This year’s iPhone 16 Pro is tipped to become the first of Apple’s smaller smartphones to receive a powerful 5x telephoto camera, just like this year’s bigger iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, a new report reveals significantly more extensive camera upgrades coming to future iPhone flagships, starting with next year’s iPhone 17 range.
iPhone 16 Pro—Pro Max-level Zoom Camera
Fans of smaller iPhones currently miss out on Apple’s most powerful zoom camera, but this could all change when Apple brings its 5x tetraprism telephoto lens to the regular iPhone 16 Pro this September, according to respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. However, the same report details some even more impressive zoom capabilities destined for future iPhone generations, which Kuo has mapped out as far ahead as 2027’s iPhone 19 range.
Here, Kuo notes that differences between the Pro and Pro Max cameras may return as newer camera designs are introduced, with the newer tech potentially appearing first in the larger Pro Max range.
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro—Big Zoom Camera Quality Upgrade
Starting with the iPhone 17 Pro, Apple’s flagship is predicted to gain a new 48-megapixel tetraprism-based camera featuring a larger 1/2.6-inch sensor, up from 1/3.1 inches on the iPhone 16 Pro series. It is also expected that newly designed prisms with a shorter form factor will be deployed to decrease the camera thickness.
This larger sensor size should give the camera a boost in light-gathering capability of around 40%, reducing graininess and improving low-light performance, while the upgrade from 12 to 48 megapixels will provide a powerful boost to detail and digital zoom capabilities. A 48-megapixel sensor would also allow Apple to enable 8K video at 5x optical zoom, a feature already available on Samsung’s rival Galaxy S24 Ultra.
It’s not yet known whether the new 48-megapixel tetraprism camera will appear in both iPhone 17 Pro models or only the larger iPhone 17 Pro Max, but Kuo does expect the camera to appear on both the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max in 2026.
iPhone 19 Pro—New Prisms, Longer Zoom Range
Starting with 202’s iPhone 19 Pro range, Kuo expects an even bigger leap in camera performance based on increased optical zoom. The report speculates that increasing optical zoom range might require new, more complex prism geometry that reflects the light more times internally. More complex optics can negatively impact quality through distortions and reduced light transmission, so Apple will have to mitigate these issues carefully.
Improved long-range zoom performance would effectively challenge Samsung, which recently reduced its maximum optical telephoto from 10x to 5x in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. According to Dxomark, this year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max’s long-range zoom already outperforms the Samsung flagship in low-light situations.
This situation is currently reversed in brightly lit scenes, but if Apple were to take the opposite stance and move beyond 5x, we could see the iPhone taking the lead in what was once one of Samsung’s strongest performance areas.
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