Both iPhone 16 Pro Models Again Rumored to Feature 5x Optical Zoom

[MacRumors]

Apple plans to expand the iPhone 15 Pro Max's tetraprism camera with up to 5x optical zoom to both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max this year, according to Taiwanese research firm TrendForce. This is a rumor we have heard from other sources before, including Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and our own reporting.

TrendForce briefly mentioned this information today in a press release focused on the overall smartphone camera lens market:

Following the successful launch of the iPhone 15 Pro Max with its exclusive Tetraprism telephoto zoom lens, the industry is expected to see an increase in the adoption of periscopic lens modules. Apple plans to bring this advanced hardware upgrade to the iPhone 16 Pro, making it accessible to more users in the Pro series.

In the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the tetraprism camera system has a "folded" design that allows it to fit inside the smartphone, enabling up to 5x optical zoom and up to 25x digital zoom. By comparison, the smaller iPhone 15 Pro remains limited to up to 3x optical zoom, in line with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

It has been rumored that the iPhone 16 Pro will feature a larger 6.3-inch display, compared to the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro. This change would increase the overall size of the device, which could provide additional internal space for a tetraprism camera.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 16 series in September.

Article Link: Both iPhone 16 Pro Models Again Rumored to Feature 5x Optical Zoom

 

[DBZmusicboy01]

The main camera better let us record in 8K.

 

[coffeemilktea]

This is such a great feature, I'm going to use improved zoom whenever I take pictures of my cat from now on. I gotta see that "clueless kitty" expression in super high-definition 5x. 🐱

 

[jimothyGator]

A zoom lens is one with variable focal length. It’s not one with a fixed, long focal length. It’s not three separate lenses with different focal lengths. No iPhone to date has had a zoom lens, and it doesn’t sound like the iPhone 16 will, either.

(We can quibble about “digital zoom,” but at least it’s accurate in the sense that it’s variable).

 

[GtrDude]

In other news: Apple is working their way up from being 10 years behind Samsung to only being 8 years behind.

 

[Nimrad]

Please give the Pro’s the same features. I really wanna go down to the non-Max one this time around.

 

[Mother Nature]

In other news: Apple is working their way up from being 10 years behind Samsung to only being 8 years behind.

That's why Samsung followed in and replaced S23's Ultra camera for a 5X in the S24 Ultra.
Samsung is a great company but some of their choices apparently show they are following iPhone, like the blatantly copy of iOS lockscreen widgets.

 

[MayaUser]

In other news: Apple is working their way up from being 10 years behind Samsung to only being 8 years behind.

too bad Samsung makes a lot of mistakes because they do too many things without a good focus for mainstream utility for the customer

 

[klasma]

Just quick reminder that this isn’t an actual zoom lens. The “optical zoom” is just interpolating between the fixed-focal lenses.

List of longest smartphone telephoto lenses - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[haunebu]

Mind-blowing.

 

[Lightbox67]

I'm struggling. In the 14 Pro vs 16 Pro round-up the other day, the claim was that the 16 Pro would feature a 120mm maximum focal length, and for the 16 Pro Max it would be 'above 300mm'.

How do you get a 300mm lens without either adding a fourth lens – which I've not read suggested anywhere – or dropping the 5x, and going with lenses at 13mm, 24mm, and 300mm (which seems mad).

 

[lcs101]

In other news: Apple is working their way up from being 10 years behind Samsung to only being 8 years behind.

Unless it has changed in the last year, Samsungs still suck at taking pictures of any subjects that are not perfectly still indoors (e.g., young kids, pets). iPhone does a much better job of this, as does the Pixel (which I rate higher than iPhone for photography).

 

[Guacamole]

the day the awful HDR can be turned off I will get another iPhone

 

[Allen_Wentz]

A zoom lens is one with variable focal length. It’s not one with a fixed, long focal length. It’s not three separate lenses with different focal lengths. No iPhone to date has had a zoom lens, and it doesn’t sound like the iPhone 16 will, either.

(We can quibble about “digital zoom,” but at least it’s accurate in the sense that it’s variable).

Sorry but IMO you are quibbling. Functionally iPhones do have an optical zoom like the headline states. Apple digitally moves among its various lenses, transparently providing zoom capability to the user.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

the day the awful HDR can be turned off I will get another iPhone

PEBKAC. Anyone referencing "the awful HDR" simply needs to learn how to hold the iPhone Pro still and pay proper attention to lighting.

 

[spinedoc77]

Noob question: Is it better to record in the higher resolution main camera and then crop via software? Or record on the lower resolution zoom lens and not crop?

 

[soundweave]

PEBKAC. Anyone referencing "the awful HDR" simply needs to learn how to hold the iPhone Pro still and pay proper attention to lighting.

Compare a Native RAW or even a ProRAW photo compared to a HEIF produced by the stock camera app. The HEIF forces garish sharpening, which doesn't look good on anything larger than a phone screen. All smoothness is gone. Meanwhile the RAW files can look like real camera photos, really beautiful. They look like they could be in a magazine.

