention, it costs more power in general to keep the battery sated. And, if you already owned an iPhone 14 Pro, you already had this feature anyway.
5. Improved Ultra Wideband chip
The new and improved UWB chip included in the iPhone 15 is advertised to widen ultra wideband signal range by up to 200%, and it can also generate more precise Find My Friends geolocation in close quarters – for instance, at a crowded indoor event where a lot of different people are using their phones to locate and/or communicate with one another. This is a great upgrade if you live in a packed urban environment – or if you frequent a lot of conventions, parties, or other places where you want to be able to quickly locate friends and family if you get separated.
counterpoint:
The iPhone 14’s first-gen UWB is already strong enough for most uses, and while the second generation UWB is a good upgrade, it’s not necessary yet. It may have a strong application for Apple Vision Pro owners who need the improved bandwidth to seamlessly transfer data between devices, however, Apple seems to be the main innovator at the moment – with few other manufacturers making use of the technology. It makes sense to assume Android phones will eventually catch up, but for the price of a brand-new iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro, it’s firmly a “nice to have” at the moment.
The idea of being an Apple or Android superfan made a lot of sense 10 years ago when there were substantial differences between the two brands. Today, the two operating systems share an entire host of similarities. Both have overlapping features that make them compelling alternatives to each other, and the only truly defining difference at this point is their individual ecosystems or walled gardens… that was until today when Google revealed their Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.
While outwardly, the Pixel 8 series and the iPhone 15 series share a ton of pretty great features, it’s remarkable what Google’s managed to achieve with its AI-first approach. Both phones run on custom silicon (the iPhone on the A17 Bionic chip and the Pixel on the Tensor 3 chip), but Google’s strong AI background has resulted in a few surprising new features that set it in a class apart. These features are so game-changing that not only are they not available on any other Android phone, but you won’t find them even on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Temperature Sensor
The first on this list isn’t an AI-powered feature but rather a hardware one… and a pretty funky one to begin with. The Pixel 8 Pro is the first Pixel phone to come with its own temperature sensor that measures the temperature of anything you point it at. Almost working like an IR thermometer, this sensor lets you see if your drink’s chilled or if your barbecue grill or cast iron is ripping hot. You can measure the outer temperature of food items to know if they’re cooked properly or if your coffee is too hot for consumption. Google has even filed an application with the FDA to allow the sensor to monitor human temperature data, allowing you to check if you have a fever, and sync that data with your fitness device. The temperature sensor on the Pixel 8 Pro is mirrored by a LiDAR sensor on the iPhone 15 Pro, which performs 3D scanning rather than temperature gauging. Sure, they don’t compare given how wildly different they are, but one could argue that the ability to instantly measure the temperature of anything has much more of a real-world impact than the ability to 3D scan.
Best Take
Last year, Google unveiled some pretty impressive AI-powered editing features within its Photos app, like the ability to unblur photos, to erase objects you didn’t need, and to move certain elements within the photo for a better composition… but what do you do when you click a group photo at the wrong moment when someone’s eyes are closed, or a family photo with the kid making faces while everyone says cheese? Best Take is Google’s answer to that unique problem – if you’re unhappy with someone’s expression in a photo, Best Take simply changes their expression for you. The camera records facial expressions long before you hit the shutter button, giving you multiple options to choose from. The AI simply replaces the ‘bad’ face with a better one, resulting in a computationally altered photo that looks much more appealing. In Google’s words, it replaces the photo you just clicked with the photo you wish you clicked.
This feature, although highly impressive, has a lot of people up in arms because it destroys the very concept of a photograph. Most purists will argue that such a high level of editing pretty much takes away the true beauty of a photograph because it completely alters reality. There’s a significant difference between altering a photo’s white balance and flat-out changing someone’s face… but that vitriolic debate aside, the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro both tout this rather incredible feature that isn’t just missing on the iPhone, it’s probably against the very belief system of the people at Apple.
Audio Magic Eraser
If last year’s magic eraser for photos wasn’t good enough, Google debuted a new Audio Magic Eraser feature for video too! Sort of like noise canceling for videos, the new Audio Magic Eraser feature lets you edit the audio in the video files captured on your phone. Tensor’s powerful AI analyzes the audio and separates the waveforms into multiple categories that you can then either mute or reduce. Recording a vlog on a noisy road? The AI can eliminate the car and crowd noises and keep just your voice (without any fancy microphone or equipment). Trying to sing a song and your dog’s barking away in the background? You can mute your dog entirely in post by simply ‘erasing’ that sound from the overall video! The Audio Magic Eraser is a brilliant example of how far Google’s come with its AI endeavors, and is a major sign for Apple and other companies to jump aboard the AI train.
