iPhone 15 Pro Max to Feature Rearranged Camera Layout to Accommodate Periscope Lens

[TinyMito]

I don't think there is much to innovate big leap in phones these days after the first iPhone release and Google Pixel nightshooting mode.

Other than just increasing in size and weight. I would be more happy if I didn't need to carry a phone weight down my pants. It would be great if I can just do everything on my watch + wifi CarPlay.

 

[Hopefully Smarter]

this is a rumour. You can’t know for sure. Writing about rumors is called lying.

 

[jz0309]

This year, a periscope lens system will be used for the telephoto camera in the iPhone 15 Pro Max for the first time, allowing for 5x or 6x optical zoom. Comparatively, the iPhone 14 Pro Max offers 3x optical zoom, which is expected to be retained for the smaller iPhone 15 Pro

no MR, the iPhone 14PM does not offer optical zoom, the "zoom" between 1x and 3x is digital.

this is my concern with the 15PM, if it doesn't offer optical zoom - I'm out

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Remembering the iPhone Original 2G iPhone - 2007. No camera arrangements are needed. We have come a very long way!

 

[jimbobb24]

That’s such a naive statement. Apple is limiting this feature to the pro Max just because it is greedy and wants to segment the market pushing people to more expensive models. Nothing to do with technical reasons.

And I hate it because never going to get the max and doubt don’t like the ongoing size increase.

 

[darngooddesign]

Then Apple realized that the growing power efficiencies of A-series chips meant they could save a few cents per unit by trimming battery and spinning "same great battery life" in the "big reveal." Customers just ate it up and rolled with it, leading to "another record quarter in revenue and profit" over and over.

Trimming the battery?

The iPhone 5 had a 5.45 w/hr battery while the iPhone 14 has a 12.68 w/hr battery. Apple still calls it all-day battery life, but based on their stated battery life testing the 14 has close to double the life of the 5.

 

[klasma]

Isn’t the current one already like that? Just shift the orientation of the current iPhones and they look like that.

Yes, and it has been commented since the first three-camera iPhone that it makes it look like a shaver.

 

[Falhófnir]

no MR, the iPhone 14PM does not offer optical zoom, the "zoom" between 1x and 3x is digital.

this is my concern with the 15PM, if it doesn't offer optical zoom - I'm out

It uses different camera optics to produce a zoomed-in effect, digital zoom is just cropping a portion of the sensor and blowing it up. I'd say what the iPhone does is closer to optical than digital, even if it's not exactly what optical zoom is usually referring to.

 

[klasma]

Same here. They seem to appear quite often. Is it the small size of the lens or what?

It didn’t happen with the 6s and the OG SE, IIRC.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

this is a rumour. You can’t know for sure. Writing about rumors is called lying.

Writing about rumors is called guessing, not lying. There's no confusion that rumors are not confirmed until they are no longer rumors. Writing about vapor is guessing what that vapor might be. Since guesses sometimes pan out, some guesses are a notch better- forecasting(?)- while other guesses completely miss the target.

Select people are good enough at forecasting, they can get someone else to pay them well to forecast. The rest of us do it for free because we can't find any such sponsor.

 

[floral]

gasp! The bumps are starting to bulge! We must contain them.

 

[darngooddesign]

It uses different camera optics to produce a zoomed-in effect, digital zoom is just cropping a portion of the sensor and blowing it up. I'd say what the iPhone does is closer to optical than digital, even if it's not exactly what optical zoom is usually referring to.

Between 1x and 3x it’s basically cropping, but zooming past 3x is all digital manipulation with noticeably worse image quality compared to an optical zoom.

 

[klasma]

need some way of telling it apart from the iPhone 14 Pro Max

You won’t really be able to tell them apart though because the three lenses basically look the same. If I understand correctly, they are only swapping the lenses, but are leaving the geometric layout unchanged.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Trimming the battery?

The iPhone 5 had a 5.45 w/hr battery while the iPhone 14 has a 12.68 w/hr battery. Apple still calls it all-day battery life, but based on their stated battery life testing the 14 has close to double the life of the 5.

Nice. So thicken the iPhone 14 into an iPhone 5-like case and how much battery fits in that case?

The OP was wishing for a thicker iPhone to get flush with camera and filling the new space with battery for the benefit of much more battery life. I suspect many would take flush camera with much more battery than "as is" if that was an option.

The example I offered was when "perfect" phones had 4" screens and could be purchased for MUCH lower prices than todays phablets at MUCH greater prices. Scale it all and it still comes back to the same opportunity: a camera flush body would have room for more battery. Apple chooses to NOT do that in spite of plenty of consumer angst(?) over the non-flush camera, camera module wobble, etc. Why? My guess is that it is mostly driven by profit maximization, more than anything else.

