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Apple is planning to release at least one iPhone 17 model next year with mechanical aperture, according to a report published today by The Information.

iPhone-17-Plus-Feature-Purple.jpg

The mechanical system would allow users to adjust the size of the iPhone 17's aperture, which refers to the opening of the camera lens through which light enters. All existing iPhone camera lenses have fixed apertures, but some Android smartphones have offered variable aperture over the years, such as Samsung's Galaxy S9 series.

Apple is expected to release the iPhone 17 series in September 2025, and it is possible that mechanical aperture will be limited to the rumored high-end "iPhone 17 Ultra" model (dubbed "iPhone 17 Slim" for now). With the devices still being over a year away, however, some of Apple's alleged camera-related plans could change.

This story has been revised.

Article Link: iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Mechanical Aperture
 
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uh...first of all a smaller aperture would create a sharper background

secondly, fixed aperture in current phones means it's already wide open. being able to control the aperture would only mean you make the background less blurry compared to the current setup
 
"With a mechanical system, users could manually set a smaller larger aperture. This would allow photos to be shot with a shallow depth-of-field effect, where the subject stays in focus while the background is blurred."

A larger aperture, but smaller f number (e.g., f/5.6 is a smaller aperture than f/2.8).
 
Wow, borrowing features again from Huawei, this time from Pura 70.


The satellite SMS was a direct response to Mate 60 Pro.
 
That would be a serious reason to consider getting a 17 to replace my 15.
 
Camera companies must be getting worried. I'm a huge fan of dedicated camera equipment, but the iPhone keeps getting better and better at capturing and already is the king of easy distribution.

LOL..... NO.

The difference in quality between even your most precious iPhone doesn't come anywhere near even cheapest entry level camera of the last 10 years. Take a Micro Four Thirds camera, that gets mud thrown at it all the time for its 'small sensor' still performs leaps and bounds better than an iPhone; noise, dynamic range and resolution; all better. Compare a smart phone to a full frame and the difference is even more painful.

But the one differentiating factor are the lenses; take something like a Sigma 56mm f/1.4 lens... you're gonna be getting a ton of light coming through the lens and beautiful REAL bokeh that smartphones cannot and will never be able to do; the AI stuff and that fake 'portrait mode' always looks like ass, especially around hair so there's really no comparison.

If all you care about are flat looking snapshots with everything in focus from a camera that can fit in your pocket, then any smartphone from the last 4 years will be more than adequate.
 
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Camera companies must be getting worried. I'm a huge fan of dedicated camera equipment, but the iPhone keeps getting better and better at capturing and already is the king of easy distribution.
You will always be limited by the sensor size.

Camera companies have already gone through the pain of smart phones being in everyone's pocket, it's why they focus on professional and high-end consumer cameras now, and point and shoots essentially no longer exist.
 
stop with these "rumours" its over one year and history told us that real leaks/rumours starts after the holidays/new year
 
Why? Sensor size (APS or full) will never come to a phone and leaves alone the glass…
is not about the quality but about the number of people who buy from Camera companies ...the difference between the 90 and now its huge
 
I was considering moving from 14 to 16 this year because why not. But maybe I wait for 17. 🤷‍♂️🤣
 
This makes no sense unless they put a FAT sensor in there, which would make the phone twice as thick. There’s already too much depth of field which is why they need to do background blur with AI, why would you want even larger depth of field and less light?
 
I won’t give up my Sony A7R, but it’s nice to see a necessary improvement over the crap computational photography solution. Physics > Software.
 
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Stock camera already does various f stops using some magic: close ups have shallow dof and nature panos are all sharp.

I guess the mechanical aperture will just allow more manual selection of aperture while detouring the automatic software. I was very excited at first, but now it sounds like a shutter control situation as of now (night mode vs shutter speed in 3rd party app).
 
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