Video Boost and Night Sight Video
Google’s made some massive improvements to the Pixel’s video-shooting abilities too. The iPhone has somewhat been a bit of an undisputed champion in the video department, but the Pixel 8 Pro’s latest features fire direct shots at Apple. Video Boost is Google’s latest feature for enhancing videos AFTER you’ve shot them. Sort of like how photos get computationally enhanced after you click the shutter button, Google now extends this feature to videos too, processing every single frame individually to tweak the colors, highlight the skin tone, enhance HDRI, and make the output much more vibrant and beautiful than the original footage. Video Boost works retroactively, but only if you’ve got the feature enabled before you shoot your video. Once shot, the video is sent to Google’s cloud servers to process, and then the boosted video is sent back to your phone, available directly in the Photos library.
Enable Video Boost in a low-light environment and you instantly get access to Google’s new Night Sight Video feature. Night sight, whether on Android or iOS, has been limited to photos, but what Google proposes is literally mind-boggling. Just like Video Boost, Night Sight Video enhances every single frame of your low-light video file, enriching it and bringing out details that were previously hidden in the darkness. I imagine somewhere an Apple exec is furious at the fact that the Pixel 8 can now record low-light videos, because after its astrophotography mode, this is yet another significant win for Google over Apple!
Zoom Enhance
If you don’t have upwards of $1,099 to spend on the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s tetraprism camera that shoots 5x optical zoom, this new feature for Pixel phones should impress you. Announced alongside the new Pixel 8 phones, Zoom Enhance is a feature within Google Photos that uses AI to upscale your photos for you. The feature, on its own, might not sound as revolutionary as the Audio Magic Eraser, but it’s the first time a smartphone’s had a generative AI upscaler built right into it. Just pinch to zoom into an existing photo and you’ve now got the option to enhance it using generative AI upscaling technology that felt like science fiction just a few years ago. What’s truly impressive is that the Zoom Enhance feature runs on-device and doesn’t need to use a massive cloud-based AI model. This on-device foundation model is specific to the Tensor 3 chip, and although the Zoom Enhance feature isn’t available immediately, Google promised to roll it out later this year.
Recorder Transcribe + Summarize
Another feature powered by the Pixel’s on-device foundational model is its ability to transcribe and summarize your recordings. Google did announce a Live Transcribe app over 5 years ago, but with the birth of LLMs, the new Recorder is a pretty potent tool that takes the effort out of transcribing all your recordings. It works off the bat, without needing a separate subscription to an AI service. Just hit the record button and the phone creates an audio recording while simultaneously transcribing every recording into an in-depth text file. A summarize button helps condense the entire transcription into actionable pointers. The service runs locally, is free, and makes a strong case for why anyone should choose a Pixel 8 over an iPhone 15.
Call Screen
The Pixel’s impressive AI model also helps sort robocalls from real ones with stunning accuracy. Hit the Call Screen button when your phone rings and the phone’s AI ‘chats’ with the caller to identify the purpose of their call. If it’s spam, the Pixel 8 automatically declines the call for you without you needing to answer, but if it’s important, you can either answer the call or get the AI to respond for you. Perfect for calls that just need small actions from you, the Call Screen feature lets you quickly go about your business instead of being on a call that takes minutes when it should have taken seconds. The Call Screen feature is touted to even work on the Pixel Watch when connected to a Pixel phone.
7 Years of Software Updates (Bonus)
Rick Osterloh also made a pretty surprising announcement at the end of the keynote, stating that the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro would get a whopping 7 years of software updates to keep them running for longer. Most phones get 3 years of updates, the iPhone gets 5, but 7 years is pretty unprecedented for any smartphone. It shows that Google is (at least on paper) serious about what the Pixel means to them and that they want consumers to benefit from it for as long as possible. It also means people will hold onto their Pixel phones for longer, hopefully reducing e-waste and Google’s carbon footprint significantly. Sure, Apple’s got its Carbon Neutral program… but let me know when they offer software support for their iPhones for more than half a decade!
