The new Center Stage front camera in the iPhone 17 lineup uses advanced hardware and AI magic to rid us of a thoroughly modern annoyance: having to flip your grip to capture a landscape selfie.
“We are thrilled to introduce our phenomenal new Center Stage front camera,” said iPhone product manager Megan Nash during Tuesday’s Awe Dropping event. “It gives you more pixels, more flexible ways to frame your shot, and incredible stabilization.”
The hardware secret that unlocks this new age of selfie supremacy? A square sensor that’s bigger than ever — almost twice the size of the iPhone’s previous front camera. It’s coming soon to a bar near you in the super-slim iPhone Air, the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max, all of which Apple unveiled Tuesday.
iPhone’s Center Stage camera supercharges selfies
Image: Apple
Apple says iPhone users took more than 500 billion selfies last year. That’s an astonishing amount of photographic narcissism, but we get it — sometimes a selfie (especially a group selfie) can capture the occasion like no other photo. The selfie is perhaps the ultimate form of self-expression in the smartphone era. (BTW, does anybody remember “slofies“? Yeah, I didn’t think so.)
Apple built the iPhone 17 lineup’s new Center Stage camera, which is based on the impressive iPad videoconferencing feature that arrived in 2021, to take selfies to the next level. It makes it seamless to go from a portrait-style solo selfie to a landscape-oriented group shot. And it’s all thanks to that square camera sensor.
“Traditional sensors have a four-by-three aspect ratio, which limits framing based on the orientation of the phone,” Nash said in Tuesday’s prerecorded video presentation. “The Center Stage camera’s unique shape and larger size allow for high-resolution photos and videos in any orientation, giving you four different compositions, which means you don’t have to rotate your iPhone to take a landscape selfie.”
Oh, the horror! Rotating your iPhone to change the camera shot!
But seriously, this is an actual upgrade that will make the iPhone far easier to use in pressure situations, from family reunions to darts league meetups.
“Users no longer have to rotate their iPhone to take a landscape selfie — they can now take photos and videos in portrait or landscape while holding their iPhone vertically, enabling a more comfortable, secure grip and centered gaze,” Apple said in a press release. “For group shots, Center Stage for photos uses AI to automatically expand the field of view and can rotate from portrait to landscape to include everyone in the frame.”
Apple makes it easier to take the selfies and group selfies
Photo: Apple
The ultimate goal is to make it easier to take a share-worthy photo, according to Apple.
“Holding iPhone vertically, you get a more secure grip, and you get better landscape selfies, because your eyes are more centered in the shot,” said Nash. “And photos have even more detail with higher resolution — up to 18 megapixels.”
If you mostly go for video selfies, don’t worry. The extra pixels in the iPhone 17 lineup’s square Center Stage camera sensor make selfie videos better, too.
“All your on-the-move selfie videos will be ultra-stabilized using some of the same technology that enables Action mode on the rear cameras,” said Nash. “You can also be more present FaceTiming with friends and family, because Center Stage for video calls is optimized for handheld video to keep your face perfectly positioned in frame.”
Lewis Wallace is the managing editor of Cult of Mac and author of our weekly newsletter, The Weekender.
He’s a San Francisco-based writer and editor specializing in technology and culture. He loves his iPhone, hates Siri, and appreciates any hardware that combines form and function.
Prior to Cult of Mac, he juggled words and ideas as culture editor at Wired.com, homepage editor at TechTV, news product manager at NBCi, copy editor at PC World, reporter at The (Hayward) Daily Review and editor in chief of EveryBody’s News in Cincinnati.
He earned a bachelor of general studies degree with a journalism certificate from the University of Cincinnati. While in school, he worked as the entertainment editor of The News Record and as editor in chief of Clifton Magazine.
He’s also a bass player, who’s recorded and performed around the United States with Those Darn Accordions, The Electric Boogie Dawgz and The Mad Maggies. When not writing, editing or laying down bass lines, he plays darts and serves on the board of the San Francisco Darts League.
