Here are the detailed camera specs of the iPhone 15 series

06 September 2023
The 15 and 15 Plus get a bump to 48MP, the Pro and Pro Max get new ultrawides, the Pro Max gets a periscope.

Sort by:

Anonymous, 07 Sep 2023Those 2 prisms introduce chromatic aberrations, darken the ... moreI think you need to read up on different kinds of telescopes (refractor, Newtonian/reflector and cassegrain) and star diagonals. Mirrors and prism have their own advantages. Also it's usually the cheap toy telescopes that offer over 1000x magnification. Telescopes that cost thousands of dollars tend to be lower power as it's understood Earth's atmosphere limits useful magnification.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • gDf
    • 12 Sep 2023

    "Telephoto: 12.7MP, f/2.8, 85mm periscope lens, 1/1.9"
    I don't believe that the periscope camera has only 12.7 megapixels, the only source is macrumors. The number 12.7 doesn't seem to occur in the allegedly leaked marketing material, it only mentions the sensor size type (1/1.9"), the field of view (85mm) and the effective aperture diameter (6mm).
    12.7 megapixels simply doesn't make much sense for such a periscope camera because there are several 90mm periscope cameras on the market with 64 or 48 megapixels, unless they maybe want to save costs or want to advertise the higher resolution for the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
    The 14 Pro Max already had 77mm and 12.2 megapixels. The periscope camera may likely give you much more background blur and more detail in low light conditions, but 85mm wouldn't be a really noticeable advantage over the 77mm camera in good light conditions.

      hypocrisy, 06 Sep 2023How is this typical Apple? Is there any phone brand out the... moreITs typical Apple to bring a new hardware feature to the Plus/Max lineup first and only when there are 2 models of "Pro". Either Apple stops calling 2 models Pro and act like they know, or create a new lineup - which they will called the Ultra.

      iPhone 7 Plus - got 2 lenses+sensors, there was no reason for the 7 not to have it either. Apple spent a LOT of time during their iPhone special event talking about the specific manufacture for the Plus model - really was NOT a big deal at all. They do crap like this JUST to convince their users to FEEL like a product is super premium for purchase incentive (or what we call in marketing an impulse purchase).
      iPhone X - was the ONLY product that was completely different in numerous hardware changes to warrant any price increase and that could not be made available to the other iPhone product lineup:
      - OLED screen (due to folding, why did they need to fold inthe first place is anyone's guess, the 7/8 couldn't have it, also FaceID)
      - FaceID : removed TouchID for it and thus the camera assembly module was very large and thus could not fit in the standard iPhone 7/8 design.
      - larger battery capacity.
      - different camera sensors and arrangement (vertical vs the Plus models' horizontal layout).
      SO from the iPhone Pro and the iPhone Pro Max there is no reason a Periscope lens cannot fit in the 6.2" iPhone 15 Pro model. No reason at all UNLESS: production capacity constraint or further milk their users.

        Anonymous, 06 Sep 2023Yes, I like having 30x zoom. Having digital binoculars in y... moreEspecially when you are trying to read words on a far away sign that you can't read with your naked eyes.

          Anonymous, 07 Sep 2023Those 2 prisms introduce chromatic aberrations, darken the ... moreYou were making a solid point until you got to the "made in China" part - HOYA's (Japanese company) periscope optical zoom module in the original Zenfone Zoom was also using a prism. In fact, IIRC, every single one of the periscope telephoto prime/zoom lenses used inside a smartphone has used prisms instead of mirrors, so in which country the module is being made is completely irrelevant here.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • gDf
            • 07 Sep 2023

            Anonymous, 07 Sep 2023Gsmarena states that the periscope will have 12.7 megapixel... moreIf the 85mm camera has 48.8 megapixels, then one would surely get a 12.2 megapixel 170mm zoom setting (7x). It's also possible that it has 64 megapixels, there are several other periscope cameras with 90mm and 64 megapixels. Then one would get a 12.2 megapixel 195mm zoom setting (maybe advertised as 200mm).

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • rRU
              • 07 Sep 2023

              Those 2 prisms introduce chromatic aberrations, darken the image and have other internal reflexions. That is why an astronomic telescope (which is for night) never uses prisms (it uses only mirrors) and only low power scopes and binoculars use prisms and the best ones cost hundreds of dollars because use prisms with special antireflective metallic coatings. Bad choice for a made in china iPhone.

                Anonymous, 07 Sep 2023Do not forget that 50MP 1" bayer has pixel pitch of 1.... moreMi 11, which had a 108MP sensor (which binned down to 27MP), doesn't have an amazing low light performance compared to the likes of Xiaomi 13 Ultra or the Oppo Find X6 Pro. It's arguably a better daylight performer, but when a scene gets darker it starts falling apart relatively quickly. A type 1 50MP Bayer sensor would perform admirably during the day, but under more difficult lighting I could definitely see it doing rather poorly.

                "Larger than what bayer 12mp 1/2.5" almost all phones used to have as main cam"
                That's a terrible baseline because they are absolutely garbage compared to the main cameras that flagship phones have nowadays.

