Technologies

The Biggest Features I Want to See on Apple’s iPhone 15

Commentary: A fingerprint sensor and USB-C charging are at the top of my list.

Apple gave us many of the features we’ve been waiting for with the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. These include an always-on display and better multitasking thanks to Apple’s Dynamic Island. But there are a few ways Apple could take things further with the iPhone 15, particularly when it comes to the cheaper, non-Pro models.

Samsung frequently trickles high-end features down to cheaper phones over time, and I’d like to see Apple embrace this approach more fully, too. The Dynamic Island, for example, could become a more integral part of the iPhone experience if it arrives on Apple’s more affordable devices. It’s also about time that Apple’s regular iPhones got a refresh rate boost.

Apple typically announces its new iPhones in September and releases them shortly thereafter. Here’s what I’m hoping to see from the iPhone 15 later this year.

USB-C charging

The iPhone 13, looking at its Lightning charging port — The iPhone still needs a Lightning cable to charge, but that may not be the case for long.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The Lightning connector has been around for 10 years, and it’s time for a change. With so many Apple products making the switch to USB-C, there’s never been a bigger need for one charger that powers all devices. Apple currently has four different types of chargers on the market: Lightning (for iPhones, the 2021 iPad, AirPods and a few other accessories), USB-C (for most new iPads and MacBooks), MagSafe (the wireless magnetic charger for iPhones) and MagSafe 3 (the magnetic charger for the 2022 MacBook Air, 14-inch MacBook Pro and 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro).

Making new iPhones compatible with USB-C instead of Lightning means you could use the same cable to charge your new phone, the Mac and new iPads. There’s a good chance most of your other electronics use USB-C too.

The good news is that a USB-C iPhone may not be very far away. Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, confirmed that the company would comply with the European Union’s mandate that all phones sold in the region would need to have a USB-C charging port. He made the comments during an interview at the Wall Street Journal Tech Live conference. Apple has also previously tested USB-C iPhones, according to Bloomberg.

However, Apple has not revealed any specifics about its plans. We don’t know if Apple will begin making the switch to USB-C with the iPhone 15 or if it will wait until the following year, since the new rules require USB-C by the end of 2024. Apple also has not said whether USB-C will be coming to all iPhones or just European models, although analysts expect Apple to make a complete shift to USB-C.

Higher refresh rates on the regular iPhone 15

An iPhone 14 with a rainbow onscreen background against a blue backdrop — The iPhone 14 Pro (pictured) has ProMotion, but the regular iPhone 14 doesn’t.

James Martin/CNET

Starting with last year’s iPhone 13 Pro, Apple added higher refresh rates to the displays on its premium smartphones. The iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max have a feature Apple calls ProMotion, which can boost the screen’s refresh rate as high as 120Hz depending on what’s being shown. This results in more fluid scrolling and smoother animations.

It’s a small touch, but one that makes the experience feel more pleasant — as my colleague Patrick Holland wrote in his review of the iPhone 13 Pro. While having a high refresh rate isn’t a deal breaker, it’s become standard on most smartphones. Google’s $599 Pixel 7 has a 90Hz refresh rate and Samsung’s $800 Galaxy S22 includes a 120Hz refresh rate, for instance. Even the $450 Galaxy A53 5G has a 120Hz display, making its absence on the $799 iPhone 14 feel even more noticeable.

However, there’s a chance Apple may keep ProMotion exclusive to its high-end smartphones this year. Ross Young, a display industry analyst and CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, tweeted in September that he’s not expecting to see this feature on the standard iPhone 15.

More features that use the Dynamic Island

The iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island.

James Martin/CNET

The Dynamic Island, which is available only on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, is essentially a second miniature screen. Instead of getting rid of the notch, Apple gave that space a new purpose by using it to display information from other apps.

For example, you can see music that’s currently playing, timers, and directions in Maps at the top of the screen — eliminating the need to switch between apps. The Dynamic Island makes it easier to multitask on the iPhone 14 Pro, an area in which Apple has traditionally lagged behind Samsung and other Android phones that support split-screen apps.

Now that the Dynamic Island has proven its value, I’d like to see Apple do even more with it next year. It would be interesting to see Apple use this space to make proactive suggestions, like apps that may be useful based on your activity, the time of day or your schedule. Part of the Dynamic Island’s usefulness also depends on what app developers decide to do with it, too. There are already a handful of apps that incorporate the Dynamic Island, such as Pixel Pals, which essentially looks like a Tamagotchi for your iPhone. But I’m hoping to see more practical use cases for the Dynamic Island that make it feel like a more critical part of your phone, similar to the iPhone’s home screen widgets.

If Apple does expand the Dynamic Island’s functionality in the future, there’s a chance you may not need the iPhone 15 to take advantage of it. Instead, Apple could build new Dynamic Island features into its next major software update, which is likely to be called iOS 17.

A smaller notch on the regular iPhone 15

iPhone 14 Plus — The iPhone 14 and 14 Plus (pictured) still have a notch.

