Apple has always brought consistent modest camera improvements to new iPhones every year. It is expected that this year’s iPhone 16 line will continue to get camera updates particularly for the Pro duo, which is now rumored to feature an ever larger main sensor in addition to a new ultrawide shooter.
Possible upgrades for Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro camera
Prolific tipster Digital Chat Station has shared interesting details about the camera setup on the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The source explained that Apple is keeping the 48 MP resolution in the primary rear camera. However, the sensor size is said to be increased to 1/1.14-inch, which is significantly wider than the current sensor at 1/1.28-inch and bigger than Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra with 1/1.3-inch.
The source also provided further details about the upcoming 48 MP ultrawide angle camera that is replacing the 12 MP ultrawide on the iPhone 15 Pro (review). Accordingly, the new sensor is measured at 1/2.6-inch wide, a notable jump from the 1/3.6-inch area of the current ultrawide snapper.
And compared to the other premium camera phones, Apple will be close to matching the sensors on the likes of Xiaomi’s 13 Ultra (review) and the dated Sony Xperia Pro-I our colleague tested.
While we are yet to see if how these sensors are going to fare in real-life scenarios, a larger sensor also means that the pixel size is increased, consequently capturing more light in the process. The resulting images or videos should be brighter and sharper. A larger camera sensor will also help enhance low-light shooting.
On the other hand, the new cameras should also boost the spatial video recording on the iPhone 16 Pro, which was introduced to the iPhone 15 Pro last year.
Besides the wide and ultrawide cameras, the telephoto camera on the iPhone 16 Pro might not get any sensor upgrade. However, the smaller iPhone 16 Pro could share the same 5x zoom level using tetraprism optics as the iPhone 15 Pro Max (review).
Both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are said to get bigger chassis and display as well. The revised footprint should help house these enlarged camera modules, although the overweight on the two models are almost unchanged.
As regards other specs, the iPhone 16 could be equipped with a custom A18 chip while a more capable A18 Pro should find its way to the iPhone 16 Pro. It’s unclear if these new chips will offer some sort of imaging improvements along the way, such as infused AI into these cameras similar to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (review).
Do you think these rumored iPhone 16 Pro camera changes appear exciting? Tell us your answers in the comments.
