SINGAPORE – In a world saturated by social media, your smartphone camera is the lens through which all your friends and followers view your world.

Not only that, but your camera also affects how they view you too, through your food pictures, travel videos, concert clips and outfit-of-the-day shots.

In 2023, Apple’s iPhone 15 saw a major upgrade to its rear camera system for sharper photos, to the delight of concertgoers, food photographers and travel aficionados.

Four new models – iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max – were launched in September.

The entry-level iPhone 15 and 15 Plus feature an advanced dual-camera system and have a significantly improved 48-megapixel main camera.

Their predecessors – the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus – have only a 12-megapixel main lens.

In contrast, some of its competitors, such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, released in August, also have a 12-megapixel main camera only.

The iPhone camera upgrade means travellers can use this new main camera to capture stunning landscapes with amazing detail more easily. Food photos are sharper, as are photos taken in front of gym mirrors, to better document one’s fitness journey.

The top-of-the-line iPhone 15 Pro Max, which has a 5x zoom capability, longer than its predecessor’s 3x, allows concertgoers to zoom in on the stage even if they have nose-bleed seats. The new 5x telephoto camera is billed as the longest optical zoom of any iPhone.

For photographers, this is equivalent to a focal length of 120mm, which is preferred for wildlife and sport photography, as subjects are usually farther away. The camera can capture details on buildings and even passable images of the moon.

According to Apple’s website, the company has created a state-of-the-art “tetraprism” design – a folded glass structure below the lens – to reflect light rays four times over. This allows light to travel for longer in the same space, giving users the new focal length.

In addition, the two Pro models have a new trick up their sleeves – the ability to capture spatial videos. This means the cameras can record video in 3D by using two of the device’s cameras. These videos can be viewed on Apple’s Vision Pro headset, a mixed-reality headset due out in early 2024.

Apart from the camera upgrades, the new models have the biggest update to the smartphone in years, say many reviewers.

The Pro phones have a new A17 Pro chip, Apple’s first built chip with the new 3-nanometre production process. This chip is said to improve performance, including 10 per cent faster processing and a 20 per cent improvement for graphics.

In a boost for gaming, the new chip supports a technology called ray tracing, which enables smoother graphics and improved colour accuracy.

The new lower-end models have the older A16 bionic chip, which is used in the iPhone 14 Pro models released in 2022.

The iPhone 15 is also Apple’s first smartphone to feature a USB-C connector, replacing the Lightning port used since 2012. The USB-C connector, adopted to meet requirements imposed by the European Union, makes the device compatible with chargers for Android phones, as well as iPads and Macs.

The new USB-C connector on iPhone 15 Pro models also lets videographers record high-quality video directly to an external hard drive, making it easier to use the phone as a professional video camera.

Despite the eye-watering prices – from $1,299 for a 128GB entry-level iPhone 15, to $2,639 for a 1TB top-of-the-line model – the phones saw robust demand in Singapore, as they did worldwide.

Deliveries for the iPhone 15 in China took almost twice as long compared with its predecessor model, proving its popularity.

This seemed an improvement from previous sales in 2022, when reports claimed that Apple had reduced the production of its iPhone 14 Plus due to “lower than expected” demand.

When the iPhone 15 models were launched on Sept 22, 2023, snaking queues were seen at the Apple stores in Orchard Road and at Marina Bay Sands. Some in the line had started queuing a day before, and a number of customers arrived prepared with suitcases, mineral water and food.

Resellers were also out in full force, with about 75 listings of iPhone 15s on Carousell by 10am on launch day, according to a Straits Times report.

In China, Apple’s biggest overseas market, wait times for the iPhone 15 reportedly quadrupled and pre-order waiting times also increased for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, according to a wire report.

Despite some users complaining that their new devices were overheating under normal usage, the allure of the shiny new iPhone did not dim.

Apple subsequently fixed the issue, due to a bug in the operating system, in a software update in October.

With the overheating issue settled, what remains is a cool device that will vastly improve the quality of images populating social media for years to come.