With less than a week to go for Apple’s “Wonderlust” event, a new report revealed key details about the iPhone 15’s camera setup. It appears Apple plans big camera upgrades this year — but probably not in the way you expect.
Corroborating previous rumors, the report confirms the periscope camera will be exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
iPhone 15 Pro might not get a new primary camera
MacRumors report claims the primary camera on the iPhone 15 Pro models will remain the same as its predecessor. The phones will retain the 48MP Sony IMX803 sensor. So, any image-quality improvements will come from a faster image signal processor. Previous rumors indicated Apple might use a breakthrough new Sony sensor, but that’s seemingly not the case.
Apparently, Apple plans to upgrade the Ultra Wide and Telephoto cameras on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Both models will get a new 13.4MP f/2.2 Ultra Wide camera, though there’s no detail on its field of view. As for the Telephoto camera, the iPhone 15 Pro will feature a 12.7MP f/2.8 shooter. On the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple will use the same telephoto sensor, but with a periscope lens.
The periscope lens should significantly improve the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s zoom capabilities. However, the report does not shed any light on the zoom level. It should be higher than 3x, which is what the iPhone 14 Pro lineup currently offers through its telephoto sensor.
A periscope lens takes more space inside a device’s housing, which is likely why Apple kept it exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max this year. The report says the Pro Max camera module is bigger than the ones in the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro.
iPhone 15 could get a 48MP primary camera
Reinforcing previous rumors, the report indicates Apple will use a 48MP camera on the regular iPhone 15 lineup. However, it won’t be the same hardware in the iPhone 14 Pro.
“The iPhone 15 is not expected to use the Sony IMX-803 image sensor from the iPhone 14 Pro, and will instead use a different Sony sensor with improved capabilities,” MacRumors wrote. Previous rumors indicated Apple would use a new stacked camera sensor in the iPhone 15 models for faster image processing and better low-light performance. However, MacRumors could not confirm if the stacked sensor made it to final production.
The regular iPhone’s 12MP f/2.4 Ultra Wide camera is not expected to see any hardware improvements this year. However, Apple could extract better performance from the sensor with improved processing. MacRumors noted that its report is based on pre-production information, so it might not be entirely accurate.
With titanium frames, redesigned internals and USB-C, Apple’s iPhone 15 and 15 Pro lineups are shaping up to be a major upgrade. But these improvements will likely lead to the phones getting more expensive by $100 to $200, at least for the Pro models.
