When the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max arrived, there was one major difference between the two models apart from size and price—the camera with the telephoto lens. A new report says that the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will return to the photographic uniformity of earlier models with a 5x zoom equivalent on both models.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max camera system. Will the 16 Pro match it?
Currently, if you want the more powerful telephoto zoom, you need the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The iPhone 15 Pro has a 3x zoom equivalent compared to the main lens.
I asked Apple why this disparity had come about and was told unequivocally that it was down to size: the smaller iPhone 15 Pro didn’t physically have the size for the bigger zoom.
Since the next Pro models are reported to be slightly bigger (the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are expected to match current sizes), there may be enough room for that 5x zoom.
And it looks like Apple will take the opportunity to include it, according to a new supplier report in DigiTimes. “Largan supplied periscope lenses for the premium iPhone 15 Pro Max launched last year. This year, more models in the upcoming iPhone lineup will feature periscope lenses. GSEO is likely to join as a new supplier for this year’s iPhones,” the report claims.
This isn’t the first rumor to this effect, with a previous report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from TFI Securities suggesting in October 2023 that the 16 Pro would have the tetraprism—Apple’s name for its periscope lens which is so skilfully designed that, unlike other periscope lenses, it looks near-identical to the other lenses. Only Apple would go to this level of aesthetic detail.
Two swallows don’t make a summer and two rumors don’t equate to fact, but they are certainly going in the right direction.
It would make a lot of sense for Apple to include the 5x zoom if it can: it’s a highly effective feature and many iPhone 15 Pro users would have wanted it, but demurred at the way the Max phone stretches your pocket (physically and financially).
While the difference between the cameras on the Pro and Pro Max in the current generation isn’t the first time larger iPhones have had better cameras, making the two match in this regard is the better way to go, I’d say, and I believe Apple feels that way, too.