I agree. I’m certain that’s the reason. Apparently, back in the design days of the A16 they didn’t foresee iPhone USB-C use. It’s obviously to me they didn’t want to add extra circuitry now just for USB3 support. On the iPad things are different. The 4th gen Air from 2020 supports 5Gbps and it’s got an A14 (like the 2022 10th gen iPad), the 2021 mini has an A15 and also offers 5Gbps. But compared to an iPad, even the mini, there’s much less room to work with on iPhone for sure (and not just in the space sense).
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Before you throw them out, see if friends, family, or colleagues who haven’t upgraded would appreciate an extra Lightning cable for their car or travel kit. Since I am usually close to the bleeding edge on most Apple products, I am usually able to recycle ‘outdated’ stuff that way.
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No worries, that bag is the leftovers. I managed to “gift” a few items to colleagues (audio to Lightning dongles were in high demand LOL), but there’s just not that much demand in my bubble. Macs and iPads went USB-C long ago. The iPhone (along with of course some peripherals) was the last holdout. I’m very glad we’re moving on. 
Edit: If anybody in the Berkeley area wants leftover Lightning gear for free, just DM me.
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I’m not. While I have newer devices that use USB-C, I still have lots of Lightning devices, including two cameras that connect direct to the phone via Lightning, several sets of AirPods, AppleTV remote that charges that way, external magic keyboards, older iPads, etc. I’ve accumulated cables so there are Lightning chargers in every room of the house – now I have to buy new USB-C cables for those places as I never know what device will need charging where.
Just last night I went for a drive with my new 15 and tried to plug it into my car for CarPlay… Doh! Lightning cable no longer works. So annoying.
Yeah, it’ll all get settled in the long run, but it still feels like Apple was pushed into this by the idiotic EU and they didn’t do it on their own terms for a smoother transition.
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Apple has a Lightning to USB-C adaptor to tide you over with your old accessories. For power, excellent cables can be bought in bulk to go from A to C and C to C, if you don’t already have enough of them. Keep the Lightning cables until you’ve upgraded the corresponding Apple product. In my case, this means AirPods Pro case and Apple keyboard/trackpad.
People complain about the EU for political gain—that’s how we got Brexit. But, honestly, this is a clear gain and I really can’t see how this transition could happen any less painfully. If Apple had made interoperability a higher concern for iPhones before now, it would have happened by now. It didn’t. I don’t know why, but I’m sure we’d have seen the alternative if it existed. It doesn’t, and standards are great, so I’ll run a celebratory lap. It’s a great deal, to me at least and clearly to many others. Hopefully the inconvenience will be short-lived for others, and the backlash (if you can call it that) remains fairly muted.
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Transferred today from my 12 mini to the new barely yellow 15 (the yellow Al frame looks like gold to me).
Migration went without a hitch.
What none of the 15 reviews prepared me for is the tremendously better speaker. The 15 is so much louder and clearer than the 12 mini. Even driving, with Maps turn by turn instructions, the difference is clearly audible. Not to mention the difference playing music.
And although the 15 to me is still a gigantic phone, I am pleasantly surprised that it doesn’t feel at all heavier than the 12 mini. And that’s in spite of 36 grams more (a 27% increase). 
The smoother edges are nice too — cuts less into your palm or fingers. Especially important now that I really can’t reach far enough and tighten the grip even more in a futile attempt to get my thumb all the way to that other screen edge. And while trying realize I’m at risk of dropping my brand new fancy phone. So second hand indeed required here.
Camera bump is even more ridiculous, the wobble is as bad as before. But at least it’s not worse. And no, I’m not going to put on an ugly bulky case after I just spent $$$ on a phone master designed to be svelte and nice to look at. If somebody ever manages to make a svelte neutral case that gets rid of the wobble and has no lip whatsoever, let me know. Previous attempts have been entirely futile.
I’m not sure I’m a fan of the ever so slightly curved glass at the edges. It seems to me that curvature now gives me a thin edge of glare around the display even when there’s no direct reflections on the display parts I’m looking at. Has something a bit cheap/Samsung-y to it IMHO.
Dynamic Island is a fun gimmick. The frosted mug type glass back is really pretty. And it isn’t just looks, it feels just slightly rough too. Much easier to hold and feels real nice. I love how Apple hid the earpiece speaker between the frame and the screen. Just beautiful. 
I ended up also getting new APP with USB-C to replace my 1st gen APP (die Lightning, die!). And holy cannoli, the noise cancellation and audio quality is a lot better on these 2.1-gen compared to the 1st gen. Very nice.
