iPhone 15 UK pre-orders, colours and pricing announced

iPhone 15 UK pre-orders and pricing

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are available now in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage sizes.

The iPhone 15 starts at £799 – it's available to pre-order right now (and has been since 1pm on Friday, 15 September) at various retailers and network providers, including Apple itself, Sky, EE, Three, O2, Amazon, John Lewis and Currys.

That's actually lower than the iPhone 14 was at launch (it was £849) so that's another bonus if you're buying one outright.

Where to pre-order iPhone 15 in the UK

Below, we've linked to all the retailer landing pages for iPhone 15 pre-orders that we could find, although some may not have stock on all models or storage sizes at the moment:

Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Pro comes in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB sizes, while the 15 Pro Max comes in 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB.

The iPhone 15 Pro starts at £999 – pre-orders open at 1pm on Friday, 15 September. The iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at £1,199 – it’s available to pre-order the same day.

Simon Cocks

In the UK, both of those phones are also more affordable than the iPhone 14 counterparts at launch, so this is the time to upgrade if you've been holding out from the 13 series.

Where to pre-order iPhone 15 Pro in the UK

Here are all the links to retailers with landing pages for iPhone 15 Pro pre-orders, but it's worth noting that several of them will not have stock on all models and capacities – it's worth checking a few to see where it's available, and the demand is high at the moment:

The official UK release date for the iPhone 15 phones is 22 September.

Simon Cocks

iPhone 15 colours

At the launch event, Apple said the colours of the new iPhone 15 range are "embedded throughout a single piece of durable colour-infused glass" and what's on offer this year is a lovely lineup of matte pastel colours that you'll want to show off and that will make a clear iPhone case a must. It's worth knowing that they are quite muted, but we like the subtle touch.

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are available in the following colours:

Pink
Yellow
Green
Blue
Black

Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max come in these colours, which are all quite minimal and subdued:

Black titanium
White titanium
Blue titanium
Natural titanium

iPhone 15

£899 at John Lewis

Apple iPhone 15: display, camera and charging updates

iPhone 15 display and body

In many ways, the iPhone 15 is every bit as good as last year’s iPhone 14 Pro, but it comes in colours that are more fresh and fun (yes, there’s a pastel pink one), while offering all the biggest upgrades that matter to most of us at a lower price than the Pro models. We think it feels like an upgrade you’ll actually notice.

Last year, Apple replaced the notch at the top of its displays with the “Dynamic Island” feature, a sleek way to show off useful live activities and to allow you to see the progress of a timer or change the song playing. Now, this feature is making its way to the standard 15 models.

That’s not all, though, the body of the phone is now noticeably more comfortable to hold in the hand with contoured edges and there’s a big improvement to the screen brightness. You’ll have no trouble reading texts, even in bright daylight.

Like last year, the iPhone 15 is available both with a 6.1-inch screen and is also available as the larger 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Plus.

Simon Cocks

iPhone 15 USB-C port

It has long been rumoured that Apple would make a change from its Lightning port to USB-C for charging and data transfers. And, yes, Apple has finally ditched the Lightning connector.

What does this mean for you, though? We think it’s welcome news as USB-C is now the industry standard and widely used across products like earbuds, headphones, tablets, laptops and far more.

It’s commonplace with other Apple kit too, so you’re sure to already have the necessary cords, and a fabric USB-C cable will come in the box with the phone too.

If you already have a recent MacBook or iPad, you’ll already have an adapter to charge your phone via USB-C too. Trust us, if you’ve been using the old-fashioned USB plug and 5W wall charger that used to come with iPhones, you’ll notice the charging speed upgrade.

iPhone 15 camera upgrades

Several of the incredible camera refinements and optimisations that debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro last year are now coming to the entry-level iPhones.

Chief among them is a brilliant 48-megapixel main camera system that is great at bringing loads of extra detail to your snaps, and it brings with it a zoom capability that uses the central portion of the larger sensor for close-up shots without a loss in clarity.

We don’t say this lightly, but this combination is set to be every bit as good as what’s available on the iPhone 14 Pro, primarily because the dedicated 3x telephoto lens can end up being a little less frequently used if you’re not further back from your photo subject. If you’re just across the table from a friend, the 2x option is perfect for portraits. We’ve found it one of our most used lenses over the last year.

Simon Cocks

iPhone 15 performance improvements

While Apple held back its newest processors from the iPhone 14 series last year, the chips present in this latest phone are the same ones from the Pro-tier 14 models – the A16 Bionic.

What does that mean in reality? You’ll notice faster performance when zipping around between apps and especially when using those powerful new photography capabilities.

iPhone 15 Pro

£1,099 at John Lewis

Apple iPhone 15 Pro: camera, design and performance upgrades

iPhone 15 Pro design and colours

The issue with the Pro iPhones has long been that they’re just a bit too heavy after a while. Don’t get us wrong, we love our iPhone 14 Pro, but we’d be lying if we said it didn’t get unwieldy from time to time.

