Apple iPhone 15 Plus review

An all-new 48MP main camera

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus still stick to the same number of main cameras as last year's models - two shooters on the rear and one on the front. However, this year, there is a whole new 48MP, 26mm, f/1.6 main camera.

Apple is not really in the habit of sharing much about its camera sensor hardware. We've managed to gather that the 48MP camera on the vanilla iPhone 15 and the Plus models does not use the same Sony IMX803 sensor as found on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro models. It is a different Sony sensor instead, likely a custom-order one, with a stacked design, which is supposed to help with readout speeds and low-light performance.

Other than that, we know that the main camera has 1.0µm pixels with a Quad-Bayer arrangement. Although, Apple is doing some computational and stacking magic to end up with 24MP stills by default. The main cam also has 100% focus pixels and PDAF. There is also sensor-shift OIS for stability and EIS on top of that for video capture. The camera sits behind an f/1.6 lens.

We don't really know a lot about the other camera hardware either. The iPhone 15 Plus has a 12MP ultrawide that sits behind an f/2.4 lens. It lacks any fancy features like autofocus. That is only present on the Pro models, allowing the ultrawide to double as a macro shooter. On the other hand, the 12 MP, f/1.9 selfie camera does have PDAF. Not only that, but it can also leverage some depth data from the front-facing SL 3D sensor for better portraits.

Camera app and features

The viewfinder has stayed mostly intact since iOS 16. You can see outside of the viewfinder thanks to the precise calibration of the three cameras, allowing you to see what will be left outside the frame in real-time.

Apple's image processing includes all legacy features - Smart HDR, Night Mode, and Deep Fusion - and last year's Photonic Engine.

All enhancements but Night Mode are out of the users' control. The Night Mode icon pops up automatically when a low-light scene presents itself, and you will see the seconds suggested next to the Night Mode icon. You can choose longer exposure or altogether disable the Night Mode.

As usual, all cameras talk to each other, so they already know the correct exposure and tone mapping settings when you switch between them. This applies to both stills and videos. Since there is no autofocus on the selfie cam on the iPhone 15 Plus, there is no dedicated macro mode.

The camera interface has 0.5x, 1x and 2x toggles. You swipe between modes and have a couple of settings you can uncover with an upward swipe - flash, night mode, live photo, photo aspect, exposure compensation, and filters. In video mode, you can change the resolution and frame rate from the viewfinder.

Camera app UI

Portrait mode is available on the main and selfie cameras. RAW capture is not a thing on the non-Pro iPhones, though. However, what you can choose this year is to deviate from the new standard 24MP resolution of the main camera and capture in either 12MP or 48MP. The former is done through the camera app settings, while the latter is accessible via a JPEG Max toggle through the camera UI. We have samples of the different resolution modes below.

Camera options

There is this feature called Photographic Styles, which automatically edits a photo, one element at a time (applying different corrections to the subject and background, for example). You can choose between Standard, Rich Contrast, Vibrant, Warm, and Cool. You can tune each of these modes to your liking and set your preferred one as default. It's like filters but more permanent.

Cinematic mode is also present and carried forward from previous iPhone generations. It does automatic rack focus, but the phone records a depth map alongside the video, so you can change the focus point manually after the fact. Editing such videos is possible in iMovie and Clips apps. Action mode is available on all iPhone 15 models and is carried forward from last year. It is an enhanced video stabilization mode meant for dynamic and action-filled scenes and situations.

Daylight photos

Main camera

It's perhaps no surprise that the main camera performs exceptionally well during the day. It's a step up from the last generation, mostly in terms of overall detail. It's really impressive, even compared to the top-level Android flagships. Sharpness is also excellent, dynamic range is wide and contrast is quite accurate. The device also offers unrivaled consistency - all samples look the same from the first to the last shot. Noise is accounted for even in more challenging indoor conditions.

24MP main camera daylight photos

Most of what we didn't like about the camera is highly subjective. For instance, colors, although mostly true to life, feel rather muted. For some reason, the sky and clouds are darker than they actually are. Moreover, the shadows are a bit too dark for our taste and as a result, all shots have a bit of a gritty feel, even though the samples were taken on a bright sunny day with the occasional clouds.

24MP main camera daylight photos

The default resolution of the camera is 24MP, but we also took the 48MP for a spin and we were quite surprised by the results. The level of detail is even more impressive but at the cost of overall sharpness and some additional noise in the shadows. Dynamic range and color rendition are identical, though, which is impressive on its own.

48MP main camera daylight photos

Want a full 4-in-1 binning? Well, Apple offers a switch to 12MP mode as well. That's usually the default resolution to expect from a 48MP sensor. However, we see no benefit in using the 12MP mode unless file size is your biggest concern. The 12MP samples offer absolutely identical rendition but with sensibly lower detail. The difference is most prominent with fine detail and foliage.

12MP main camera daylight photos

2x zoom

The 2x zoom is quite good. It matches the default's 1x rendition in pretty much every aspect while maintaining good level of sharpness. There's minimal loss and it can only be seen with foliage or other fine detail - it looks fuzzy from a distance. If bring the camera close enough, though, even fine detail like the cat's fur looks extra sharp and crisp. Oh, and 2x zoom photos always come out 12MP.

2x zoom daylight photos

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera's performance is just disappointing. It's way below the industry's standard or at least what you'd expect from a €1,000 phone. The stills look soft, lack fine detail, noise can be spotted in some uniform or dark areas, while indoor shots are just grainy.

Ultrawide camera daylight photos

On a more positive note, objects closer to the camera appear moderately sharp and Apple has once again achieved uniform image processing, meaning the ultrawide camera offers the same color rendition, contrast and dynamic range as the main camera. It's also quite wide - 120-degree field of view with excellent lens distortion correction.

