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Variable Aperture Rumored to Bring Major Camera Upgrade to iPhone 18 Pro

Don't want or need a better camera. I want to take better photos, I'll use my DSLR, thanks. No, I'm really tired of the obvious vibe at Apple that all a new phone needs is a better camera every generation. I want a paradigm improvement in battery life, using better tech than lithium-polymers. Why not explore solid state or graphene battery technology?
 
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MacRumors said:


Apple's iPhone 18 Pro models will feature an upgraded main rear camera with a variable aperture for the first time, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

iPhone-17-Pro-Max-Smaller-Notch-Feature.jpg

Apple has gradually expanded new camera technologies, such as sensor-shift stabilization, 48-megapixel sensors, and the tetraprism 5x telephoto camera, across its iPhone models in recent years. It now appears that after completing the rear camera array's transition to 48-megapixel sensors by bringing one to the telephoto camera on next year's iPhone 17 Pro models, the next significant camera upgrade will be the introduction of a variable aperture.

The information comes from Kuo's latest post on Medium, where he outlined how upcoming products such as the iPhone 17 "Slim," M5 MacBook Pro, and iPhone 18 will affect Apple supplier Sunny Optical. Kuo believes that Sunny Optical and Luxshare will be the primary and secondary shutter suppliers for the iPhone 18 Pro's new main camera, while the variable aperture lens will be supplied by Sunny Optical and Largan Precision.

The iPhone 14 Pro, 15 Pro, and 16 Pro's main cameras feature a fixed aperture of ƒ/1.78. A variable aperture on future iPhone models would allow the main camera to control the amount of light entering the lens, allowing it to adjust to different lighting conditions. It also would provide more control over depth of field, enabling sharper focus on subjects or smoother background blur. The iPhone 18 is expected to launch in 2026.

Article Link: Variable Aperture Rumored to Bring Major Camera Upgrade to iPhone 18 Pro
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Cant imagine how this will be useful? With f1.78 on the tiny iPhone lens nearly everything is in focus unless you are right up against the object you are focusing on. Why would someone want to stop down to smaller apertures on such a tiny lens? I shoot full frame mirrorless cameras and almost always shoot wide open, offering me thin depth of field and dramatic images. I rarely stop down on those cameras unless Im shooting groups of people at different places in the depth field of the image, and I cant imagine ever doing so on an iPhone, which gets everyone in focus at f1.78 no matter what I do.
 
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oldwatery said:
Just make a damn camera. This is getting really stupid!
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Yah I keep thinking Apple should go ahead and make separate individual devices instead of all-in-one devices. We're at the limit of what all-in-one devices could do, given all the compromises necessary.
 
nycgeo said:
Cant imagine how this will be useful? With f1.78 on the tiny iPhone lens nearly everything is in focus unless you are right up against the object you are focusing on. Why would someone want to stop down to smaller apertures on such a tiny lens? I shoot full frame mirrorless cameras and almost always shoot wide open, offering me thin depth of field and dramatic images. I rarely stop down on those cameras unless Im shooting groups of people at different places in the depth field of the image, and I cant imagine ever doing so on an iPhone, which gets everyone in focus at f1.78 no matter what I do.
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The lens and sensor really isn't that tiny. The sensor is almost at 1/1" sensor size, and there are certainly compact cameras with that sensor size with much larger lenses and a real variable aperture. The aperture is also about the size of a human eye, which also has a variable aperture as well.

Its quite incredible how much they were able to fit into that form factor.
 
lk400 said:
It sounds like you like actual photography. In that way, you likely would be disappointed with the new cameras. Not just because of the 2x. In actual usage, it’s actually a fairly close approximation of the old 2x lens. But everything else seems over done. HDR and computational photography that combines many images that you can’t turn off. It makes most images look pretty impressive, but in a clarity slider and saturation turned up to 11 kind of way. It’s not subtle nor good at capturing the mood of what you’re trying to capture. I found the old XS to be way nicer at that, and actually think the 7 (whatever the big sized 7 was called) was the best balance between some minor help from “computational” photography while still looking pretty natural and balanced. The resolution and overall quality was rubbish, but on an iPhone screen size it looked quite ok.
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I would recommend checking out this video by Tyler Stalman. It takes some post-processing, but I will say if you are willing to put in the time, the photos from the 16 Pro look amazing. Hopefully Apple will give us more freedom in the future on how we want the photos processed.
 
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rymc02 said:
I would recommend checking out this video by Tyler Stalman. It takes some post-processing, but I will say if you are willing to put in the time, the photos from the 16 Pro look amazing. Hopefully Apple will give us more freedom in the future on how we want the photos processed.
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I'd love to have a true RAW file that is WTSSIWYG (what the sensor sees is what you get) and zero-post processing, but they just won't and I'm not sure why. The fusion photos are really screwing with me, currently.