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What would a smoother transition look like to you? It seems to me that whenever Apple chose to move to USB-C (or any new connector), it was going to be inconvenient for those of us with lightning devices and cables. I don’t understand what could have been done differently.
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I believe Apple had a plan to migrate to USB-C. They have been gradually moving more and more stuff to it: first with laptops, then with iPads, etc. Next, I assume, would have been accessories like AirPods and keyboards, etc. The most popular device, the iPhone, would have been the final item. Instead we’re now in a world where all the main devices are USB-C, except for a handful of things that aren’t, which is quite inconvenient. (No, I’m not buying new AirPods just to get a USB-C connector!)
The longer they waited, the more USB-C devices people would have had and the less important Lightning would be.
But I do agree there’s no perfect solution to this. I am just annoyed because I thought this wouldn’t happen for a few more years, but Apple’s hand was forced. Now I’ve got to live in a world with both cables for a few years until my old stuff is obsolete, or use dongles.
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This is obviously pure speculation on my part, but I can’t imagine Apple updating the AirPods or Watch charger to USB-C before the iPhone. People buy these things as accessories to their iPhones, so I think it would have been more confusing/inconvenient to the average person if the accessories they bought used a different charging port than their new phone. And note that Apple didn’t need to update the iPhones to USB-C this year, they could have waited until 2024 (in terms of what the EU requires), so if they thought it was important to get the AirPods on USB-C first, they easily could have. I just don’t see it, though, I think it would be odd for the headphones and phone to be on different standards.
As far as the keyboard/mouse/trackpad, I don’t think that has anything to do with the phone – as far as I can tell it’s because Apple doesn’t care. They could and should have updated these to USB-C years ago. It’s inexcusable that these accessories are still on Lightning given they’re used with Macs (and to a lesser extend iPads) which have been all in on USB-C for years. It’s already been inconvenient for the computer accessories to stick with Lightning, and I think it shows the low esteem that Apple unfortunately holds these items in.
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The Watch charger was never Lightning. It was always it’s unique form of Magsafe. At least Apple changed the charger side port to USB-C on the Watch charger and the keyboard and pointer devices when they dropped USB-A from the computers.
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Ooh, that reminds me of another annoyance. I’d expected the USB-C change as that’s been rumored for eons. But what I hadn’t expected is that it’s USB-C on both ends. Years ago I replaced most of the outlets in my house with multi-outlets that also include USB-A connectors. I have at least one of these in every room. They have been incredibly useful as I can use them to charge just about anything as all USB cables had USB-A on the one end.
Now suddenly everything is USB-C on both ends, and I either have to use a USB-C power brick, a dongle, or get a special USB-C to USB-A cable for every room. I get that USB-A isn’t as capable as C and won’t provide as much power – but these are simple devices that don’t need much power (cameras, cordless kitchen gadgets, hand warmers, almost anythign rechargeable, etc.). Of course, those all still work, but then my new devices want USB-C, which is annoying as I’m back to power bricks everywhere.
And what happens when traveling? USB-A is every now – hotel rooms have them built-in nightstands and lights, airports have them in seating areas, airplanes have them, cars have them, etc. Are they all going to need to be replaced? Will everyone just carry multiple cables or dongles or use a power brick instead?
I’ve already got a closet full of SCSI, RCA, phone, and other obsolete cables. Now I’ll end up with gazillion of Lightning and USB-A items that worked just fine.
These are $2.80 a pop. Any hotel or airport USB-A you still encounter will work just fine with them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08P8G19VV/
Buy. Plug in. Done.
I always travel with power bricks. These days I have two Anker ones that each have two USB-C ports. I’d never depend on finding a good USB port, enough of them, etc.
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Many thanks for this @Simon. After poking around a bit, I went with these instead because lower profile, less danger of getting accidentally levered/torqued by being hit, something I’m likely to do! Ended up being 4 for $9.59 after a “coupon”.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LF72431/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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[quote=“Simon, post:7, topic:24740, username:Simon”]
Just to be entirely clear, even the carrier-specific iPhone 15 models Apple sells in the US are unlocked.[/quote]
Glad they changed it, Simon. I remember having to wait to buy an unlocked iPhone direct from Apple after they had released the new model. IIRC they only listed AT&T & Verizon models the first few months after the release.
I don’t know about all carriers, but Verizon stopped selling locked phones (of any kind) a long time ago.
