Technologies

Apple iPhone 15 and 15 Plus First Look: Dynamic Island, New Colors and USB-C

Apple’s iPhone 15 already feels like a bigger upgrade than the iPhone 14.

The iPhone 15 is here. On Tuesday in Cupertino, California, Apple took the wraps off its newest phones at its «Wonderlust» event, introducing the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus alongside a bevy of other devices, including the new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Among the big new features is the expansion of Dynamic Island, the animated feature at the top of the screen that gives contextual information and which debuted last year on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, to the iPhone 15 line. Also widely tipped was the addition of USB-C, which has replaced the Lightning port for wired charging and connectivity.

Pricing starts at $799 (£799, AU$1,499) for the 128GB iPhone 15 and $899 (£899, AU$1,649) for the 128GB iPhone 15 Plus, so long as you’re activating with a carrier. Preorders begin on Friday, with the phones going on sale next Friday, Sept. 22.

The Dynamic Island appears to be the same incarnation that debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022. It’s essentially a secondary display that can be used to view media playback, sports scores, rideshare status and other bits of information without flipping back and forth between apps.

As with 2022’s iPhone 14 line, there is no «mini» iPhone 15, with Apple once again releasing a 6.1-inch iPhone 15 and a larger 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Plus. The displays are brighter this year as well, up to 2,000 nits of brightness.

There are five colors for the new phones: pink, yellow, green, blue and black. The main camera on the iPhone 15 is now 48 megapixels and in addition to taking higher resolution photos and videos, also allows for a new 2x telephoto zoom (albeit at 12 megapixels). That’s a significant jump from the iPhone 14’s 12-megapixel camera system, although it’s impossible to tell how much of a difference that makes in practice without spending more time with it.

But it’s not just the colors that are different. Apple is using a new color-infused back glass for the iPhone 15, which gives it a frosty and translucent look. So far, this new matte finish looks less prone to fingerprint smudges compared to the glossy iPhone 14.

The chip under the hood is last year’s A16 Bionic, which was in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. (Last year’s iPhone 14 and 14 Plus relied on the A15 Bionic.) There is a bigger battery in the iPhone 15 line, though Apple didn’t reveal specific battery sizes.

The new devices continue to keep a host of prior iPhone features, including 5G and satellite connectivity for emergencies. New for this year is the ability to call for roadside assistance via satellite, with Apple partnering with AAA in the US. The roadside feature is included in AAA membership, while Apple says it will offer satellite connectivity for free for two years with the purchase of an iPhone 15.

In addition to USB-C, the new iPhones will be able to work with MagSafe, as well as new accessories that support the Qi2 wireless charging standard that was announced earlier this year.

Overall, the iPhone 15 seems like a larger leap than last year’s iPhone 14, thanks to the Dynamic Island, the sharper camera, USB-C charging and the new design. While it’s still a step below the iPhone 15 Pro, it feels like the biggest difference in the regular iPhone since the iPhone 12.

More from the Apple event

Technologies

Ultrahuman Ring Pro Brings Better Battery Life, More Action and Analysis

The company’s new flagship smart ring stores more data, too. But that doesn’t really help Americans.

Sick of your smart ring’s battery not holding up? Ultrahuman’s new $479 Ring Pro smart ring, unveiled on Friday, offers up to 15 days of battery life on a single charge. The Ring Pro joins the company’s $349 Ring Air, which boosts health tracking, thanks to longer battery life, increased data storage, improved speed and accuracy and a new heart-rate sensing architecture. The ring works in conjunction with the latest Pro charging case.

Ultrahuman also launched its Jade AI, which can act as an agent based on analysis of current and historical health data. Jade can synthesize data from across the company’s products and is compatible with its Rings.

«With industry-leading hardware paired with Jade biointelligence AI, users can now take real-time actionable interventions towards their health than ever before,» said Mohit Kumar, CEO of Ultrahuman.

No US sales

That hardware isn’t available in the US, though, thanks to the ongoing ban on Ultrahuman’s Rings sales here, stemming from a patent dispute with its competitor, Oura Ring. It’s available for preorder now everywhere else and is slated to ship in March. Jade’s available globally.

Ultrahuman says the Ring Pro boosts battery life to about 15 days in Chill mode — up to 12 days in Turbo — compared to a maximum of six days for the Air. The Pro charger’s battery stores enough for another 45 days, which you top off with Qi-compatible wireless charging. In addition, the case incorporates locator technology via the app and a speaker, as well as usability features such as haptic notifications and a power LED.

The ring can also retain up to 250 days of data versus less than a week for the cheaper model. Ultrahuman redesigned the heart-rate sensor for better signal quality. An upgraded processor improves the accuracy of the local machine learning and overall speed.

It’s offered in gold, silver, black and titanium finishes, with available sizes ranging from 5 to 14.

Jade’s Deep Research Mode is the cross-ecosystem analysis feature, which aggregates data from Ring and Blood Vision and the company’s subscription services, Home and M1 CGM, to provide historical trends, offer current recommendations and flag potential issues, as well as trigger activities such as A-fib detection. Ultrahuman plans to expand its capabilities to include health-adjacent activities, such as ordering food.

Some new apps are also available for the company’s PowerPlug add-on platform, including capabilities such as tracking GLP-1 effects, snoring and respiratory analysis and migraine management tools.

Technologies

The FCC Just Approved Charter’s $34.5B Cox Purchase. Here’s What It Means for 37M Customers

Technologies

Spotify Expands Into Audiobook Rankings With Weekly Charts

The feature is available to both free users and Premium subscribers. Wuthering Heights is reaching the heights on both the US and UK charts.

If you’re a Spotify user, you may be familiar with features like the year-end summary Wrapped, as well as your daily usage stats. Now, the service has a new popularity chart tracking audiobooks.

Spotify’s audiobook charts are now available to free and Premium users within the service’s Audiobooks hub. While only Premium users receive 15 hours of audiobook listening per month, the company offers a larger selection of titles you can buy.

US charts and UK charts are both available now.

Read more: Best Music Streaming Services for 2026

Spotify says that the audiobook charts will help customers discover new and popular titles in real time.

«As we’ve proven with Music and Podcasts Charts, when content is easier to access, discover, and enjoy, the demand grows,» said Duncan Bruce, Spotify’s director of audiobook partnerships and licensing, in a statement on Friday.

Spotify launched audiobooks in 2022, and has since added features such as the AI catchup tool Recaps and PageMatch, which lets you swap more easily between a printed book and the audio version.

Spotify Premium currently costs $13 a month and includes more than 100 million songs, as well as audiobooks. Spotify Premium is currently CNET’s Editors’ Choice for best music streaming service.

The current US audiobooks chart lists Emily Brontë’s romantic classic Wuthering Heights as the top listen, followed by James Clear’s self-help book Atomic Habits and Freida McFadden’s psychological thriller The Housemaid. Audiobook popularity is also broken down by genre, with charts for romance, mystery and thriller books, self-help, science fiction and fantasy, biography and memoir, business and careers, teen and young adult, religion and spirituality, history, and parenting and relationships.

Powered by its blockbuster movie adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, Wuthering Heights also leads the overall chart for the UK.