I don't really have a dog in the fight as most of my good photography is on a older Nikon DSLR. I can't really tell any difference in day-to-day photos from my 11, 12 mini, 13 Pro or my 16 Pro and would fine with a single-lens iPhone again, personally.
 
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Unggoy Murderer said:
This would be a fantastic upgrade for sure.

Still holding out for a higher resolution telephoto sensor in the near future though, hoping for a 48mp sensor. 48mp would enable a 10x "optical quality" zoom option too, similar to the 2x option now.
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Only if Apple would just release it already without make us wait years
 
Absolutely useless feature on such a tiny sensor. I'm shooting my full frame camera at f1.8 90% of the time.
 
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lk400 said:
It sounds like you like actual photography. In that way, you likely would be disappointed with the new cameras. Not just because of the 2x. In actual usage, it’s actually a fairly close approximation of the old 2x lens. But everything else seems over done. HDR and computational photography that combines many images that you can’t turn off. It makes most images look pretty impressive, but in a clarity slider and saturation turned up to 11 kind of way. It’s not subtle nor good at capturing the mood of what you’re trying to capture. I found the old XS to be way nicer at that, and actually think the 7 (whatever the big sized 7 was called) was the best balance between some minor help from “computational” photography while still looking pretty natural and balanced. The resolution and overall quality was rubbish, but on an iPhone screen size it looked quite ok.
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This is where the 16's new Photographic Styles feature comes in handy, you can use that to help dampen some of the more severe HDR effects and preserve shadows.

Third party camera apps like Halide allow you to bypass computational photography entirely while taking advantage of the improved sensor hardware.
 
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It’s true that controlling aperture for depth of field on a smartphone might seem unnecessary.

However, there may be other benefits to consider:
-Aperture also allows control over light input. This could be useful in shutter speed priority modes (for both video and photo) without having to adjust ISO.
-Future lens designs for mobile could benefit from this, offering a softer, more pleasing look when wide open, while becoming sharper when slightly closed, rather than aiming to be a one-size-fits-all solution.
 
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Unggoy Murderer said:
This would be a fantastic upgrade for sure.

Still holding out for a higher resolution telephoto sensor in the near future though, hoping for a 48mp sensor. 48mp would enable a 10x "optical quality" zoom option too, similar to the 2x option now.
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Man, it’s not about the megapixels 🤦‍♂️ I thought people already realized that. It’s about the size of the sensor.

Also, the variable aperture is redundant since you always want to use the widest aperture you can, only in very specific situations there is worth in changing the aperture.

We need a better sensor tech that can somehow fit a huge sensor in a phone body, using advanced mirrors or some kind of prism design, that is already present in the 15PM and 16P + 16PM.

👍
 
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nycgeo said:
Cant imagine how this will be useful? With f1.78 on the tiny iPhone lens nearly everything is in focus unless you are right up against the object you are focusing on. Why would someone want to stop down to smaller apertures on such a tiny lens? I shoot full frame mirrorless cameras and almost always shoot wide open, offering me thin depth of field and dramatic images. I rarely stop down on those cameras unless Im shooting groups of people at different places in the depth field of the image, and I cant imagine ever doing so on an iPhone, which gets everyone in focus at f1.78 no matter what I do.
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☝️☝️☝️ THIS 100000000% ☝️☝️☝️☝️
 
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Ctrlos said:
I'm still convinced Apple are doing a single variable aperture prismatic telephoto lens that ranges from 28-140mm for their iPhone Air thereby joining all the cameras together into one. Wouldn't be cheap but it would look cool.
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If they managed that, they wouldn't have to make any other models
 
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Unggoy Murderer said:
This would be a fantastic upgrade for sure.

Still holding out for a higher resolution telephoto sensor in the near future though, hoping for a 48mp sensor. 48mp would enable a 10x "optical quality" zoom option too, similar to the 2x option now.
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I would like to also see the rumored telephoto increase to make the near resolution to 400 mm telephoto lense (380 I recall) so I would not have lugg my DSLR as much with its big 400 mm telephoto That seems to have vanished a bit in the rumors. I skipped th 16 PM love my 15 PM enough the improvments were MEH for me. Will watch the 17 PM for sure but I am slowly going to 3-4 year cycles on my apple tech (MacBook pro, IPad Pro ect) and this will be 2 year cycles on iphone if I do buy the 17 PM but maybe I can move to a 3 year cycle on my iPhones as well as i have abandoned the nuts and crazyness of preorder fiasco and having to wait at home for order to arrive all day to the calm of just ordering my tech at local Best Buy (no near Apple Store). I guess we shall see
 
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