It currently looks like Apple will bring a 48MP main camera upgrade to the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max is likely to get a periscope lens with 3.5x zoom – at least according to recent rumors in the run-up to the iPhone 15 release date. It all looks like the iPhone 15 camera range is going to be a big upgrade.
The first rumor, from numerous sources (analysts Jeff Pu and Ming-Chi Kuo, along with user Digital Chat Station on Weibo, via MacRumors), suggests that the whole iPhone 15 range will have a 48MP main camera. Apple brought this megapixel bump to the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max last year.
This means that every phone expected at the Apple Wonderlust event would be able to capture more detail with the main camera. The phones still bin down these smaller pixels into larger, grouped-together pixels – though this still captures more detail and reduces noise, and better yet you can choose to make full use of the main camera, though shots will take up a lot more space on your phone.
The second rumor, from Ming-Chi Kuo and corroborated by MacRumors, is that the iPhone 15 Pro Max – and only the Pro Max, not the smaller Pro – will get a periscope lens for its telephoto camera. A recent shot on X, formerly Twitter, backs this up, detailing the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 85mm telephoto lens, F/2.8 aperture, and 1/1.9″ sensor.
What all this means is that the whole iPhone range could see its biggest camera upgrade in years. Given that the best Google Pixel phones take the best shots for our money at the moment, this is the sort of boost that could push Apple in front. Of course, the best Samsung phones are no slouches, either, so the iPhone 15 camera specs may be eclipsed by the Samsung S24 Ultra when the release date rolls around.