A few years ago, all iPhones had cameras with 12-megapixel sensors. Now, they all have a 48-megapixel sensor and a 12-megapixel one or two. However, a new report claims that the iPhone 16 Pro Max will see a new main sensor and a vastly upgraded Ultra Wide camera.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max cameras could be an upgrade over the current iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Updated May 26. This post was first published on May 23, 2024.
As reported by MacRumorsWeibo user OvO Baby Sauce OvO has claimed that the main camera will replace the existing sensor with another one, also with a resolution of 48 megapixels. Specifically, this will be the Sony IMX903. This is an upgrade that will only apply to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the hacker claims.
While all the iPhones released this year will no doubt have great cameras, it looks like the iPhone 15 Pro Max will be, as Daniel John at Creative Bloq says, “the one to get excited about.”
The main sensor on the smaller iPhone 16 Pro will stick with the Sony IMX803 found on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
But there is one other change that will apply to both Pro iPhone sizes, and that is the Ultra Wide camera which is predicted to jump from 12 megapixels to 48 megapixels.
As always with phone cameras, the intended benefit is primarily improved low-light performance, where smaller sensors with smaller pixels typically struggle.
And as Creative Bloq points out, there are other changes on the way, affecting all three cameras on the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, as well as the two snappers on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. This change concerns the lenses themselves, which are redesigned “to reduce lens flare by incorporating new anti-reflective optical coating technology into the lenses.”
A higher resolution sensor will likely have even smaller pixels, but will almost certainly use pixel binning, where multiple pixel locations are combined to work as one, to draw in more light. Specifically in a 48-megapixel camera, four adjacent locations are linked, providing the equivalent of a 12-megapixel shot, but with the larger pixels provided by binning.
It’s a process that works well on the current iPhone lineup on the main camera, and it also offers extra flexibility because there’s also the option to shoot at full 48-megapixel resolution for the highest quality—when the lighting conditions allow it.
That means it’s only the telephoto camera that doesn’t change this year, for the iPhone 16 Pro Max, with its 12-megapixel sensor and corresponding 5x optical zoom. However, there have also been rumors that the iPhone 16 Pro will see an improvement over this year’s model.
The iPhone 15 Pro only manages 3x zoom because, I’m told, there wasn’t room for the Max’s 5x zoom. That will change, it seems, this fall, and both Pro sizes will have the same excellent 5x Zoom currently on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
In fact, there’s a chance the Pro Max will see a better telephoto lens this fall as well. As Creative Bloq points out, the iPhone 16 Pro Max may feature a “super” telephoto zoom lens that would take the focal length from 77mm to 300mm, which is a lot longer, obviously. The report says, “Increased zoom capabilities could be a huge boon for creatives, making the device a valid candidate for sports or even nature photos.”
