iPhone 14 Pro Wide Camera Rumored to Feature 21% Wider Sensor for 48-Megapixel Images

[MacRumors]

The iPhone 14 Pro may deliver more detailed images thanks to a considerably larger sensor and smaller pixels, according to unverified technical information shared on Chinese social media site Weibo.

A recent post from the account "Fishing 8" on Weibo listed a large number of the iPhone 14 Pro's technical camera specifications. In line with a multitude of rumors about the iPhone 14 Pro's Wide camera from over the past year, the post claims that the iPhone 14 Pro will feature a 48MP camera. As a result of the increased number of megapixels, the iPhone 14 Pro's Wide camera pixels will be smaller, purportedly measuring at 1.22µm. This is a reduction of 0.68µm compared to the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The sensor is believed to be a Sony unit, like those of the iPhone 13 Pro. Despite the change in pixel size, the iPhone 14 Pro will allegedly feature the same Dual Pixel Auto Focus (DPAF) system, marketed by Apple as "Focus Pixels," that the iPhone has offered since the iPhone 6 in 2014, and the same ability to record 16:9 HDR video at up to 60fps.

The device's sensor is said to be 1/1.3-inches in width, a 21.2 percent increase over the 1/1.65-inch sensor width of the Wide camera on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. This translates to an approximate sensor area increase of 57 percent compared to the iPhone 13 Pro.

This increase in sensor size requires a larger lens to capture more light, leading to a noticeably larger rear camera array. The 1/1.3-inch sensor size is the same as Samsung's 50MP GN1 sensor, which is used in the Google Pixel 6.

Overall, the information suggests that the iPhone 14 Pro will offer larger, higher-resolution images with finer details, but at the risk of poorer low-light performance and images that are more susceptible to noise. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously said that he believes that the camera quality of the iPhone 14 Pro models will "elevate mobile phone camera photography to a new level."

The Weibo account that shared these technical specifications frequently posts detailed camera information, but it does not have a track record of leaks about future Apple devices and MacRumors cannot verify the authenticity of its post, so the rumor should be taken with a pinch of salt. Nevertheless, the iPhone 14 Pro is widely believed to feature a larger, 48MP Wide camera sensor, so the shared technical specifications seem to be plausible and broadly in line with other rumors.

Update Apr 5: This article originally stated that the new sensor would be 21 percent larger than the corresponding sensor on the iPhone 13 Pro, but it is actually approximately 21 percent wider and 57 percent larger.

Article Link: iPhone 14 Pro Wide Camera Rumored to Feature 21% Wider Sensor for 48-Megapixel Images

 

[dantracht]

Bring it on!

 

[temende]

Didn't Apple say before that larger pixels are better than a higher megapixel count?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Wow. It's definitely going to bring massive upgrades to the cameras. Can't wait for revamped Macro mode. My fingers are crossed we see finally get to utilize Astrophotography capabilities.

 

[JPack]

Seems a real refresh of the camera system since iPhone 11 will finally arrive.

 

[MacDevil7334]

Didn't Apple say before that larger pixels are better than a higher megapixel count?

Sounds like Apple will use pixel binning to simulate larger pixels in low light and deliver 12 MP images. Remains to be seen how this will compare to physically having larger pixels in practice.

 

[iPadified]

Didn't Apple say before that larger pixels are better than a higher megapixel count?

They probably will use pixel binning to improve the light sensitivity. 48/4 MPixel is 12 effective MPixels.

 

[darngooddesign]

Didn't Apple say before that larger pixels are better than a higher megapixel count?

They are. Which is why the 48MP image will be downsampled to 12MP for increased detail and less noise; especially since the lens will be larger to let in more light.

 

[Attirex]

 

[dz5b609]

Didn't Apple say before that larger pixels are better than a higher megapixel count?

Yeah but binning negates most of those negative effects and if you then make the sensor physically larger like this article suggests you still end up with a better sensor than the current one and Apple 'needs' 48mp because they want to have 8k video for which you need 48mp.

 

[darngooddesign]

Sounds like Apple will use pixel binning to simulate larger pixels in low light and deliver 12 MP images. Remains to be seen how this will compare to physically having larger pixels in practice.

Downsampling higher res images has already proven to give better results than a native low res image.

 

[e1me5]

Ah. Smaller pixel, more noise, even uglier photos. I can‘t believe that the 13pro produces such mushy pictures, even with proraw, and it doesn’t give you the option to skip the denoise algorithm when you are editing them. Taking DNG photos with Lightroom instead produces much better results, so it’s not about the hardware. Apple needs to rethink the whole process if they want to brag about the photographic capa of the iPhone.

 

[Octavius8]

Just what I was expecting for this year’s update!. Sooo exiting!. “This changes photography”. (Sarcasm).
How about day to day useful features for normal people?. Like Touch ID?, no notch?, edge to edge screen?, one-hand-operation of the Max sized iPhones?, better zoom?, moving the volume and power buttons so the power button is not pushed every time I push the volume buttons?. Etc.
The easy way: just increase the mega pixels count (just buy a new camera module from X supplier and cram it inside the phone).
48MP in a phone camera?, will you upload those high res photos to Insta?, for that kind of serious MP one will use an actual DSLR camera.

