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SmakFairy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 6, 2021
12
125
Absolutely nothing special about the Pro models this year, and they don't even keep up with the competition. Even last year's Watch Ultra 2 got the new feature tile board - but the 16 Pro is so boring they couldn't fill one. Half of the presentation spent on contrived movie and music video shoots that don't represent anyone's actual usage - I mean, you can't get those images without at least $100k in outboard gear, but who is spending that on a shoot and using an iPhone?

Still limping along on a 12 Pro, and upgrades to the camera are the one feature that will motivate me to spend on a new iPhone. Despite the rumors, I was desperately hoping Apple would come through and deliver a camera that meets my needs and goes toe to toe with the competition. Alas, we suffer once again at the hands of Apple's bean counters. It's one thing for products to plateau as technology development slows - but this is something else.

Google just released their Pixel 9, with 48mp available at each sensor for increased image quality all around. Yet here we are now with Apple's flagship phone still offering only an aging 12mp sensor for the telephoto lens. What gives?

I use the telephoto all the time, so I was hoping for a significant upgrade to finally justify the cost of a new phone. Google can now deliver a real step up in image quality, so why can't Apple?

I would love to get better pictures out of my wide and ultra-wide cameras, along with stabilization, but I can't justify the cost of a new phone that will continue to leave me disappointed with half the pictures I take. If I want the best image quality available to me right now, it looks like I will have to switch to Google. I don't want that, but I also don't want an expensive new phone that barely improves on my old one.

There is no reason Apple couldn't offer something competitive with Google except for their greed and arrogance - assuming that people will continue buying iPhones regardless of what they actually offer, even if that means missing out on features they could have if Apple was not deliberating withholding. Probably they are correct. But not with me. 12 Pro will soldier on for another year - unless I give my money to Google instead.
 

Hoyboy

macrumors 6502
Nov 9, 2012
275
371
Absolutely nothing special about the Pro models this year, and they don't even keep up with the competition. Even last year's Watch Ultra 2 got the new feature tile board - but the 16 Pro is so boring they couldn't fill one. Half of the presentation spent on contrived movie and music video shoots that don't represent anyone's actual usage - I mean, you can't get those images without at least $100k in outboard gear, but who is spending that on a shoot and using an iPhone?

Still limping along on a 12 Pro, and upgrades to the camera are the one feature that will motivate me to spend on a new iPhone. Despite the rumors, I was desperately hoping Apple would come through and deliver a camera that meets my needs and goes toe to toe with the competition. Alas, we suffer once again at the hands of Apple's bean counters. It's one thing for products to plateau as technology development slows - but this is something else.

Google just released their Pixel 9, with 48mp available at each sensor for increased image quality all around. Yet here we are now with Apple's flagship phone still offering only an aging 12mp sensor for the telephoto lens. What gives?

I use the telephoto all the time, so I was hoping for a significant upgrade to finally justify the cost of a new phone. Google can now deliver a real step up in image quality, so why can't Apple?

I would love to get better pictures out of my wide and ultra-wide cameras, along with stabilization, but I can't justify the cost of a new phone that will continue to leave me disappointed with half the pictures I take. If I want the best image quality available to me right now, it looks like I will have to switch to Google. I don't want that, but I also don't want an expensive new phone that barely improves on my old one.

There is no reason Apple couldn't offer something competitive with Google except for their greed and arrogance - assuming that people will continue buying iPhones regardless of what they actually offer, even if that means missing out on features they could have if Apple was not deliberating withholding. Probably they are correct. But not with me. 12 Pro will soldier on for another year - unless I give my money to Google instead.

I sincerely hope no one buys the iPhone 16 series and give Apple the middle finger. Gotta hit them where it hurts if we want them to change and money is the only thing they care about these days.
 

Asiatic Black Hebrew

macrumors 6502
Jul 12, 2022
427
1,286
I sincerely hope no one buys the iPhone 16 series and give Apple the middle finger. Gotta hit them where it hurts if we want them to change and money is the only thing they care about these days.
Apple is well aware that simply slapping a new number on the phone & introducing a new color, is all they need to get the pre-orders rolling. Sadly, I don't see that changing anytime soon.
 

jsmith1

macrumors 6502a
Jun 6, 2010
683
594
Absolutely nothing special about the Pro models this year, and they don't even keep up with the competition. Even last year's Watch Ultra 2 got the new feature tile board - but the 16 Pro is so boring they couldn't fill one. Half of the presentation spent on contrived movie and music video shoots that don't represent anyone's actual usage - I mean, you can't get those images without at least $100k in outboard gear, but who is spending that on a shoot and using an iPhone?