They pretty much stopped locking phones when they stopped selling discounted phones in exchange for a 2-year commitment. Today, all the discounts take the form of a monthly statement credit for 1/24 of the discount.
So they no longer care if you cancel your service and take the phone elsewhere, because those who do will lose the remainder of their discount/refund. (This is also why they no longer have early termination penalties.)
I think it was with the iPhone 10 I had to wait a few months before Apple released the unlocked version. I haven’t been under a contract since 2009.
The story was that Verizon was required to keep phones unlocked when they were licensed spectrum that they used for LTE, so it was probably about 2010 or 2011, when Verizon first offered LTE. (I believe that the auction was earlier than that, but the US government required that devices be open to the winner of the auction. I can’t find any supporting article for this, though.) Of course before LTE they didn’t sell phones with SIM slots at all, as they used CDMA, which doesn’t use a SIM, except for specific models that they sold as “international travel phones”, and those I think were locked out from Cingular/AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. (e.g., US carriers.)
Ironically, they do now SIM lock the phones that they sell in their own stores until they are activated for 60 days, but the reason for that was to make it easier to prevent unsold phones that were being stolen from delivery trucks from being sold as unlocked phones on the black market. This locking policy does not affect phones sold by Apple or, I think, other retailers like Best Buy, though.
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TL;DR summary:
- I upgraded from 14 Pro to 15 Pro because I needed greater storage capacity and USB 3 interface
- Moving to 15 Pro affords some quality-of-life improvements
- Make sure external devices don’t draw more than 4.5W
- My iPhone-SSD transfer works at USB 2.0 speed for reasons unknown
(Now the wall of text…)
I might be an unusual case of upgrading from an iPhone 14 Pro to an iPhone 15 Pro. The main reasons for my upgrades are:
- The need for more built-in storage, from 256GB to 512GB
- USB C simplifying my photography and file management workflow while traveling
For context, I will be trekking in Nepal for a month and the iPhone will be my only computer during the period. I am not counting on WiFi connection to work reliably, and I need to be self-sufficient in charging needs for up to five days at a time. The iPhone will serve as the hub which I offload the photos from my camera, and have duplicates saved in an external SSD. In addition, I will record some videos with the iPhone, and it will work with the inReach Mini for satellite communication, routing and logging tracks.
There had been some pleasant surprises:
- The 15 Pro feels lighter than the 14 Pro, and somewhat smaller too. The latter is probably due to the more rounded edges which is easier to hold, besides the weight and (very slight) size reduction.
- The weight reduction makes the 15 Pro stays properly atop my MacBook Pro lid when serving as a webcam, using the Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe. The 14 Pro usually tilts slightly to one side because of the weight; I did not remove the phone case as recommended.
- While the 15 Pro performance is 10-20% better than 14 Pro, the 15 Pro is noticeably snappier - apps launch faster, the camera is more responsive, and scrolling is even smoother than the already good 14 Pro.
- I have now acquired the muscle memory of launching the Camera app using the Action button. I am able to keep the iPhone much more stable by having the Action button face downwards while I press it with my thumb, rather than having the button face upwards and I press it with my index finger.
Some observations about the USB C port:
- The iPhone 15 Pro uses USB 3.2 Gen 2 at 10Gbps (~1.25GB/s), as mentioned by @glennf.
- Apple specifies that an SSD with maximum power draw of 4.5W is required for recording 4K60 videos.
- Some SSDs draw more power than 4.5W. For example, the SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD draws up to 7.3W. When I plugged it in, the iPhone initially recognised the SSD, but dropped it and the Files app froze as soon as I started copying files to it.
- Consequently, a powered USB C hub is required when connecting to devices with higher power draw.
- I also tested file transfer with a Samsung T7 Shield 1TB formatted in APFS. This drive works with 15 Pro, since it draws up to 4.1W - within the 4.5W limit.
- It is strange that iPhone-T7 transfer works at USB 2.0 speed (~53 MB/s), while T7-iPhone transfer works at USB 3.2 Gen 2 speed (>650 MB/s). The results are the same regardless of whether TB4 or USB 3 cable is used. The transfers worked at full speed with my Mac. I appreciate your suggestions and comments.
Overall, I concur with the general recommendation that the improvements are mostly incremental; unless some features unique to the 15 Pro (e.g. USB 3.0, recording 4K60 ProRes video) are deemed critical, the improvements over 14 Pro are mostly quality-of-life improvements.
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