It might be a little early but this iPhone costume has already won Halloween!
Designed by the folks at Spigen, the C1 MagFit case for the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max takes inspiration from easily one of the most iconic pieces of tech history. Inspired by the iMac G3’s vibrant translucent color series, the C1 MagFit gives your iPhone a retro makeover while protecting it from bumps, scratches, and cracks (the glass front and back are breakable, after all!) and even continuing to enable its MagSafe features.
Available in three gorgeous colors – the iconic Bondi Blue, Graphite, and Ruby, these cases transform your cutting-edge smartphone into a cult classic. The C1 MagFit case’s multi-part design features a translucent polycarbonate upper shell, an opaque white polycarbonate lower bumper, and a soft TPU inner structure that holds the case’s multiple parts together.
The case pays homage to the iMac G3, a classic all-in-one computer created by the dynamic duo of Steve Jobs and Jony Ive before Apple overwhelmingly migrated to aluminum housings for all their products. The G3 popularized the transparent electronic design movement, with Jobs being fixated on the fact that the insides of our computers shouldn’t look like an ugly mess of circuitry and wires. Stressing that even the insides of our gadgets should look beautiful, Jobs decided to make a computer that you could look inside and marvel every inch of. Obviously that vision died with Apple’s pivot to aluminum, but it’s made quite the resurgence with Carl Pei echoing Jobs with his ‘Technology should be fun’ ethos. The C1 MagFit case brings back that glorious vision to the iPhone 15 Pro with a case that somewhat lifts the veil on technology with its translucent design.
The translucent body exhibits a faux electronics layout, thanks to the molded inner TPU structure, but it surely is a pleasure to look at. You can see chips, modules, PCBs, etc., and there’s even a hole in the center of the TPU inner case that lets you look at the Apple Logo on the phone inside. The hole is surrounded by the case’s own MagSafe ring, allowing you to mount accessories or chargers onto the back of your iPhone.
The two-part case gives your phone multiple layers of protection while still keeping it slim (and frankly looking gorgeous too). Padded foam inserts on the inside of the case absorb shock if the phone falls flat on its back (that glass is pretty fragile) while a solid thick lip around the camera bump keeps your camera lenses safe and sound. The same lip can be found around the front, to protect your phone screen from impact. Tiny air cushions are built into the corners of the case too, helping dissipate impact if the phone falls on its corner. This corner impact is said to be the leading reason behind massive glass cracks because of how the metal frame of the phone transfers impact to the corners of the glass pieces. Spigen’s “Air Cushion Technology” prevents that from happening, helping protect your phone from all sides.
The C1 MagFit case comes in three colors for both the iPhone 15 Pro as well as the 15 Pro Max. It features clicky tactile buttons on the sides that are a pleasure to use, and textured sides that let you grip the phone with confidence – unlike that slippery titanium frame that’s sure to have your phone slide right out of your hand if you make any sudden movements!
FineWoven is great for the environment, but the folks at The Verge have some pretty nasty stuff to say about its overall quality. It looks good for precisely a day, and then starts fraying, gathering scratches, getting dirty, and becoming quite the eyesore. FineWoven may have a lower impact on the environment on face value, but it doesn’t last as long or look as good as leather – so if you’re bummed out that Apple’s discontinued making leather cases for their iPhones, don’t worry… Mujjo hasn’t.
The Full Leather Wallet Case for the iPhone 15 Pro is everything your smartphone needs to look great while staying protected. The case comes clad in premium European leather tanned in the Netherlands, with remarkable grain and a choice between black, brown, and blue finishes. A machined metal rim around the camera protects your precious lenses, while a polycarbonate inner structure with a microfiber interior lining keeps your phone protected from bumps and scratches. Moreover, each Wallet Case comes with a slot stitched into the back that holds two cards that you can easily fish out whenever you need… and unlike MagSafe, the wallet doesn’t accidentally detach while you pull your phone out of your pocket.
Mujjo’s leather cases complement the iPhone beautifully. They use the highest-quality leather and are tanned using a special DriTan process that doesn’t use any water whatsoever, bringing down the leather’s carbon footprint drastically. Moreover, Mujjo’s cases are built to last, and patina beautifully over time, so you’re less likely to swap them out after a year or two.
