It’s official. After showing up to Tim Cook’s Wonderlust event and listening to him talk about all the money we’d be spending on his iPhones and smartwatches, the time has finally come to buy his products. Pre-orders go live today, with orders set to start arriving at their new owners’ homes a week later, Friday 29 September.
You’ll be able to place your order with cold hard cash, or through a contract with some of SA’s largest operators, Vodacom, MTN and Telkom if you’re going through the iStore direct. (If you need any help determining which has the fastest network, look no further.)
If you’re still in the dark about what the iPhone 15 actually offers over its 14-numbered counterparts, expect the same sort of iterative updates you’d find in any of its new smartphones. Here, that means a new chipset, which allows the Pro models to make like a triple-A console and play games like the latest Resident Evil, or the incoming Assassin’s Creed.
The biggest differences are of course Apple’s inclusion of USB-C across the whole 15 line-up, with the brand’s cheaper models getting hold of the Dynamic Island – a feature that was reserved for the Pros in 2022. It’s certainly one of Stuff’s favourite features, and we expect that to be no different this time around.
Bog standard (and still expensive)
Be warned, while the US has managed to retain the iPhone 15’s base model price of $800, South Africa hasn’t been quite so lucky. The standard iPhone 15 with 128GB of storage will start at R22,000 – R1,400 more than the iPhone 14’s starting price.
If that’s not enough storage, you can pick up the 256GB model, setting you back R25,000. The most expensive model – which comes packing 512GB of storage – will cost R30,800. Steep, huh? Hold onto that thought once you get at the Pro model pricing.
You’ve got your choice of colours here, with Black, Blue, Yellow, Pink and Green on offer.
It’s a big Plus
If bigger truly does mean better, then you’ll have to settle for the iPhone 15 Plus’s 6.7in display, with prices for the device kicking off at R25,000. That’s of course the price of the phone’s base model, which comes with 128GB of storage.
Next up is the model packing 256GB of storage, which comes with a price of R27,700. We’d recommend bracing yourself for the most expensive iPhone 15 Plus, which costs R33,500 and sports 512GB of storage. At that point, checking out the Pro range before putting your money down makes sense. Apple’s pricing is (intentionally) like that.
If you decide to pick up either the iPhone 15 or 15 Plus through Incredible Connection before the phone’s launch date of Friday, 29 September, it’ll throw in a free Apple HomePod mini, which it says will arrive at participating customers before 21 October 2023.
Trading places
There are some benefits of going through the iStore directly. Sure, you won’t be getting a HomePod mini, but it does give you the option of financing your new iPhone 15 through a contract with Vodacom, MTN or Telkom. It also means you’re able to make use of that iPhone 12 or 13 model you just had to have through the iStore’s extensive trade-in schema.
You’ll be able to pick up the most expensive iPhone 15 Plus for as little as R16,500 as long as you trade in an iPhone 13 with the same 512GB of storage. If you’ve been holding onto that 256GB of storage on the iPhone 12, you’ll secure a R21,500 price – a far cry from the usual R33,500 price. You can find out more about the trade-in programme and what your older iPhones are worth to Apple right here.