 

[PeteBurgh]

I'm really excited by the potential for this. The camera is the single most important feature of the phone for me by far.

As I browse through my favourite photos of the last few years, the improvements from 11 Pro, to 12 Pro to 13 Pro (yes, I'm a spendthrift when it comes to phones) are nice, but incremental. I'm hopeful that the 14 will offer a bit more than that.

 

[chelsel]

Now everyone will have to upgrade their iCloud storage and get bigger drives... nice play Apple.

 

[ruka.snow]

Didn't Apple say before that larger pixels are better than a higher megapixel count?

Sometimes that holds true but in general you get more difference between sensor and processor generations than the pixel size. A 45MP sensor of today produces less noise than a equal (physical) sized sensor of a decade ago and similar noise to a 20 MP sensor of today when both images are scaled to the same size. The biggest difference (even more than processor and sensor generation) is the physical size of the sensor. We are now also starting to get quantum dot sensors that promise to deliver a much less noisy image given the same sensor area. Or it could even be a dual pixel AF sensor with markably better autofocus than today but with the same 24MP image. Any number of these things could give you a better image today than when Apple made that statement (which was correct at the time with the current software available).

 

[JimWNC]

The iPhone 14 Pro may deliver more detailed images thanks to a considerably larger sensor and smaller pixels, according to unverified technical information shared on Chinese social media site Weibo.

A recent post from the account "Fishing 8" on Weibo listed a large number of the iPhone 14 Pro's technical camera specifications. In line with a multitude of rumors about the iPhone 14 Pro's Wide camera from over the past year, the post claims that the iPhone 14 Pro will feature a 48MP camera. As a result of the increased number of megapixels, the iPhone 14 Pro's Wide camera pixels will be smaller, purportedly measuring at 1.22µm. This is a reduction of 0.68µm compared to the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The sensor is believed to be a Sony unit, like those of the iPhone 13 Pro. Despite the change in pixel size, the iPhone 14 Pro will allegedly feature the same Dual Pixel Auto Focus (DPAF) system, marketed by Apple as "Focus Pixels," that the iPhone has offered since the iPhone 6 in 2014, and the same ability to record 16:9 HDR video at up to 60fps.

The device's sensor is said to be 1/1.3-inches in size, a 21.2 percent increase over the 1/1.65-inches sensor of the Wide camera on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. This increase in sensor size requires a larger lens to capture more light, leading to a noticeably larger rear camera array. The 1/1.3-inch sensor size is the same as Samsung's 50MP GN1 sensor, which is used in the Google Pixel 6.

Overall, the information suggests that the iPhone 14 Pro will offer larger, higher-resolution images with finer details, but at the risk of poorer low-light performance and images that are more susceptible to noise. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously said that he believes that the camera quality of the iPhone 14 Pro models will "elevate mobile phone camera photography to a new level."

The Weibo account that shared these technical specifications frequently posts detailed camera information, but it does not have a track record of leaks about future Apple devices and MacRumors cannot verify the authenticity of its post, so the rumor should be taken with a pinch of salt. Nevertheless, the iPhone 14 Pro is widely believed to feature a larger, 48MP Wide camera sensor, so the shared technical specifications seem to be plausible and broadly in line with other rumors.

Article Link: iPhone 14 Pro Wide Camera Rumored to Feature 21% Larger Sensor for 48-Megapixel Images

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[DocMultimedia]

Can I pre-order yet?

 

[dannyyankou]

Will people even notice a quality difference with 48 megapixels though? No. Maybe it'll improve digital zoom and cropping, but for most pictures people take they won't notice a difference. And it'll take up a lot more space.

 

[orderoftheditch]

As a 12 Pro Max user this would make me upgrade, which I could never justify with the 13.
If 8K becomes a thing on the 14 Pro will be interesting to see what the storage options are, will the entry be 256GB?

 

[dalestrauss]

...How about day to day useful features for normal people?. Like Touch ID?, no notch?, edge to edge screen?, one-hand-operation of the Max sized iPhones?, better zoom?, moving the volume and power buttons so the power button is not pushed every time I push the volume buttons?...

Agree 100% - especially better optical zoom. Samsung has had that for three years or more; surely Apple could do as well, if not better, than Sammy. None of us are EVER going to legitimately become 8k Hollywood cinematographers using an iPhone (hated those 13 Pro ads with cinematography portrait mode shots) - so why focus so much on that when what is needed is point and shoot convenience with a longer lens when our kids/grandkids are across the soccer field from us?

 

[GeoStructural]

Didn't Apple say before that larger pixels are better than a higher megapixel count?

Yep. They also said:

• Privacy is a human right. (But exceptions apply).
• We removed the 5W charger to reduce waste… But please buy this new 20W charger which also has a different USB port so you will need a new cable as well.
• What happens in the iPhone stays in the iPhone. 😂

 

[jayducharme]

Now let's see them put that camera system into an iPhone 14 mini!

 

[falainber]

Didn't Apple say before that larger pixels are better than a higher megapixel count?

What else could they say when their own phones had low MP sensors? That's a typical PR. They laughed at phablets and some other tech too until they adopted them.

 

[Mistborn15]

doesn't the 13 Pro with its 12MP beat all the Androids with 48, 64 and 108MP cameras?