That all ends with the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro and 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Pro Max, which now have a high-end titanium body which has a lovely brushed look to it. Like the regular 15 it’s subtly curved and smoothed and feels great in the hand. Apple says that this titanium is extra strong too, as it’s the same kind used in space exploration missions.

Where it really impresses, though, is with how lightweight it is. Of course, we need to see how this feels in everyday use but our first impressions are very good. It feels so much lighter than the 14 Pro, and we know that’s a change that we’d notice and appreciate.

It may not come in the appealing pastel colours of the 15, but we like that it’s differentiated with sleek and elegant shades. It comes in four finishes: black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium, and natural titanium.

Simon Cocks

iPhone 15 Pro camera upgrades

If you – or someone you know – is an avid photographer, then it’s worth knowing how this iPhone builds on last year’s with some fantastic camera upgrades. It has a larger sensor, a reduction in lens flare, and more available focal lengths at your fingertips.

Apple boasts that it has the capabilities of seven camera lenses in one phone, and even from our short hands-on time, it feels like it. Apple has also upgraded the night mode to deliver extra detail and vibrancy while optimising its HDR (high dynamic range) to treat skin tones with a more true-to-life reproduction.

We like that you can choose your default lens from options between 24, 28 and 35mm, which offers photographers a way to go straight to their preferred focal length, and we’re still getting the super high-resolution 48-megapixel main camera, now with greater light gathering capabilities.

If you go for the larger 15 Pro Max, you’ll also get a far longer 5x zoom range, going to a 120mm focal length. If you’re not used to big zoom lenses from dedicated, this might not mean much, but it means you’ll get a greatly improved zoom reach that you’d typically need a chunky lens to achieve.

Simon Cocks

iPhone 15 Pro action button

Apple’s iPhones have always had a mute switch on the left side, but that’s now changing to a much more powerful “action button” that you can customise to do whatever you can imagine on the Pro models.

By default, it works for switching you between mute and turning on your audible alerts, but if you’re anything like us, your phone has probably been on silent since 2014. It’s rare that the vibrate isn’t enough and nobody wants their phone blaring at the dinner table.

You can change what the action button does with a few taps in the Settings app. You could use it to launch the camera with a click or to switch on the torch, capture your thoughts in a voice note, jump straight into accessibility features like the magnifier or program it to work with any clever automations in the Shortcuts app. We think these shortcuts are an under-appreciated feature, and we use them to set focus modes, jump into our podcast queue, and speed up photo editing.

Simon Cocks

iPhone 15 Pro performance and efficiency

Apple has added a new processor to the 15 Pro too, the A17 Pro. Don’t worry if the jargon is hard to understand, the key things to note here are that it has doubled the speed of the “neural engine” so you’ll see faster processing for on-device smarts like the improved autocorrect, Siri requests, and features like “Personal Voice” in the upcoming iOS 17 (available to download on 18 September). The phone is also better with efficiency and peak performance, with some upgraded graphics that’ll be especially impressive for mobile gamers.

iPhone 15 Pro USB-C port

Cementing its position as the go-to iPhone for photographers, the new 15 Pro model also has better file transfer speeds over the standard iPhone 15.

Its USB-C port has USB 3 capabilities, so that means it’s up to twenty times faster than the USB 2 speed found on the iPhone 15. In practice, it’ll be easy to use the new USB-C connector to move lots of videos or large pictures quickly to your computer for management and editing.

iPhone 15 Pro Max

£1,199 at John Lewis

Simon Cocks

Technology Editor

Simon Cocks is Good Housekeeping UK’s Technology Editor, overseeing tech shopping content and strategy for the title. He previously also worked across other titles including Esquire UK, Digital Spy, Men’s Health UK and Women’s Health UK.

Simon specialises in testing the latest smart gadgets, home entertainment gear, headphones, speakers, portable chargers, radios, e-book readers and smartphones. He's reviewed top tech products from brands including Google, Apple, Amazon, JBL and Bose.

A magazine journalism graduate from Kingston University in 2014, Simon also worked on the Discovery and Silkroad inflight magazines. He then gained experience writing about entertainment at SFX and Total Film. He also contributed reviews and interviews to TwitchFilm (later ScreenAnarchy), CultBox and Frame Rated.

He joined Good Housekeeping UK as the Editorial Assistant for Special Projects and was part of Good Housekeeping’s Consumer Affairs Team between 2014 and 2019. In this role, he conducted price comparison research, wrote detailed household and money-saving advice guides and edited thousands of in-depth reviews for the Good Housekeeping Institute.

He has focused on technology and gadgets since 2020, where he started by testing out power banks and instant cameras. He writes reviews, roundups, news articles and deals updates, and also covers top tech deals during sales like Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

When not testing out the latest gizmos, you’ll find Simon either catching up with the newest releases at his local cinema or out shooting with his beloved compact camera.

You can follow Simon on Instagram, on Bluesky, on LinkedIn and on Threads.