According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, next year’s iPhone 17 Pro Max will have an upgraded 48-megapixel Tetraprism camera for improved photo quality and zoom functionality.
In his latest investor note published on Medium, Kuo said the main specification change would be a 1/2.6″ 48MP CIS sensor, from the 1/3.1″ 12MP sensor expected to be used in the iPhone 16 Pro models. this year.
Both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are expected to get telephoto tetraprism lenses in 2024, rather than the technology being limited to the larger Pro Max, as it is in the iPhone 15 series. (The iPhone 15 Pro has a 12-megapixel telephoto camera that offers 3x zoom, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max uses an improved telephoto system that allows for 5x zoom.) This means that both iPhone 16 Pro models will have at least 5x optical zoom and at least 25x digital zoom.
Kuo said he is currently unsure if only the iPhone 17 Pro Max will have the improved Tetraprism camera. But if it’s model-exclusive, then both iPhone 18 Pro models will get it in 2026. The improved Tetraprism camera requires completely new designed prisms, which should have a shorter form factor to reduce the height of the to the camera, Kuo added.
The analyst report corroborates a claim made last year by Jeff Pu of Haitong International Securities. Pu said in December that the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s upgraded 48MP telephoto lens will be optimized for use with Apple Vision Pro. Current iPhone 15 Pro models can record 3D depth-of-field video for playback in Vision Pro – when held in landscape orientation, the main and ultra-wide lenses combine to record depth-enhanced spatial video.
Pu previously said that both iPhone 16 Pro models will have a 48MP ultra-wide lens, which would make the iPhone 17 Pro Max the first iPhone model to have a rear camera system made up entirely of 48 megapixel lens. To put that into perspective, current iPhone 15 Pro models have 48MP main telephoto, 12MP ultra-wide and 12MP lenses.
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