It'll be the cameras on the iPhone 15 that will help sell the new phones the most, says a new TrendForce report by Kevin Ma.
The iPhone 15 camera system will get what the report describes as "a lavish array of upgrades," acting as the "star of the show" that will be key to convincing users to upgrade in a period where smartphone sales are dropping.
One of two major camera upgrades identified by Trendforce is a two-layer stacked sensor that will be used in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus (though which camera isn't specified). It's thought that this camera will be 48MP in resolution like the iPhone 14 Pro, but also that the iPhone 15 Pro won't use this sensor, as the original 48MP sensor may still be larger and take better overall images.
The other big change named in the report, and heavily rumored beforehand, is the addition of a periscope telephoto camera to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, also possibly called the iPhone 15 Ultra. Instead of 3x zoom like the current iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max manage, the new camera could manage 5x or 6x zoom, though we've also heard claims of it reaching up to 10x zoom.
More than just camera upgrades
We expect other changes to the iPhone 15 series, aside from those tipped for the cameras. On the Pro models, we will likely see a new rebindable Action button replacing the mute switch, and a more powerful A17 Bionic chipset on the inside. Furthermore, all models in the iPhone 15 line should feature a Dynamic Island notch, and also ditch their Lightning ports in favor of more universal USB-C connectors. But nonetheless, TrendForce believes it's the camera upgrades that will have the greatest impact on a user's buying decision.
All the iPhone 15's secrets should be revealed on September 12, the date of the Apple September event this year. The new iPhone is basically guaranteed to show up going by Apple's historical launch patterns, but we will also be looking for the Apple Watch 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2 and iPad mini 7 during the Wonderlust show too.
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