The iPhone 15 packs several hardware upgrades this year. We have a new frost matte finish for the rear, which prevents fingerprints. The base models finally get the Dynamic Island from last year. It’s a visually more refreshing aesthetic to the notch and enhances multitasking. The base models also get a new 48MP 1/1.55″ primary sensor, much larger than last year’s 12MP 1/1.7″ sensor.
The base models also got the A16 Bionic chip from last year, which uses TSMC’s efficient 4nm fabrication. According to early reviews, the battery on the 15 is at least an hour longer than the 14 in synthetic benchmarks. Since it packs so many upgrades, should you get it or wait for the S24?
Hardware Comparison
Display
The iPhone 15 has a major upgrade to the screen. Instead of the old one, which only has 800 Nits of maximum brightness in High Brightness Mode, the new one can hit 1600 Nits of peak brightness. The outdoor brightness is 2000 Nits, which is very viewable and bright under direct sunlight. The resolution is slightly above 1080P, and the refresh rate is 60Hz.
The S24 could feature a major display upgrade too. It already gets plenty bright at 1750 Nits. Since the human perception of brightness is logarithmic and not linear, a few hundred nits of difference aren’t anything meaningful. The S23 also has support for Always-on-display, which the 15 doesn’t. The iPhone 15 has a slight brightness advantage and support for Dolby Vision HDR.
Performance
The iPhone 15 ships with the A16 Bionic from last year, and it’s an efficient and powerful flagship chip. ACCORDING TO EARLY LEAKS, the S24 will come with Qualcomm’s 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, which might surpass Apple’s latest A17 chip in multi-core score.
Samsung doesn’t put one-year-old chips on their latest flagships, unlike Apple. So you will still get the best possible performance on the cheaper model, too. Qualcomm already has a GPU lead, and the ISPs are fairly comparable. We can’t draw a winner yet because we must wait for real-life tests.
Battery and Charging
The S24 will probably stick with a similar 3900 mAh capacity since the phone is supposed to appeal to an audience that prefers compact phones. The iPhone 15’s battery is around 3400 mAh, which isn’t a lot, and the iPhone charges at a slow 20W. Samsung isn’t better with the current S23, which tops out at 25W of charging.
Cameras
The iPhone has a 48MP primary camera, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a 12MP front camera. The S24 will probably reuse the same sensors from last year, which is not to say they’re bad. There are rumors of the S24 Ultra getting a 1/2.52″ 50MP 3X telephoto, which could also come to the base S24. We can expect the same GN3 1/1.56″ 50MP primary sensor, a 3X telephoto sensor, and a 12MP ultra-wide. Neither has autofocus for the wide-angle, so there’s no Macro mode. However, you can try to use the additional zoom lens on the S24 to achieve respectable Macros that are better than digital zoom and sensor crop from the base 15. The iPhone has “lossless” 2X zoom, but it’s not the same optics as a real 2X telephoto.
Reasons to wait for Galaxy S24
The Galaxy S24 will ship with a higher refresh rate screen. If you’re into gaming or want a smoother scrolling experience, the S24 will serve you better. Gamers desire higher refresh rates for better FPS, and the S24 will come with a cooling system that helps with performance sustainability. The iPhone still lacks a cooling system in 2023 and is neither great with thermals.
Samsung will also benefit from 3X portraits from real 3X optical zoom, and the photos will be much more usable at longer zoom ranges. The S23 has a larger 12MP front camera than the 15, so if the S24 uses the same, it’s another hardware advantage for the Galaxy S24.
If you’re in the Samsung ecosystem and your platform preference is Android, it makes sense to wait for the S24. If you appreciate better camera hardware and better hardware in general, like the additional telephoto lens, 120Hz screen, cooling system, and more, then it’s better to wait for the Galaxy S24. Enthusiasts who want the latest Android flagship chip in a compact form will like the S24 much better than the iPhone 15.
Reasons to buy the iPhone 15
The iPhone 15 doesn’t have any hardware advantages at this point. If you’re in the Apple ecosystem and need an iPhone for FaceTime, iMessage, and other ecosystem perks like AirDrop, then buying the iPhone 15 right now makes sense. The iPhone has one key perk, and that’s video. It can shoot Action Mode videos at 2.8K, Cinematic Mode videos at 4K in 30FPS, and Dolby Vision HDR 12-bit video.
If you’re serious about videos, picking the iPhone right now makes much more sense. However, if you’re platform agnostic, take more photos than videos, and are open to either operating system, it makes more sense to wait for the launch of the Galaxy S24.