James Martin/CNET

If Apple isn’t going to bring the Dynamic Island to the base iPhone 15, I hope it at least makes the notch less intrusive. The notch hasn’t changed all that much since its debut on the iPhone X in 2017, aside from the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. Meanwhile, other smartphone makers like Samsung, Google and OnePlus have found ways to provide edge-to-edge screens on their devices without carving out a large notch for the front-facing camera. Reducing the notch’s size would likely result in more screen space and a more modern look for the iPhone 15.

If Apple does move in this direction, we might have to wait until the iPhone 16 to see it. Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst with TF International Securities known for his Apple predictions, estimates under-display Face ID and front-facing camera sensors will be coming in 2024.

That said, there are good reasons why the iPhone still has a larger notch than many of its competitors. It mostly comes down to Face ID, which is more sophisticated than the facial recognition systems found on other phones like the Pixel 7, which Google cautions shouldn’t be used for authenticating sensitive data like payment information.

However, if Bloomberg’s often-accurate Mark Gurman is to be believed, Apple will bring the Dynamic Island to all four new iPhone models in 2023.

Reverse wireless charging

A Samsung phone with a Samsung smartwatch resting on top of it — Certain Samsung devices have Wireless PowerShare for charging other devices.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Many Android phones have reverse wireless charging, which is exactly what it sounds like. You can use the back of phones like the Galaxy S22 and Pixel 7 to charge other devices, like a smartwatch or earbuds. While it’s likely not a must-have for most people, I can imagine it being very useful for avid AirPods users.

No one likes being stuck on their morning commute with a dead pair of AirPods. Having the option to get just enough juice to make it through my 30-minute train ride by placing my AirPods on the back of my phone for a few minutes could be a game changer. Yes, you’ll have to sacrifice some of your phone’s battery. But if you’re traveling to a destination where you’ll easily be able to charge your phone once you arrive — like the office — it might be worth that tradeoff.

The return of Touch ID

The Touch ID sensor on the iPad Air from 2020 — The iPad Air includes Touch ID in the power button.

Scott Stein/CNET

While Face ID is convenient in many situations, there are instances in which using your finger to unlock your phone is just more practical. That’s why I’m hoping Touch ID makes a comeback on the iPhone. Maybe you haven’t had time to set up Face ID so that it works with a mask yet, or perhaps you’re just not holding your iPhone at the right angle for Face ID.

Apple clearly sees the value in fingerprint recognition, considering the top button on the latest standard iPad and iPad Air have Touch ID. Doing the same for the iPhone 15 would add more convenience, giving users the choice to use Face ID or Touch ID depending on the situation. Most Android phones have both a fingerprint reader and some form of facial recognition, so it would be great to see iPhone users get the same options.

It’s unclear whether Apple will ever bring Touch ID back to the iPhone. While the analyst Kuo previously predicted that future iPhones would get an under-display fingerprint sensor, he changed his outlook in March 2022. With rumors from Kuo suggesting that Apple may cancel the iPhone SE it had previously planned for 2024, introducing a new iPhone with Touch ID could be more important than ever.

The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max already address many of the previous shortcomings of Apple’s smartphones. The updates I’m hoping to see in the iPhone 15 may not seem revolutionary, but they’re bound to make everyday tasks like charging and unlocking your phone a bit easier.

Technologies

Apple and Google Broke Their Own Rules by Promoting ‘Nudify’ Apps, Report Says

A new report from the Tech Transparency Project found over 100 apps on app stores are designed to «undress people» from photos.

If you want an app you built to be downloadable from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, it has to pass a slew of criteria, including safety standards.

But a new report on Wednesday alleges that Apple and Google broke their own rules by promoting «nudify» apps that are outlawed in their app store policies.

The Tech Transparency Project, part of a nonprofit tech watchdog, first revealed in January that Apple and Google app stores had over 100 nudify or undressing apps. These are apps with the sole purpose of taking images of people, usually women, and editing them to appear to be that person without clothing, creating what’s called nonconsensual intimate imagery. Many of these apps use generative AI to create deepfakes.

Apple removed some of the prohibited apps at the time. But many are still out there, as evidenced in a subsequent investigation.

In April, TTP found that Apple and Google still allowed users to search for a number of troubling keywords, including «nudify,» «undress» and «deepnude.» After a deep dive on the top 10 apps across both app stores, TTP found that 40% of the apps advertised themselves as able to «render women nude or scantily clad,» according to the report.

The new report also found that Google and Apple actually promoted such apps in their stores, increasing their visibility, with Google in particular creating «a carousel of ads for some of the most sexually explicit apps encountered in the investigation.»

Apple and Google both have language in their policies that prohibits apps with «overtly sexual or pornographic material» (Apple) and «sexually suggestive poses in which the subject is nude, blurred or minimally clothed» (Google). And they’ve both enforced these policies in the past — particularly by going after porn apps.

But Apple and Google make money from app developers by running advertising and taking a part of paid app subscriptions. Analytics firm AppMagic found that these «nudify» apps were downloaded 483 million times and made more than $122 million in lifetime revenue.

