One of the biggest early rumors surrounding next year’s iPhone 15 Pro is that it could get many new camera upgrades. This includes a new periscope telephoto camera and a new ‘8P’ or an eight element lens for the main camera. Now, industry analyst Ming Chi Kuo has tweeted saying that the iPhone 15 Pro may not get this lens element upgrade.
Just last week, we heard from TrendForce, another industry analyst, that the iPhone 15 series will finally shift to USB-C ports and the Pro models will get a boost in RAM and will go from 6GB to 8GB next year. TrendForce also mentioned the use of a new type of main camera lens that Apple could adopt an upgraded 8 element (8P) camera.
More elements in a lens could result in more light being absorbed into the lens and less distortion in images, which could be essential for wide-angle lenses. However, it could be more complex as well and increasing elements in a lens has both pros and cons associated with it.
Considering Apple just moved to a 7P element lens for the iPhone 14 Pro, it may not move to an upgraded lens this soon. Ming Chi Kuo did not give a reason though in his tweet and just said, “it won’t likely come true."
I think the rumored iPhone 15 Pro series's adoption of an 8P lens won't likely come true.October 30, 2022
In an effort to increase the gap between the Pro and base iPhone models, it seems like Apple could be reserving some of the top upgrades for the Pro devices and even maybe a new iPhone 15 Ultra model. This includes a new periscope telephoto lens that will rely on a prism that reflects light to different internal lenses at 90 degrees to the camera sensor. It would result in a longer lens and advanced optical zoom.
There has been some chatter that the periscope camera could be an iPhone 15 Pro Max-only feature in an effort to upsell the model. But other rumors claim the iPhone 14 Pro Max could be replaced by the iPhone 15 Ultra next year, so we will have to see how it plays out.
Shadow_leak on Twitter also recently said that the periscope camera could have a hybrid lens design, instead of using purely plastic parts to achieve the alleged 5x or 6x magnification. Some of the lens elements would have a glass core with a plastic coating, moving away from just plastic, which is the industry standard.
Apart from vying for a position on our best camera phone list, the iPhone 15 Pros could get a more powerful and efficient 3nm chipset as well. It’s going to be some time before we see the iPhone 15 series in action though. Until then, you can check out our iPhone 14 Plus vs iPhone 14 Pro Max comparison to see which big-screen iPhone may be right for you.