The cases feature a 3D leather wrap around a polycarbonate inner frame. The camera bump as well as the buttons on the case are made from recycled metal, and the phone features a luxurious Japanese microfiber lining on the inside that ensures your iPhone 15 Pro’s glass back doesn’t get scratched. The cases are even MagSafe compatible, which means you can snap Apple’s MagSafe charger onto the back and have it juice your iPhone’s battery. You’ll have to remove the cards, though.
Full Leather Wallet Case on the iPhone 15 Pro
Mujjo’s cases don’t just protect your phone, they respect their aesthetic too. The cases come made from the highest-quality leather (Gold Rated by the Leather Working Group) while also ensuring the leather is processed adhering to strict environmental standards, sans the use of harsh chemicals. Moreover, unlike Apple’s FineWoven which shows signs of wear and tear within days of use, Mujjo backs its case with a 2-year warranty against craftsmanship/manufacturing defects. The leather case adorns the iPhone beautifully, and patinas with time, gathering even more character as the leather ages. Mujjo’s Full Leather Wallet Case is designed to be compatible with the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max with a price range of $54 to $64 depending on the model and size.
Air-filled Bumpers offer almost total protection from bumps and falls
MagSafe-compatible O-Ring provides a versatile kickstand and holder
Slim and lightweight design maintains the iPhone 15's elegance
CONS:
O-Ring doesn't rotate to support arbitrary positions or angles
Only available for the iPhone Pro and Pro Max models
RATINGS:
AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
EDITOR'S QUOTE:
The TORRAS UPRO Ostand's air-filled bumpers protect your iPhone from every angle, and a MagSafe-compatible O-ring works as both a holder as well as a kickstand. Apple invented MagSafe. TORRAS perfected it.
Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives, allowing us to connect with each other, retrieve information, and even create and record memories. We bring our phones with us everywhere, even in some places or circumstances that would be precarious for the electronic device. Apple’s latest event played up that “wonderlust” and presented the iPhone 15 series as the perfect companion for your life’s journeys, especially when it comes time to snap up photos or record videos for posterity. Bringing along a naked iPhone to your many adventures, however, might not be the smartest and most efficient move, especially when not if accidents happen. Just in time for the release of the iPhone 15, TORRAS launched new cases designed to be just as adventurous as the new iPhones, so we take it for a bumpy ride to see if the new UPRO Ostand SS ShieldMate can truly turn the iPhone 15 into your faithful companion through life’s up and, most especially, downs.
With so many cases for smartphones littering the market today, you might almost be tempted to give the UPRO Ostand SS ShieldMate a pass. Your opinion will quickly change, however, the moment you behold the case, and especially after you’ve put it on your iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max. Depending on the color variant, the case is mostly clear or has a frosted surface that still lets the iPhone’s elegant colors shine through. The Gray case’s clear surface is perfect for the iPhone 15’s Natural or White Titanium colorways, but there are also Black and Blue options to cover the entire iPhone 15 lineup. Either way, your iPhone 15 doesn’t need to sacrifice its elegant colors just so that it can be protected.
You might, however, notice that the edges of the case have a different color and are slightly raised as if bulging a bit. This isn’t just some pointless embellishment and actually serves one of the UPRO Ostand SS ShieldMate’s most important functions, which we’ll get to later. Unfortunately, its color, which is mostly light gray, easily stands out from the rest of the case’s edges because of the color contrast. Some might find it visually disconcerting while others might not mind it so much. It could become a problem, however, with other iPhone 15 color options, like RED or future variants. It would have been nice if you could swap out these bumpers for different colors, but that could also reduce the case’s durability in the process.
The other visual detail that stands out is the ring on the back of the case. Thanks to many MagSafe-compatible accessories, the presence of this ring is no longer alien, even though Apple itself doesn’t mark the area on its iPhones. Thankfully, the ring, which is formally called the O-Ring, sits flush on the surface of the case, so it doesn’t cause the phone to wobble when placed on a table, nor will it snag in your pants pocket or other things in your bag. All in all, the TORRAS UPRO Ostand SS has a rather minimalist design, both visually and physically, except for those bumpers and that ring that serve important purposes that give the case its selling points.
Ergonomics
Despite knowing the risks of dropping an expensive iPhone, many people are reluctant to put them in protective cases. These iPhones are, after all, beautiful unclothed and are meant to be slim and comfortable to hold. Most of the fears stem from making the iPhone look like it’s going to war, which is fortunately not the case with this UPRO Ostand SS ShieldMate.