«This revenue stream may be why the two companies have been less than vigilant when it comes to nudify apps that violate their policies,» TTP writes.

After news broke this week, Apple told Bloomberg News that it removed 15 of the reported apps. Google confirmed it removed seven. Apple also said it blocked several of the search terms TTP flagged in its report. Apple and Google did not immediately respond to CNET’s requests for comment and any updates since Wednesday.

Nonconsensual graphically sexual content is a growing issue, due in part to AI. We saw in startling clarity how apps with AI can be used to make this illegal and abusive content at the beginning of the year, when Grok users made 1.4 million sexualized deepfakes over a nine-day period.

Some US senators at the time called on Apple and Google to remove Grok from their app stores, but neither removed it.

We learned this week that Apple privately reached out to Grok to express its concerns about its abusive AI capabilities and threatened to remove it. Grok is still available in the Apple and Google app stores and is still reportedly able to create abusive AI sexual images, despite the company saying otherwise.

Technologies

OpenAI Has a New AI Model Built for Biology and Science

GPT-Rosalind is intended to help scientists streamline their research and drug discovery.

OpenAI’s latest AI model is built to do far more than offer cooking advice or create a spreadsheet. GPT-Rosalind, the company’s first model specifically built for life science, is meant to help scientists with drug discovery, biology and translational medicine.

The model is named after Rosalind Franklin, whose research revealed the structure of DNA and formed the foundations for modern molecular biology. Scientific research relies heavily on data, and GPT-Rosalind is designed to help sort through it, while also helping reduce the time it takes to develop and get new drugs approved and out on the market.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

It can take 10 to 15 years for a new drug to be developed and approved in the US, OpenAI said in a blog post Thursday. GPT-Rosalind is intended to improve the selection of research targets and create stronger hypotheses for higher-quality experiments.

The model has been tested on topics such as its understanding of organic chemistry, proteins and genetics. Researchers can use it to find relevant scientific literature for their work or design experiments.

This isn’t the first time an AI model has been developed with medical advancements in mind. Google DeepMind has developed many AI models for scientific research, such as AlphaFold, which earned its creators a share of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

«For me, the best use case for AI was to improve human health and accelerate scientific discovery,» Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said in a recent interview. Anthropic introduced Claude for Life Sciences in January with the same purpose.

Some scientists have expressed concerns in the past about how quickly AI has infiltrated the science space and have warned of vulnerabilities, potential misuse and issues with data representation.

OpenAI said GPT-Rosalind has safeguards to protect it from misuse — like the creation of a biological weapon — and has teamed up with various biotechnology, pharmaceutical and life sciences technology organizations to support research and scientific discovery.

Sean Bruich, senior vice president of artificial intelligence and data at the biopharmaceutical company Amgen, said in a statement that scientific work requires precision: «Our unique collaboration with OpenAI enables us to apply their most advanced capabilities and tools in new and innovative ways with the potential to accelerate how we deliver medicines to patients.»

GPT-Rosalind is available only through OpenAI’s trusted-access system as a research preview.

Technologies

Was This Game Just On Sale? Steam May Show Price Shifts Over the Past 30 Days

A price tracker would make it easy to tell if you’re getting a good deal on a game or not.

Steam is the largest video game platform with more than 129,000 games and counting. With so many games and the company offering frequent sales, it’s hard to keep track of whether a game has is at its lowest price or if its been discounted further in the past, but that may change.

Lines of code found in the Steam platform seemingly refer to the recent price history for a game, according to a post on Wednesday from the X account for the Half-Life fan site Lambda Generation. The code was discovered by data miner SigaTbh, who found it on SteamDB, a database and tracking site for the gaming platform. While price history is already a feature on Steam in the European Union, this update could be the first sign that it will become the norm for the platform over in the U.S.

In the image posted by Lambda Generation, there are six lines of code referencing «Price_History» and each line reflects a certain detail that could show up on a game’s page to give some context about its price. The price history would show the normal price for the game, the current price, whether the current price is a 30-day low or if the game was at a lower cost sometime within the past 30 days.

Valve is planning to add a 30 day price history for Steam games.
Found by @SigaTbh on SteamDB pic.twitter.com/BtQNpcAfIF

— LambdaGeneration (@LambdaGen) April 15, 2026

Valve didn’t immediately respond to a request for confirmation about the new feature.

Back in 2023, Valve added the price history feature to Steam in the EU as part of the Omnibus Directive. The directive is a series of rules set by the EU focusing on consumer protection. Companies with digital storefronts were required to institute a price tracker on their platforms to display the lowest price of an item for the past 30 days. Even though the Omnibus Directive is in full effect, however, it’s not available in every member state of the EU, as individual countries have to adopt the directive.

Certain rules in the EU that require certain changes to be made to a product or service eventually find their way to the U.S. Apple was forced to add USB-C to its iPhone 15 lineup due to EU legislation requiring standardization of charging ports.

It’s unclear why Valve would make the move to add a price tracker to Steam in the U.S. The company is reportedly working on an AI bot for the platform dubbed «SteamGPT,» and the price history could be part of its features.