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iPhone 14 Pro Again Rumored to Feature Upgraded 48-Megapixel Camera

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iPhone 14 Pro models will feature a 48-megapixel camera, according to Taiwanese research firm TrendForce. Specifically, this refers to the rear-facing Wide camera, which is currently 12 megapixels on iPhone 13 Pro models.

iPhone-14-Mock-Pill-Blue-Feature.jpg

The addition of a 48-megapixel Wide camera on iPhone 14 Pro models has already been mentioned by multiple sources, including analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who expects the upgraded camera to support 8K video recording.

Simply increasing a smartphone camera's megapixel count while maintaining the same image sensor size results in smaller pixels, which allows less light to be captured, resulting in lower-quality low-light photos. As a solution, Kuo has previously said that iPhone 14 Pro models will support both 48-megapixel and 12-megapixel output, which would likely be achieved with a process known as pixel binning.

Already in use on some Android phones like Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra, pixel binning merges data from multiple smaller pixels on the camera's image sensor into one "super-pixel" for improved low-light sensitivity. Pixel binning would allow iPhone 14 Pro models to shoot high-resolution 48-megapixel photos in bright conditions and 12-megapixel photos in low-light conditions that are still of higher quality.

iPhone 14 Pro models would likely shoot 12-megapixel photos by default given the large file size of 48-megapixel photos, but Apple's implementation remains to be seen.

Apple is expected to announce four new iPhone 14 models in September, including a 6.1-inch iPhone 14, 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max, 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, and 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max, with a 48-megapixel camera available on the latter two devices.

Article Link: iPhone 14 Pro Again Rumored to Feature Upgraded 48-Megapixel Camera
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/12/iphone-14-pro-48-megapixel-camera-trendforce/
I remember Nokia PureView phones ten years ago had Pixel Binning as a feature. They were quite great at the time. Let's see how Apple's implementation of the technology is going to be.
 
TechRunner said:
Given the physical size of phones now, a larger sensor is overdue. Larger sensor > megapixels in this context. A 1" sensor in combination with computational software would make for one impressive phone camera.
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The depth of the phone is far more an issue with getting a larger sensor than the length and width. That's what's held not just the iPhone but most every smartphone back from offering a larger sensor. You're talking about needing to much more than 2x the thickness of the phone to offer such, without setups like the telescoping lens that's been rumored for several years now.
 
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RIP the mini.

That’s okay though, the camera bump on the 13 mini is a bit silly.
 
Macintosh TV said:
The depth of the phone is far more an issue with getting a larger sensor than the length and width. That's what's held not just the iPhone but most every smartphone back from offering a larger sensor. You're talking about needing to much more than 2x the thickness of the phone to offer such, without setups like the telescoping lens that's been rumored for several years now.
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I knew it would need to be bigger, but would it need to be twice as thick? I'm not being combative here; I'm curious as my engineering knowledge is limited.
 
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Macintosh TV said:
The depth of the phone is far more an issue with getting a larger sensor than the length and width. That's what's held not just the iPhone but most every smartphone back from offering a larger sensor. You're talking about needing to much more than 2x the thickness of the phone to offer such, without setups like the telescoping lens that's been rumored for several years now.
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If Apple goes back to the glass sandwich design reminiscent of the iPhone 4, they’ll gain quite a lot of z direction, hopefully without the giant camera bumps currently being used. Not that this will provide enough room to make their cameras comparable to standalone p&s cameras, but every little bit of space will help.
 
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BGPL said:
Hope they're using h.265 compression on the video, or peeps gonna be running out of storage.
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4k60 already is h.265 on an iPhone by default and if you have selected the high effiency toggle in your camera settings on your iPhone every iPhone video is shot in h.265.
 
Macintosh TV said:
I just don't see them jumping that much in a single generation.
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Sure they would; this looks to be their first major redesign since iPhone X. They used to do it every few years and now it is extending to 3-4 years as the market is saturating and innovation is slowing down.

iPhone 14 looks to be the redesign with pill-size notch, big camera improvements and so on. There isn't much they can improve beside the software.

Note that swapping out the 12mp sensor with a 48mp sensor does not mean the quality is going to be 4x better nor does it mean they'll output 48mp either.