In addition to being visually simple and minimalist, the case is also space-efficient and lightweight. It delivers 92% protection against disastrous falls, but instead of simply wrapping the phone in thick layers of material, TORRAS employs innovative technologies that keep the case as slim as possible. The result is that it doesn’t add too much bulk to an already large iPhone 15 Pro or even bigger iPhone 15 Pro Max, nor does it add more burden to your hand when holding it.
In fact, the UPRO Ostand SS improves the iPhone 15’s ergonomics by giving your hand a non-slipper surface to grip. There’s also that O-Ring that folds out of the case, transforming into a holder for your finger to keep the phone steady, whether you’re simply watching videos or taking photos and selfies. The latter is a very important use case for both the new iPhone 15 and this UPRO Ostand SS, giving you the freedom and the confidence to shoot anywhere, knowing that the phone is secure in your hand. And unlike the typical rings that you stick to the back of your phone, the O-Ring folds flat when not in use, hiding in plain sight until it’s needed once more.
Performance
Right out of the packaging, you can already tell that the TORRAS UPRO Ostand SS ShieldMate is not your average case. The contrasting color of the embossed edges immediately call your attention, but these aren’t just for show. Their unique form is actually the case’s main selling point, being air-filled bumpers that protect your phone from drops and shocks, especially when it drops on one of its corners or edges, which is the most common place for this kind of accident.
For this innovation, TORRAS took inspiration from car airbags that protect you from accidents. When the iPhone accidentally drops on its corner or side, the air-filled thermoplastic polyurethane not only absorbs the force of the impact but actually bounces it off, preventing the shock from being transferred to the rest of your phone, which is the most common cause of cracked screens. These bumpers give the phone 360-degree military-grade impact protection that can absorb up to 98% of the shock.
But while protection is its main purpose, that isn’t the only talent that the UPRO Ostand SS ShieldMate has, which you can probably discern from its name. It features TORRAS’s unique O-Ring, a ring grip and stand combination that’s built right into the case and, more importantly, doesn’t stick out of it. You simply fold it out and you’re ready to go, standing the iPhone 15 on any flat surface or holding the phone in your hand with support for your finger. You can stand the iPhone vertically or horizontally depending on your use case, and the O-Ring will be able to support it. Unfortunately, the position of the ring itself is fixed in its position, unlike the Ostand R cases where the O-Ring can rotate 360 degrees. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it would have been nice to have to increase the case’s versatility.
That O-Ring has a third function in addition to grip and stand thanks to its use of a Halbach array of magnets. These strong magnets let you stick the phone to any MagSafe stand or holder, like those for cars or bedside tables. Alternatively, you can also stick the iPhone 15 to any metallic surface, from refrigerator or car doors to metal poles and walls. You no longer need to worry about not having a selfie stick or tripod when you can set up the iPhone at a distance anywhere. And, of course, the case lets you charge with MagSafe without having to remove the case. Apple may have introduced the universal USB-C connector for the iPhone 15 series, but those who have tasted MagSafe will probably never go back to cables if they can help it.
Sustainability
The UPRO Ostand SS ShieldMate for the iPhone 15 Pro is stylish, durable, and versatile, but the list of its strengths doesn’t end there. When it comes to sustainability, it also has an edge over other smartphone cases. Sure, it has its fair share of plastics, rubber, and other environment-unfriendly materials, but its use of thermoplastic polyurethane for its headlining feature scores in its favor. It has also committed to nurturing one tree in the Brazil Atlantic Forest for every three cases sold. If TORRAS could start using recycled plastics or lay out a more definite sustainability strategy, it would definitely take the lead in this market.
Where the case does shine is in its durability, which is to say that it’s made to last a really long time. It is, after all, designed to protect the iPhone 15 it holds, so it is also quite resilient itself. It won’t last forever, of course, and the case’s surface might tarnish and show discoloration over time. It would have been nice if the bumpers could be replaced independently of the rest of the case or vice versa, but TORRAS probably had to prioritize the product’s structural integrity over that kind of modularity.
Value
There are countless smartphone cases in the market today, especially for something as popular as Apple iPhones. With the launch of the iPhone 15 series, there’s bound to be even more, as proven by the flood of announcements following Apple’s event last week. It’s easy to get lost in a sea of cases that promise the same things but deliver in different ways, sometimes not at all. The TORRAS UPRO Ostand SS ShieldMate for the iPhone 15 Pro sets itself apart from the crowd by delivering not only protection for your precious new iPhone but also confidence and peace of mind.
