iPhone Rumored to Get 200MP Camera Like Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra

[MacRumors]

Apple is testing a 200-megapixel camera sensor, according to Digital Chat Station, a user with a large following on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The account has previously shared accurate information about Apple's future products.

While the account's post today does not provide any further details, this 200-megapixel camera sensor would likely be for the main rear camera on a future high-end iPhone model. Samsung introduced a 200-megapixel rear camera on its Galaxy S23 Ultra in 2023, and the follow-up S24 Ultra and S25 Ultra models also have one.

With a 200-megapixel camera, an iPhone would be able to shoot photos with greater detail. The increased megapixel count would also result in higher-resolution photos, which can be cropped further and printed at larger sizes without a loss of image quality.

Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to feature entirely 48-megapixel cameras, so the 200-megapixel camera is unlikely to be available this year. In addition, a 200-megapixel camera has yet to be rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro models. Ultimately, the upgraded camera specification could be at least a few years away.

Article Link: iPhone Rumored to Get 200MP Camera Like Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra

 

[berrymetal]

400MP or nothing

 

[AdamHarbour]

Apple will give you 100mp but if you subscribe to iphone camera pro or apple one Tim will unlock 200

 

[atomwork]

Any improvement at this point is amazing.

 

[DanteHicks79]

There is very little practical use for the average user to have 200MP photos. Even in HEIF, they'd still weigh in at several hundred megs an image, so unless you opt for the TB storage option on your phone, enjoy all 36 photos you can take at that resolution 🤣

 

[neuropsychguy]

MP are the new MHz/GHz myth.

Edit: Not that I really care but it's clear 1-2 people don't understand my comment (random downvotes). Years ago there was a race to more megahertz/gigahertz (clock speed) as if that was better or faster. It wasn't always better and there were diminishing returns. There were also differences with efficiencies.

Here's a simple example.

Imagine there are two children racing to clean up toys. One child can pick up 10 toys every second. The other can only pick up 8 toys every second. Is the first child faster?

Not necessarily. What if the first child gets distracted and drops half the toys, while the second one is more careful and picks up all 8 without dropping any? Then the second child might finish faster than the first.

The "megahertz myth" is kind of like that. Megahertz/gigahertz only tells us how often the computer does something, not how well it does it or how much work it gets done each time. That’s why clock speed isn’t everything — it’s just one part of the story.

It's similar with the number of pixels. There are some potential benefits to more, but fewer larger ones might be better overall. Just because 200 > 48 doesn't mean 200 is better than 48. In various tests, the 200MP cameras in Samsung phones get good marks, but they are generally outclassed by cameras with fewer pixels (e.g., in Google's phones or the iPhone 16 Pro).

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I know I'm in the minority, but I just don't care about the cameras, and there is nothing they can add in that department that would prompt me to upgrade. Sorry Apple, you need to do something more interesting.

..and my 12MP DSLR will smoke a 20MP or 200MP phone camera, from any manufacturer.

 

[DBZmusicboy01]

Apple will give you 100mp but if you subscribe to iphone camera pro or apple one Tim will unlock 200

That’s better than they putting the same camera for 5+ years.

 

[klasma]

I guess that explains the move to the camera bar. 200 megapixels need some serious space.

 

[atomwork]

I know I'm in the minority, but I just don't care about the cameras, and there is nothing they can add in that department that would prompt me to upgrade.

See as a designer and hobby street photographer I love refreshments and improvement on cameras

 

[mcfrazieriv]

Tim Cook "We are proud to announce that iPhone now has a 64MP camera"

That'll be the next one.

 

[klasma]

There is very little practical use for the average user to have 200MP photos. Even in HEIF, they'd still weigh in at several hundred megs an image, so unless you opt for the TB storage option on your phone, enjoy all 36 photos you can take at that resolution 🤣

The advantage is for Apple increasing their profit with iCloud subscriptions and storage upsells.

 

[macmyworld]

Great. I will just need to hang a portable hard drive from my iPhone.

 

[FSMBP]

I just want Apple to release a thick iPhone with an amazing lens and 1" sensor on it. At this point, I'd be willing to sacrifice the a big of thicker/heavier phone for a great camera.

 

[klasma]

I know I'm in the minority, but I just don't care about the cameras, and there is nothing they can add in that department that would prompt me to upgrade.

What I would find the most enticing is reducing the post-processing and making photos look more natural again.

 

[germanbeer007]

..and my 12MP DSLR will smoke a 20MP or 200MP phone camera, from any manufacturer.

a camera with a bigger sensor and larger lens would smoke a tiny sensor with small lens? who knew?

 

[WarmWinterHat]

a camera with a bigger sensor and larger lens would smoke a tiny sensor with small lens? who knew?

People who think that 200mp means better than 12mp when it's the sensor and the glass that makes the difference, but those don't market as well.

 

[maruyama]

I had always assumed these ridiculous numbers were total BS, that they were upsampling a 40-50MP image (with some proprietary upsampler on the camera controller so they could claim "it's in hardware!!"). Are 200MP phone cameras actually a real thing?

 

[svish]

Wow! Expecting this to be a part of the 20th anniversary iPhone. Should improve the photos taken on the phone.

 

[jz0309]

Sure they are testing it, will it ever get released? Time will tell…
It’s actually the optics, the lens that makes the difference, and that is not going to improve that much, just can’t put real glass on the phone, besides, everyone at least on MR seems to hate camera bumps…

 

[avkills]

At what point is it ridiculous to have a camera sensor that large on a phone? If you need photos that are that good and that high-res, do yourself a favor and just get a DLSR.

I find the photos from my 13 mini to be a lot better than average to the point of only needing my DLSR (old one) when something special needs to happen that is simply not feasible with a phone camera.

 

[Rychiar]

apple lagging behind as always. it would be nice if they made a practical point that a 200mp sensor doesn't make sense on these tiny lenses but when they're gonna put one in anyways, like 5 years late, it's just silly

 

[nfl46]

Delayed the iPhone 19PM…

 

[winxmac]

I tried to maximize my iPhone 14 Pro Max [which I already sold] by shooting 48MP in ProRAW but because of the amount of time it takes to capture a single photo, I decided to go for an older model instead since ProRAW is hybrid of RAW and processed image. I am now shooting 12MP RAW using ProShot on my iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Side note: the app is already version 9 on iOS while still version 8 on android

Very few people will attempt to shoot in full 200MP and the default output will definitely be a pixel binned one.

 

[contacos]

I know I'm in the minority, but I just don't care about the cameras, and there is nothing they can add in that department that would prompt me to upgrade. Sorry Apple, you need to do something more interesting.

..and my 12MP DSLR will smoke a 20MP or 200MP phone camera, from any manufacturer.

Same. I haven't really noticed a difference since the 12 PM besides zoom being obviously better but I am also not a photographer