Portraits

Portraits are excellent as long as you shoot in the default 1x mode. With or without the background blur, the subject always appears sharp, well-exposed and with a natural skin tone. And even without a 3D ToF sensor, the 15 Plus separates the background from the subject exceptionally well. Even with a more challenging background, dimmer lighting conditions and with an object in the foreground.

Portraits 1x: Normal • Portrait

However, the 2x zoom portraits are somewhat softer than we would have expected. At least they don't get softer in a dimmer environment.

Portraits 2x: Normal • Portrait

Selfies

The selfies aren't amazing in any way, but they are just right. The front-facing camera takes rather sharp selfies with detail in abundance, great dynamic range, natural colors and handles low-light environments quite well.

Selfies

Low-light

Main camera

We found the low-light performance of the main camera to be just as consistent at night as it is during the day. Sharpness, detail and dynamic range are excellent, although noise starts to creep in overly dark scenes. Contrast and color rendition give the photo a natural look. But once again, in pursuit of that natural look, Apple keeps the shadows darker than what we are used to seeing from similar Android flagships. And that's not necessarily bad, it depends on what you are looking for. But Apple has definitely nailed that natural look without blowing up the highlights or adding too much sharpness.

Low-light main camera photos

We didn't like the Night mode behavior, however, as it rarely triggered. You can't force the Night mode, you can only leave it at Auto and hope that the software opts for the Night mode. But unfortunately, it rarely does. There were plenty of dark scenes that would have benefited from a Night mode. And we were unable to identify a consistent pattern. In some cases, just a couple of lamps in the background were enough for the software to favor the standard Photo mode and in others, with plenty of light sources in the foreground, the camera app triggered the Night mode.

Low-light main camera photos

Either way, the Night mode brings out more detail in the shadows without making them too bright, which is once again Apple's way of keeping things natural-looking. The dedicated Night mode adds just a touch of sharpness, clears most of the noise in the shadows and delivers a crispier look overall. When there's a big enough tonal contrast in the scene, that's when the Night mode usually kicks in to balance out the highlights and shadows by fixing the clipped highlights and lighting up the darker areas of the image. All Night mode photos are saved in 12MP resolution.

Night mode main camera photos

2x zoom

The software seems to be more generous with the Night mode when shooting in 2x mode. About half of the 2x samples we took after dusk were aided by the Night mode. And that's understandable. Although the 2x zoom mode retains the same look from the 1x mode, it's easier to spot the difference in sharpness and detail than it is during the day. That's why the software tends to go for a Night mode shot when taking 2x low-light stills. Overall quality with the Night mode is quite impressive, rivaling some dedicated 2x zoom cameras.

Low-light 2x zoom: Normal • Night mode

And here are the scenes that didn't trigger the dedicated Night mode.

Low-light 2x zoom photos

Ultrawide camera

We wish we could say the same for the ultrawide camera but its performance is just appalling at night. Night mode doesn't seem to help much, either. Due to the lack of sharpness in general, the Night mode adds so much artificial sharpness that it starts to show. Noise suppression is better with the Night mode also, but that's about it. Dynamic range is limited, detail is lacking and this is the first time we see a discrepancy between the cameras. The ultrawide camera tends to for warmer light sources than the main camera.

Low-light ultrawide: Normal • Night mode

Without Night mode, the ultrawide camera is borderline unusable at night, you better hope the camera software goes for the dedicated Night mode.

Low-light ultrawide w/o Night mode

Here's how the primary camera on the iPhone 15 Plus stacks against the rest of the competition in the controlled environment of our Photo Compare Tool.

iPhone 15 Plus against the Galaxy S23 Ultra and the iPhone 14 Pro Max in our Photo compare tool

Video recording

The iPhone 15 Plus offers video recording of up to 4K resolution at 60fps with its main camera and the same goes for the ultrawide and selfie cameras. A more advanced Cinematic mode is also available, giving you a bit more control over the camera's settings. In Cinematic mode, however, recording is capped at 2160p@30fps. There's no ProRes mode found on the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.

Let's begin with the 4K@30fps footage from the main camera. To honest, there's nothing to complain about. The video looks sharp, detailed, with accurate color reproduction, wide dynamic range and accurate exposure metering.

We are also pleasantly surprised by the 2x zoom video, which has minimal loss in detail and sharpness. The minimal deterioration in quality can only be seen in fine detail in motion, such as tree leafs or grass.

The ultrawide camera also produces more than decent 4K videos. Rendition is identical to the main camera but noticeably softer and with some corner softness. However, that's to be expected from an ultrawide shooter. So despite the ultrawide's poor performance in stills, it does a great job at recording 4K videos.

When it comes to low-light videos, the main camera shows excellent performance in challenging conditions. There's little to no noise, detail is good and sharpness is impressive. Dynamic range could be slightly better as some light sources are clipped, but there's at least plenty of detail in the shadows, so that's a trade-off we are willing to take.

The ultrawide camera, on the other hand, struggles at night. The ultrawide footage looks soft, rather grainy and is missing a lot of detail. Color temperature is a bit off - a bit too warm than it should be, turning some of the light sources in the background peachy pink. Dynamic range and contrast are admirable, though.

Of course, all videos are stabilized, but there's an additional Action mode that mimics an action camera and uses the ultrawide shooter to trim the edges and achieve that smooth stabilization. Resolution in this mode is limited to the odd 2.8K.

You can also take a look at our video compare tool to see how iPhone 15 Plus stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.

2160p: iPhone 15 Plus against the Galaxy S23 Ultra and the iPhone 14 Pro Max in our Video compare tool