The Ostand SS ShieldMate frees you from worries about accidents when bringing your iPhone 15 along for the ride in your outdoor adventures, globe-trotting, and other activities. It also allows you to hold the phone securely in your hand, whether for enjoying content or creating it, even letting you stick it to walls, poles, and surfaces to make it easier to take group selfies or do hands-free live streaming. The UPRO Ostand SS is definitely a great deal, but that only applies if you own an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max. Unfortunately, the cases aren’t available for the non-Pro models, but TORRAS has a plethora of other options that offer protection as well as the versatility of the O-Ring for a wide range of iPhones.
Verdict
Smartphones have reached a point where they’ve become more than just gadgets but also important companions in our lives. The iPhone 15, with its enhanced photography prowess and upgraded hardware, offers one of if not the best tools for making life more enjoyable and more memorable. Its stylish designs, now in titanium, give it the expected Apple elegance that you wouldn’t want to cover up with a tank-like case, regardless of how much protection it offers.
Fortunately, the TORRAS UPRO Ostand SS ShieldMate is here to check all the right boxes and then some. While Apple’s absolutely dropped the ball on MagSafe, the folks at TORRAS thankfully are taking the magnetic ring to new heights. The UPRO Ostand is a unique iPhone case that doesn’t just protect your phone, it gives it superpowers. The Ostand’s air-filled bumpers protect your iPhone from every angle, and a MagSafe-compatible O-ring works as both a holder as well as a kickstand. Apple invented MagSafe. TORRAS perfected it.
If you thought a $1199 price tag was expensive, this $8630 special-edition gold-plated iPhone 15 Pro clearly isn’t for you!
The folks at Caviar, known for giving smartphones a highly blinged makeover, are back with their luxury-driven take on the latest Apple offering. With as many as 63 designs to choose from, Caviar decided to look at the iPhone 15 Pro’s titanium chassis and say “We can do better”. The various models showcase a variety of materials and finishes, including the use of gold, crystals, and even marbled carbon fiber. They start at a respectable $6,700, going up to an eye-watering half a million for a version made of white gold and actual diamond gemstones.
Designer: Caviar
Dubbed ‘Notorious’, this is one of Caviar’s more ornate pieces, paying homage to the Colt 1911 handgun. The phone comes with a top-to-bottom makeover, including a new aviation-grade titanium backplate to replace Apple’s own glass backplate. The titanium plate is PVD-coated with black and finished with 24k gold details. The frame around the side is electroplated with 24k gold too, as are the rings around the camera lenses. Finally, the phone is outfitted with a solid gold bas-relief gun, with a wooden insert on the handle. This bad-boy won’t shoot bullets, but it’ll shoot the best damn pictures on the planet.
The ‘Notorious’ iPhone 15 Pros are legitimate pieces of art. Every corner of the phone has some amount of detailing or graphic, replacing the otherwise bland iPhone canvas with something more than just an Apple logo. The pieces aren’t just put together on top of the iPhone either. Caviar makes custom backplates for each phone, factoring in tolerances, the MagSafe ring and charging coil, etc. while the frame around the side is also made to integrate into the phone, giving you a device that feels as sleek as possible. That 3D relief gun excluded, obviously.
Caviar’s pieces aren’t for tech aficionados, clearly. The phone’s made for true collectors, quite like people who indulge in Rolexes, Patek Philippes, Bugattis, and Rolls-Royces. These aren’t the kinds of phones you’d want to slap a case on (you couldn’t even if you tried), and they’re made to be surrounded by an elite team of bodyguards, not simply slipped into your pant pockets.
With a starting price of $8630 for the iPhone 15 Pro (128 Gb), the ‘Notorious’ phone isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, it’s limited to just 99 units, and also comes with a sim-tray unlike the ones available in the US. Each phone is made to order and takes roughly 1-5 days to complete, following which the phone comes shipped to you in, lets say, more than just an Apple iPhone box. Each of the 99 Notorious iPhone 15 Pros come in a decked-out briefcase with golden details, a certificate of authenticity, and the phone itself. No, I wouldn’t know if there’s a gold-plated USB-C cable included…
” prevents that from happening, helping protect your phone from all sides.
