The Apple iPhone 16 Pro is reported to be coming with a periscope lens this year, offering 5x optical zoom.
The report comes from DigitTimes (picked up by 91Mobiles) and talks about the main suppliers for the camera modules.
It used to be that the summer months were the quietest when it came to tech product launches, but that's no longer the case. Both Samsung and Google have confirmed events over the next couple of months, prior to consumer electronics show IFA and Apple's September event.
It means that while we await the official announcements – coming from Samsung first at Unpacked on 10 July – we are also gifted to a swell of rumours. The latest of which refers to Apple's iPhone 16 Pro, which is expected to be revealed at the end of summer, likely sometime in the beginning of September.
A report from DigiTimes (via 91Mobiles) has suggested the Apple iPhone 16 Pro will come with a periscope lens offering 5x optical zoom. You may have heard those specifications before and no, you aren't going mad. That's what the iPhone 15 Pro Max offered when it was announced in 2023.
The iPhone 15 Pro didn't offer the periscope lens of the 15 Pro Max however, with optical zoom limited to 3x rather than the 5x optical and 25x digital capabilities of the larger model. The report suggests bigger won't necessarily be better for 2024 however, with the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max offering the same camera capabilities.
iPhone 16 Pro screen size boost
In order to accommodate the larger camera module, there have also been reports to suggest the iPhone 16 Pro could see a slightly larger display at 6.3-inches compared to the iPhone 15 Pro's current 6.1-inches.
Other rumours talk about a capture button for taking pictures and videos, which if true, will be interesting to see how Apple implements. A capture button is something Sony phones have offered for years and technically the iPhone 15 Pro models already offer a capture button to some extent, if you program the Action Button for the camera, but that's not to say there isn't something else in the works.
When it comes to processor, the Apple iPhone 16 Pro is said to be running on the A18 Bionic, which will of course support iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence features. Nothing is confirmed as yet of course, and with a couple of months before the iPhone 16 series is expected to be announced, all these rumours can change.