First, they've been with the same "size" of 12MP since iPhone 6S.

What they may be doing is still outputting at 12mp but using 4x pixel binning to make the image more detailed.
 
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I for one would not mind a thicker phone if it meant doing away with the camera bump. Thicker battery too! Or maybe better cooling meaning they can push the next chip even harder… lots of possibilities and ultimately a much more elegant design. USB-C too, I can dream right? Or at least upgrade lightning to support usb 3.0 speeds… it’s a PRO device!
 
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Macintosh TV said:
I just don't see them jumping that much in a single generation.
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It’s not that big of a jump. The great majority of shooting conditions will still take 12mp images. It wouldn’t be surprising if every image was pixel binned and 48mp images were never exposed to the user. The biggest benefit of this sensor would be 8k video, which is impossible on the current sensor.
 
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As a photographer with a D-850 and 45 megapixels, I'm curious how they can do this with such a small device. That's a lot of megapixels to put on a camera-sized sensor. The sensor in the D-850 is 35mm. APS-C struggles to get to 30 megapixels with a 25mm sensor. There's certain physics that come into play with sensor size, and the current tech still needs to cram an awful lot of pixels into a very small space.

I'm wondering what shenanigans -- pixel-binning aside -- they need to do to make this size image in the phone. It's got to be a software thing rather than a physical hardware thing -- which would make it somewhat suspect as truly defined...
 
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The camera is fine as it is, please just get rid of the bump (either by reducing the bump or by making the phone thicker for a bigger battery etc).
 
Apple is simply following others down this path, NO more, NO less.

There are Pros & Cons to transitioning to a 48 Mpx image sensor with pixel binning.

Ultimately, it will come down to Apple's implementation.

The "Pro" 13 iPhones have a 12 Mpx image sensor with 1.9um pixels, which is the Benchmark for Apple to try to improve upon.

IMO, the odds that they are able to do so are ONLY 50/50.

BTW, surf is up here in San Diego today, so I'll be using my 13 Pro Max (w/ my app) to capture some surfing later this morning; temps along the coast will be in the low-to-mid 70s later today :)

My $0.02, if Apple is going after the 48 Mpx image sensor simply to offer 8K video recording, they should, IMO, offer higher-end "Pro" iPhones for that, as it's simply over-kill for 99.9% of Apple consumers !

The Back Wide image sensor in the "Pro" 13 iPhones is an absolute gem !

If anything, I'd love to see Apple prioritize the Telephoto camera !

Also, head's up, just like Apple has been Leapfrogged on the (Camera) Technology front, they are about to be Leapfrogged on the (Camera) Content Creation front ! ... and I'm NOT referring to the established / well-known players in either segment.
 
This is exciting if true, and would love to see the new Camera App setting and options. I'm thinking the 8k will be more than likely oversampled for 4k30 at the highest setting, but none-the-less, its going to be a nice upgrade. Im not sure if they are going to be using a Sony sensor, but some of these rumors fall in line with how my Sony Alpha 7III produces "hybrid" megapixels. Hopefully some more info gets leaked.

PS. Removing the Camera Bump would make me smile as well!
 
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MrRom92 said:
I for one would not mind a thicker phone if it meant doing away with the camera bump. Thicker battery too! Or maybe better cooling meaning they can push the next chip even harder… lots of possibilities and ultimately a much more elegant design. USB-C too, I can dream right? Or at least upgrade lightning to support usb 3.0 speeds… it’s a PRO device!
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Thicker would be ok but USB C….?
 
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jjudson said:
As a photographer with a D-850 and 45 megapixels, I'm curious how they can do this with such a small device. That's a lot of megapixels to put on a camera-sized sensor. The sensor in the D-850 is 35mm. APS-C struggles to get to 30 megapixels with a 25mm sensor. There's certain physics that come into play with sensor size, and the current tech still needs to cram an awful lot of pixels into a very small space.

I'm wondering what shenanigans -- pixel-binning aside -- they need to do to make this size image in the phone. It's got to be a software thing rather than a physical hardware thing -- which would make it somewhat suspect as truly defined...
Click to expand...
What's the advantage of having more pixels if pixel binning is used?
 
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