So while you are technically correct in isolating the point (battery in phablet vs. battery in iPhone 5), you are missing the bigger picture of why we have camera bumps, camera wobbles and what OP was after... and (probably/possibly) why.

 

[klasma]

This should be really easy for Apple to do in software, using AI. I'm quite surprised they haven't done it already.

Maybe they think it’s “iconic”.

 

[darngooddesign]

You won’t really be able to tell them apart though because the three lenses basically look the same. If I understand correctly, they are only swapping the lenses, but are leaving the geometric layout unchanged.

Based on the size of other good periscope zoom modules, I think they’d will need more space than simply switching lenses would allow. We will probably end up with an L arrangement of lenses so the zoom has the entire width of the bump.

 

[klasma]

We had that for a few generations- the flush camera because the phone was thick enough to make it flush...

View attachment 2203153​

Then Apple realized that the growing power efficiencies of A-series chips meant they could save a few cents per unit by trimming battery and spinning "same great battery life" in the "big reveal." Customers just ate it up and rolled with it, leading to "another record quarter in revenue and profit" over and over.

Physics won't let the camera module thin to the rest of the "thin" an iPhone could achieve. Jettison the camera completely and a future iPhone might be able eventually reach the "few credit cards thick" goal stated some number of years ago.

So the protrusion is forever because the physics will never accommodate "thinner." Basically, these 2 different products are in increasing conflict and Apple- or anyone else- won't be able to overcome that conflict because physics can't be overcome.

So the solution is as you suggest: thicken the rest to the depth needed for whatever camera is desired inside... which WOULD accommodate much more battery... at the expense of the added weight of much more battery and whatever people feel about thin vs. thick.

This problem also doesn't get resolved in the thicker "fold" type phones as one half of any fold would still need enough thickness to fit in a camera module. So any "flush" answer is not there either unless the camera quality is significantly cut so that camera modules like those in early generation phones would be deemed "good enough" again.

I would agree if thicker didn’t also mean heavier. And iPhones are already heavier than I’d like.

 

[klasma]

this is a rumour. You can’t know for sure. Writing about rumors is called lying.

Go sue MacRumors I guess.

 

[dk001]

Dang, this camera layout resembles my first electric shaver when I was a teen, especially in portrait mode.

P&G and Phillips Norelco want their design engineers back.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I would agree if thicker didn’t also mean heavier. And iPhones are already heavier than I’d like.

RIGHT! For that popular wish, THAT would be the price to pay (not measured in dollars). More battery would make it heavier.

 

[arkitect]

The established "big boys" in that space have no easy way to compete- no phone, phone & app ecosystem, etc- nor piles of photography/videography apps already available that could evolve to work on a much better camera too.

Sony could do it… They make great cameras (and their sensors are inside the iPhones) as well as very decent mobile phones.
In fact I'm surprised they're not working on it…

But! Sony's downfall is always piss poor user interface.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I think they ALL could do it. Glomming phone functionality onto a much more physically spacious camera body seems far easier than jamming much more camera into a thin brick for our pockets. It's just that everyone else would likely have to do it with Android while Apple's cut of this would be exclusively iOS.

It does seem like a tangible, new product opportunity for someone able to "think different."

For all those people who want new phones mostly for better camera, I wonder how many would choose much better camera that also happens to cover all of the phone benefits (except pocketability). I don't know that pricing would have to be that different... but the photographs and video could take a giant leap forward if the camera could be freed from trying to work as good as it can within the tiny space of a phone body.

 

[sw1tcher]

I hope those of you who are upgrading are ready to buy new cases! Yippy!!! Tim Apple is smiling his creepy weirdo smile just thinking about taking more money from all of you!

Tim Apple won't be taking more money from those who buy 3rd party cases, unless the iPhone 15 is going to have some new feature where it rejects 3rd party cases because they're not Apple-genuine or you get bombarded with constant "Important Case Message: Unable to verify this iPhone has a genuine Apple Case" messages

 

[klasma]

RIGHT! For that popular wish, THAT would be the price to pay (not measured in dollars). More battery would make it heavier.

The problem is that the heavier iPhones with camera bump started with the iPhone X, and the only alternative of a lighter, bump-free iPhone that is left it the SE, whose next iteration is rumored to be leaving that behind as well.

Edit: Actually, the SE 3 already has a small camera bump, I think.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Trimming the battery?

The iPhone 5 had a 5.45 w/hr battery while the iPhone 14 has a 12.68 w/hr battery. Apple still calls it all-day battery life, but based on their stated battery life testing the 14 has close to double the life of the 5.

Not to mention, the iPhone 14 Pro is thicker than the iPhone 5.
iPhone 5: 7.6 MM
iPhone 14 Pro: 7.85 MM
So the original statement this person made is totally incorrect.
The 15 series if anything is rumored to get even thicker, up to 8.3 mm,a good bit thicker than the iPhone 5.