With the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro tipped for a launch in less than three months, four years of plans for Apple’s iPhone camera have just leaked, including a major upgrade to the iPhone 16 Pro.
As revealed by top insider Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is readying a significant expansion of the tetraprism lens it uses to deliver 5x zoom in its best iPhone, the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Kuo reiterates previous reports confirming that “The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will feature a tetraprism camera (with the same specifications as the iPhone 15 Pro Max).”
It has long been rumored that Apple plans to bring 5x zoom to both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, expanding the feature in the lineup this year. But Kuo has more where that came from, revealing plans for the iPhone 17 and beyond.
The future of the iPhone camera
Kuo goes on to state that Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro will feature “an upgraded tetraprism camera.” The same beefier optical zoom from the iPhone 16 Pro will be delivered by a 1/2.6" 48MP CIS, up from the 1/3.1" 12MP CIS in the 16 Pro. That means the lens capable of 5x zoom in the iPhone 17 will also shoot 48MP.
Kuo says “It is currently uncertain whether only the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the upgraded tetraprism camera,” but that if it does, the iPhone 17 Pro will inherit the feature.
Apple is also expected to redesign the tetraprism mechanism with “a shorter form factor to reduce the camera’s height.”
Looking even further ahead, Kuo says the iPhone 19 “will undergo another significant specification upgrade in the new iPhone models of 2027,” with even better optical zoom again. When it comes to Apple’s supply chain things get a lot murkier the further you look into the future, and plans are much more likely to change. But clearly, Kuo believes Apple has big plans for zoom technology on iPhone.
