I recently started using an iPhone 15 after five years away from Apple smartphones, and as my prior pieces on the iPhone’s lackluster 60Hz screen and satisfyingly nostalgic form factor may have let on, coming back to iOS has been a bit of a rollercoaster.
There is one thing about the iPhone that I’m unreservedly happy about, though, a feature that I’m happy to call the best in its class.
It’s not the Dynamic Island with its useful notifications, nor the 48MP main camera with its excellent low-light performance, nor the USB-C port with all its interconnectivity – in fact, my favorite thing about the iPhone 15 is something that’s been part of the iPhone lineup since the very beginning.
I’m talking about the humble speaker, situated along the bottom edge of the iPhone 15 and paired with the speaker grille along the top of the screen for stereo sound. I have been continually amazed by how fantastic this tiny dual-channel system sounds, especially compared to the other handsets in my rotating smartphone loadout.
Sounding off
As a lover of both music tech and consumer tech, I’ve found myself genuinely confused at how Apple has managed to wring so much bass and presence out of such a physically small speaker, but at full volume I find I’m able to hear songs clearly from any room in the house.
I can clearly remember a time when phone speakers were something of an afterthought, a definitively sub-optimal way of listening to music on a phone. My first ever smartphone, an early HTC One, had a speaker grille about a centimeter wide that sounded predictably atrocious.
However, this didn’t stop me from listening to music on it – I’ve continued to use phone speakers in the years since, mostly just to put something on while I’m doing chores or getting ready to head out.
That said, the iPhone 15 is the first phone I’ve used that I feel offers a proper listening experience, rather than just a way to have something playing.
Lately, I’ve found myself eschewing the Amazon Echo smart speaker and Presonus Eris 3.5 monitors I’ve got dotted around the house for the convenience of the iPhone – it’s physically impossible to replicate the rich sound of a 3-inch speaker with a smartphone, but the iPhone 15 gets close enough that I rarely feel like I'm missing out for background listening.
It’s not that I don’t care about audio quality either – I quite regularly buy music online for the sake of getting the best quality sound and even produce my own music. The blend of simplicity and quality offered by the iPhone is just really tough to beat.
In fact, with the option of proper speakers already in place and portability solved by the iPhone, I find that I’m not tempted by even the best Bluetooth speakers – a necessity in my music listening arsenal in years past.
Overall, the iPhone 15 is a reminder of Apple’s engineering prowess and just how far the phone speaker has come. Audio is rarely the reason a phone makes it to our list of the best phones, but music lovers shouldn’t ignore this underrated aspect of the iPhone experience.
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