One of the iPhone 15 Pro's rumored camera limitations will be fixed with the iPhone 16 and the move to a new size, says Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo
In his latest report, Kuo identified some of the companies possibly entering and leaving Apple's network of suppliers. More importantly for regular iPhone buyers, he claims, in line with previous rumors, that the iPhone 15 Pro Max will get a new periscope telephoto camera, but the smaller iPhone 15 Pro model will not.
For those unfamiliar, a periscope telephoto camera uses both lenses and mirrors to achieve greater magnification than a normal zoom lens without taking up huge amounts of space. Other sources have alleged the new shooter will have a 6x magnification, up from the iPhone 14 Pro's 3x zoom, but below the 10x zoom that rivals like the Galaxy S23 Ultra can manage.
This sounds like it'll be one of the biggest upgrades for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and could help it regain Apple's no.1 status on our best camera phones guide. However, it's unfortunate only the largest and most expensive iPhone 15 model will get this potential killer feature. And that's why it could be worth waiting a year for it to appear on a smaller and cheaper model.
Coming to the iPhone 16 Pro next year
Kuo also says in his report that while the iPhone 15 Pro won't get the new periscope camera, 2024's iPhone 16 Pro will, since it'll be getting "slightly larger." A previous rumor gave the specific size of the iPhone 16 Pro as 6.3 inches (up from 6.1 inches), with the Pro Max version moving to 6.9 inches (from 6.7 inches).
For fans of the best small phones, it'll be sad to see the Pro iPhone get this size bump, assuming the claim's accurate to the final product. But for most users, who don't seem to mind the ballooning bulk of most smartphones, it'll be good to have the same features available on all sizes of iPhone once again.
Even if the periscope camera is an iPhone 15 Pro Max exclusive this year, other changes should be coming to all models this September. All four expected iPhone 15 units should get a new look, with more rounded edges that look like they'll be more comfortable to use than the current flat-sided iPhone 14 family. We should see 48MP main cameras on all models too, after these higher resolution sensors debuted on only the Pro models last year.