                  Anonymous, 07 Sep 202312MP Bayer 1/1.3" > 48MP QB 1/1.3" Why no... moreYou won't get the level of detail that you would get from a 48MP QB sensor (with appropriate image processing), using a 12MP sensor, no matter how you spin it. End of story. Show me one example of a 12MP phone camera properly resolving the hole patterns on GSMArena's balcony shots.

                  Quad Bayer 8K downsampled to 4K > Native Bayer 4K in terms of detail, just like how you usually get better "12MP" photos by downsampling the 48MP shots from a QB sensor as long as there's enough light. Deal with it.

                  "Bayer 48mp resized to 12/10/8mp does look cleaner as well"
                  If you downscale photos to a lower resolution, you're actually reducing any potential quality gap between a 48MP QB sensor and a 48MP native Bayer sensor as any artifacts or loss of details will be also hidden away.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • 0p}
                    • 07 Sep 2023

                    Nick Tegrataker, 07 Sep 2023As well as being too noisy on a (relatively) small mobile c... moreDo not forget that 50MP 1" bayer has pixel pitch of 1.6 micron.
                    Just like 27mp 1/1.3".
                    Larger than what bayer 12mp 1/2.5" almost all phones used to have as main cam.

                    12MP 1/2.6" = 1.4 micron
                    20MP 1/1.7" = 1.4 micron

                    12mp 1/2.9" : 1.22 micron
                    48mp 1/1.28" : 1.22 micron

                    It is about priorities. Not downsides.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • 0p}
                      • 07 Sep 2023

                      Nick Tegrataker, 07 Sep 2023As well as being too noisy on a (relatively) small mobile c... more12MP Bayer 1/1.3" > 48MP QB 1/1.3"

                      Why not use?

                      1) brands cannot advertise 8K or fake 8k ( 4k upscaled like some chinese phones do)
                      2) more expensive sensor

                      Dont forget, QB at " binned mode" is not sucking more light compared to full res more. Lower res always looks cleaner no matter CFA used.
                      Bayer 48mp resized to 12/10/8mp does look cleaner as well .
                      Like nokia 808 ( 38 to 5) or Sony Z series (20.7/23 to 8).

                      Obviously stacking 10-12 frames at 48/50/64/108/200 MP then resizing it to 8/10/12/16MP is out of any phone capabilities.

                        Darthmaul75, 07 Sep 2023Most people are not interested in latest camera lens tech o... moreMost people, not people with money.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • gDf
                          • 07 Sep 2023

                          Gsmarena states that the periscope will have 12.7 megapixels, but actually, I don't see that number in the the source. So, it seems that the source doesn't mention a megapixel number. 48 megapixels or more than 48 megapixels would make far more sense and then, 85mm would make more sense, too.

                            Most people are not interested in latest camera lens tech or what is the highest megapixels.. Most cameras on most phones are already very good. The layman don't need top of the line camera specs or latest 4nm bionic chip to justify ur ridiculous stupid high apple prices.. What the people need is bring the price down so more are able to afford it. So many midrange Android phones are just as powerful as an iPhone if not surpassing it for 1/3 of the price. It is no surprise in my country, more and more ppl are switching to brands like xiaomi, redmi, realme, oppo, vivo and less sales in Apple products. We don't need an apple stamped product with specs that are not mind blowing in the 1st place.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • vaS
                              • 07 Sep 2023

                              Anonymous, 06 Sep 2023if 16 Pro goes 6.3 inch, I want 16 to be 5.8 inch. Enough o... moreI also think there should be significant size differences between any two variants. The regular non-Pro should be much smaller than the regular Pro and the Plus should even be much larger than the Pro Max. This way, it pushes most buyers even more into buying the Pro models (having the more conventional sizes) while covering the extreme bases on both ends (those wanting a compact phone and those wanting an even bigger phablet).

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • vaS
                                • 07 Sep 2023

                                hypocrisy, 06 Sep 2023How is this typical Apple? Is there any phone brand out the... moreTypical Apple fashion in the sense that after downgrading the non-Pro variants last year to push for the Pro's, they're seemingly taking it further this year by limiting the upgrade to regular Pro to further upsell buyers to the Pro Max instead of just increasing the size of the regular Pro and putting the same upgrades since it's reportedly getting a price increase just like the Pro Max.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • JQ1
                                  • 07 Sep 2023

                                  Anonymous, 06 Sep 2023And in the end X100 Pro+ and 14 Ultra will combine for less... moreBecause apple knows that their fanboys will buy anything at any price of them

                                    Anonymous, 06 Sep 2023This periscope is fixed. It is not like xperia. Lens fi... moreNot only cheaper, but also:
                                    1. Simpler lens design means a higher yield rate, which is important because tens of millions of iPhones must be sold every quarter. Given how the quality of optical zoom modules has historically varied SIGNIFICANTLY between Xperia 1 and Xperia 5 series (suggesting low yield and QC issues), going for a fixed focal length design is a wise choice for Apple.

                                    2. Prime lenses are sharper than zoom lenses.

                                      Anonymous, 06 Sep 2023HDR is why high res bayer cameras are gone. As well as being too noisy on a (relatively) small mobile camera sensor.

                                        Lilian, 07 Sep 2023Moon shots are faked. All the current phones over-impose a ... moreI highly doubt Pixel "fakes" moon photos. If one is saying they are able to get good moon photos out of its camera, then they are most likely meaning it as "good for a phone camera".