iPhone 15 Pro Max to get major camera zoom upgrade, says insider

“The telephoto camera of iPhone will use a periscope design from 2023.”

What you need to know

A new report says the iPhone 15 is getting a major camera upgrade.
Ming-Chi Kuo says the iPhone 15 Pro Max will adopt a new periscope lens for improved zoom.
This will be the only model to get the feature at first, with an expansion the following year.

A new report from Apple insider and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the sole device that stands to benefit from a new periscope camera upgrade next year.

Writing Thursday Kuo stated:

The telephoto camera of iPhone will use a periscope design from 2023. The models that adopt a periscope are:

(1) 2H23 new iPhone: iPhone 15 Pro Max.

(2) 2H24 new iPhone: iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Pro.

(3) The main specifications of the periscope for iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 are similar, including 1/3″ 12MP, f/2.8, sensor-shift support, and 5–6x optical zoom.

As Kuo notes, Apple’s best iPhone in 2023, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, will apparently benefit from a new periscope design. Periscope cameras use 90-degree prisms and an array of lenses to get light to your camera’s sensor. This means the lens can be much longer because it has more room, allowing for a greater degree of optical zoom. Kuo says this camera, a 12MP one to be exact, will allow for 5-6x optical zoom, an improvement on the current 3x of Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro.

While we expect iPhone 14 to get a new 48MP camera, it sounds like optical zoom upgrades are still a couple of years away. Kuo also says these improvements won’t filter down to the regular iPhone ‘Pro’ until the iPhone 16 in 2024. The lower-end iPhone 15 and 16 won’t benefit at all. Kuo says other iPhone 16 rear camera upgrades are on the way but doesn’t specify what they will be.

iPhone 14 is expected to do away with the iPhone ‘mini’ in favor of a new 6.7-inch Max version, with other Pro upgrades expected to include a new processor and an always-on display. The iPhone 14 is also tipped for its usual September launch window.