Still limping along on a 12 Pro, and upgrades to the camera are the one feature that will motivate me to spend on a new iPhone. Despite the rumors, I was desperately hoping Apple would come through and deliver a camera that meets my needs and goes toe to toe with the competition. Alas, we suffer once again at the hands of Apple's bean counters. It's one thing for products to plateau as technology development slows - but this is something else.

Google just released their Pixel 9, with 48mp available at each sensor for increased image quality all around. Yet here we are now with Apple's flagship phone still offering only an aging 12mp sensor for the telephoto lens. What gives?

I use the telephoto all the time, so I was hoping for a significant upgrade to finally justify the cost of a new phone. Google can now deliver a real step up in image quality, so why can't Apple?

I would love to get better pictures out of my wide and ultra-wide cameras, along with stabilization, but I can't justify the cost of a new phone that will continue to leave me disappointed with half the pictures I take. If I want the best image quality available to me right now, it looks like I will have to switch to Google. I don't want that, but I also don't want an expensive new phone that barely improves on my old one.

There is no reason Apple couldn't offer something competitive with Google except for their greed and arrogance - assuming that people will continue buying iPhones regardless of what they actually offer, even if that means missing out on features they could have if Apple was not deliberating withholding. Probably they are correct. But not with me. 12 Pro will soldier on for another year - unless I give my money to Google instead.

Yes I know ..wait till 17, in same boat
 

ProbablyDylan

macrumors 65816
Mar 26, 2024
1,303
2,508
Los Angeles
Not sure why people are so negative on these phones. They bring new features and meaningful improvements over their predecessors. Are they earth shattering upgrades? No - but we haven't had any since 2017. Smartphones have plateaued.

Personally, they had me at better battery life.
 

dominiongamma

macrumors 68020
Oct 19, 2014
2,468
5,373
Phoenix. AZ
Not sure why people are so negative on these phones. They bring new features and meaningful improvements over their predecessors. Are they earth shattering upgrades? No - but we haven't had any since 2017. Smartphones have plateaued.

Personally, they had me at better battery life.
I agree I think the battery life was understated in that presentation and should’ve been a focus
 

antiprotest

macrumors 601
Apr 19, 2010
4,313
15,777
It’s the yearly everything sucks thread haha.
Sure, and one could argue that if Apple delights rather than disappoints every year, there would be fewer threads like this. I actually think the 16 Pro is OK (but nothing more than OK), but I can understand the disappointment of those looking for more. I will not be upgrading my 14 Pro right away.
 

Drk89wng

macrumors newbie
Jun 25, 2020
14
31
Washington, DC
I got so turned off by all the rumors the past few weeks I jumped the gun and got a Z Fold6. Yes I still have my 15 Pro Max, for Apple Pay Cash, Apple Card, controlling my Apple TV and home pods. I still have my love for Apple products and own more than I should between myself and the wife. She's fine with whatever phone she has and isn't overly dedicated to a manufacturer or yearly updates but she's also disappointed with this announcement. This year they basically told us you either want your phone predominantly to use as a camera and basically nothing else. We still don't have hifi Bluetooth codecs, no update to the internal dac, no new screen tech outside of size, nothing to improve the overall "smartphone" aspect. Like yes we live in a social media oriented world but the Pro moniker doesn't sllude to professional photographer/videographer. I'm glad I'm trying out android again, it's refreshing. Less battery life, no iMessage (until I set up a BlueBubbles server), and less app cohesiveness and Samsung pass is terrible compared to iCloud keychain. All in all I just had to vent these frustrations, loving apple can dosclude their phone offerings and it took this phone release to realize it.
 

Kylo83

macrumors 601
Apr 2, 2020
4,337
14,116
Worst Apple iPhone launch ever and I mean it, no brighter displays no faster wired charging, I’m a pro photographer but I use real pro gear never used iPhone for pro shoots, there’s like nothing new they are so lazy they only updated the max headphones because the eu timing, they just don’t bother anymore
 

CloudChief

macrumors member
Dec 9, 2021
65
76
A 12mp camera can produce better images than a 48mp camera.

If the sensors are the same size, the 12mp sensor will have larger pixels that capture more light.

So whilst your image will be made up of fewer pixels, the quality of each pixel could be higher.

Also lots of ‘48mp’ sensors use pixel binning and reduce the mp to 12 or 24 anyway. This combines pixels into one and captures more light per pixel.

Edit: I’m not sure about the paragraph below. Don’t take my word for it.

And I’m pretty sure Apple said the 12mp mode is to magnify images. I assume they’re doing this to ‘reduce’ the sensor size which causes images to be magnified.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong haha
 
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