The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro will reportedly increase the resolution of the telephoto and ultra wide cameras beyond 12 megapixels.
That’s according to a new report from Mark Gurman on Bloomberg, who couldn’t learn how many more pixels the upgraded cameras will have.
Pixels aren’t everything, but this change will be appreciated. We’ve lived with 12-megapixel shot-on-iPhone photos for years now. We first got a 12-megapixel rear shooter with the iPhone 6s models, which launched in 2015!
iPhone 15 Pros could boost camera resolution
“The iPhone 15 Pro models will continue to have three cameras, including a 48-megapixel sensor,” Gurman wrote. “There are new telephoto and ultra-wide lenses with more megapixels than in last year’s Pro sensors, and the company is planning to tout the enhancements as the premier additions in this year’s phones.”
Gurman has also corroborated other rumored features that he, along with other journalists and analysts, previously reported on.
- Customizable Action button: The iPhone 15 should swap the mute/ringer switch for an Apple Watch Ultra-like Action button that could be assigned functions like silencing the phone, turning on a Focus mode, opening the flashlight, launching the camera, starting a voice recording, opening Siri shortcuts, pulling up the digital magnifying glass and opening accessibility settings.
- Stronger, lighter case: The iPhone 15 Pros will use a new chassis made from a titanium alloy instead of stainless steel, reducing weight by around ten percent. Titanium is also more durable and stronger than steel. The chassis will have a matte finish that will much less attract fingerprints, and the edges will be more rounded and smoother. As for the regular iPhone 15 models, those will sport aluminum sides and a glass back like the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus.
- Faster fast charging: All models will ditch the Lightning connector for USB-C and gain faster wireless charging. However, increased charge speeds when using a USB-C wire will be limited to the iPhone 15 Pros.
- Perceptively larger display: The next iPhone lineup will have about 33 percent thinner side bezels, making the display appear a bit larger.
- Enhanced battery life: The iPhone 15 Pros will run Apple’s upcoming A17 chip, the first commercially produced silicon on TSMC’s 3nm process, bringing reduced power consumption. The non-Pro models will be powered by the current 5nm A16 chip that powers the iPhone 14 Pros.
- More memory: The iPhone 15 Pros could boost the RAM to support new imaging features, but users should also see other effects, like smoother multitasking. The current iPhone Pro models are equipped with six gigabytes of memory.
- New Apple U2 chip: The iPhone 15 lineup is expected to debut a new Apple U2 chip with enhanced spatial awareness and location features for more precise tracking in the Find My app. The new chip is also expected to appear in the next Apple Watch and other upcoming products.
- No Ultra branding: Gurman doesn’t expect an even higher-end iPhone Ultra model, nor does he think the iPhone Pros will be renamed “iPhone Ultra.”
Apple will unveil the next iPhone and Apple Watch at its pre-taped “Wonderlust” presentation scheduled to kick off on September 12 at 10am PT / 1pm ET.
Significant camera upgrades
Taiwanese research firm TrendForce recently said Apple’s camera upgrades this year “could tip the scales for potential buyers,” adding that the upcoming imaging enhancements will be the “star of the show.”
As previously reported, the 48-megapixel primary rear camera that Apple first implemented on the iPhone 14 Pros is coming to the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is believed to introduce a new periscope lens system for the primary rear camera that should double optical zoom to 6x.
The non-Pro models will also gain the Dynamic Island feature, which is currently exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pros.