It's not because of the extra file size. You can compress these ProRAWs back down into HEIF (on a mac, on iPhone it adds the post-processing back in) and they are usually a smaller size compared to the stock HEIF (presumably due to the lack of sharpening, less "detail"). I have 48MP converted-HEIFS that are smaller than 24MP stock-HEIFs due to this.

The capability is there. I wish they would let us control this sharpening/processing more with the photographic styles or something.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Noob question: Is it better to record in the higher resolution main camera and then crop via software? Or record on the lower resolution zoom lens and not crop?

My preference is (just like with full size lenses) to capture a pic with the longest lens that will make the closest (before-post) crop. I find that if I can fill the frame from ~6' (~2meters) distance or more with the tele lens that usually provides the best pic. Any closer and the iPhone Pro Max will transparently use a wider lens anyway because the tele will not focus.

Rather than having the camera choose the lens I often prefer selecting tele and making sure I am at least ~6' (~2meters) distant; or getting close enough to fill the frame using a wider lens. The point is to fill the frame as feasible before any cropping in-camera or in post.

I crop most pix at least a little in post, but that largely has to do with my personal technique and the kinds of images that I usually capture.

 

[darngooddesign]

Bleh, I would ratehr they add a fourth 5X camera than have that big gap from 2X to 5X.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Compare a Native RAW or even a ProRAW photo compared to a HEIF produced by the stock camera app. The HEIF forces garish sharpening, which doesn't look good on anything larger than a phone screen. All smoothness is gone. Meanwhile the RAW files can look like real camera photos, really beautiful. They look like they could be in a magazine.

It's not because of the extra file size. You can compress these ProRAWs back down into HEIF (on a mac, on iPhone it adds the post-processing back in) and they are usually a smaller size compared to the stock HEIF (presumably due to the lack of sharpening, less "detail"). I have 48MP converted-HEIFS that are smaller than 24MP stock-HEIFs due to this.

The capability is there. I wish they would let us control this sharpening/processing more with the photographic styles or something.

Probably I do not notice because I always shoot RAW.

 

[dampfnudel]

Bleh, I would ratehr they add a fourth 5X camera than have that big gap from 2X to 5X.

I’m hoping Apple executives realize from their own personal experience using their own 15 Pro Maxes that this gap is far from ideal and that they need to find a way somehow to give us 3X in addition to 2X and 5X. I don’t know if a fourth lens would be the answer.

 

[spinedoc77]

My preference is (just like with full size lenses) to capture a pic with the longest lens that will make the closest (before-post) crop. I find that if I can fill the frame from ~6' (~2meters) distance or more with the tele lens that usually provides the best pic. Any closer and the iPhone Pro Max will transparently use a wider lens anyway because the tele will not focus.

Rather than having the camera choose the lens I often prefer selecting tele and making sure I am at least ~6' (~2meters) distant; or getting close enough to fill the frame using a wider lens. The point is to fill the frame as feasible before any cropping in-camera or in post.

I crop most pix at least a little in post, but that largely has to do with my personal technique and the kinds of images that I usually capture.

Good info TY. My main issue is taking pics/video of my kids playing sports, it's not really easy to get them to fill in the frame by placing myself so I have to use zoom or crop. How does longest lens translate to the different lenses an iPhone has? I'm a noob so mainly just go by resolution.

 

[Brooke795]

This is such a great feature, I'm going to use improved zoom whenever I take pictures of my cat from now on. I gotta see that "clueless kitty" expression in super high-definition 5x. 🐱

As a cat person myself I LOVE this comment!!

 

[Jensend]

Compare a Native RAW or even a ProRAW photo compared to a HEIF produced by the stock camera app. The HEIF forces garish sharpening, which doesn't look good on anything larger than a phone screen. All smoothness is gone. Meanwhile the RAW files can look like real camera photos, really beautiful. They look like they could be in a magazine.

It's not because of the extra file size. You can compress these ProRAWs back down into HEIF (on a mac, on iPhone it adds the post-processing back in) and they are usually a smaller size compared to the stock HEIF (presumably due to the lack of sharpening, less "detail"). I have 48MP converted-HEIFS that are smaller than 24MP stock-HEIFs due to this.

The capability is there. I wish they would let us control this sharpening/processing more with the photographic styles or something.

I agree with you about wanting options for less sharpening, but for me, excessive noise reduction is often a more egregious issue. But noise reduction allows for smaller file sizes. Noisy images are harder to compress. You can see this with streaming services. Movies with a lot of film grain usually look awful at streaming bitrates.

 

[Marty80]

I am holding off till the iphone 17 pro max removes the face id camera, bumps up the front facing camera to 24 megapixel, and the entire back camera array to 48 megapixel.

The iphone 16 pro will be another ‘s’ year. ‘s’ an abbreviation for skip . Hopefully the iphone 17 pro max will bring something new and exciting to the table, as my 12 pro max is becoming obsolete in terms of ios updates.