The iPhone 17 Pro May Get 48MP Cameras Across the Board
Credit: Yuheng Ouyang
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Over the past three years, Apple has been on a mission to increase the megapixel count of its iPhone cameras, and it may be completing the final step for its Pro models this year with the iPhone 17 Pro.
At least, that’s what a rumor on Weibo is suggesting. According to a post by Digital Chat Station, the iPhone 17 Pro will move to a 48-megapixel (MP) telephoto camera. With the primary and ultrawide shooters having already made the transition, this means that all lenses will once again have the same resolution for the first time since the iPhone 13 Pro.
Apple moved to a 12MP sensor with the iPhone 6s lineup in 2015, adding a second 12MP telephoto lens in the 2016 iPhone 7 Plus. Over the next seven years, each new iPhone model saw improved sensor quality and new computational photography features, but the resolution remained at 12MP even as the iPhone 11 Pro gained a third ultrawide lens, and this continued through to the 2021 iPhone 13 Pro lineup.
It wasn’t until the iPhone 14 Pro was released the following year that Apple made a change by bumping the primary sensor to 48MP. However, the telephoto and ultrawide remained at 12MP. That original 48MP sensor still produced 12MP photos by default, with the extra resolution used to feed more data into the computational photography engine. This produced better low-light photos and allowed Deep Fusion to work more magic.
The iPhone 15 Pro increased the base shooting resolution to 24MP while the standard iPhone 15 gained the 48MP primary sensor. However, last year, Apple took things up another notch by bringing a 48MP sensor to the ultrawide camera on the iPhone 16 Pro, leaving the telephoto as the only lens that’s still 12MP.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 16 has a camera system that’s very similar to the iPhone 15, with 48MP primary and 12MP ultrawide sensors, although Apple has given it the “Fusion” brand this year to help set it apart as something special, highlighting the ability of the 48MP sensor as a virtual telephoto lens that can capture optical-quality 2x images by using the 12 million pixels in the center of the sensor.
There’s no word on what Apple may do with the standard iPhone 17 this year, and that’s even more mysterious as we’ll likely only get one standard model with a dual-camera system. The “Plus” model is expected to be replaced by an “iPhone 17 Air” or “iPhone 17 Slim” that will likely feature only the 48MP Fusion camera.
Nevertheless, the iPhone 17 Pro remains Apple’s premium photography phone, so moving the third sensor to 48MP seems like a reasonable next step. The Weibo report also matches a June 2024 report from Ming-Chi Kuo. In a post that accurately predicted the 5x Tetraprism lenses would be coming to both iPhone 16 Pro models, he also added that he expects “the high-end iPhone 17 model” to get a 48MP image sensor for the telephoto camera.
What was less clear from Kuo’s report was whether this would apply to both the iPhone 17 Pro models or be exclusive to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. While Apple tries to keep its cameras the same on both of its pro iPhones, the iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro Max notably featured higher optical zoom levels than their smaller counterparts — 2.5x vs. 2x and 5x vs. 3x.
Those increased zooms were the result of having more room inside the phones. That was particularly true with the 5x zoom, which adopted a new tetraprism lens technology. Many believe at least part of the reason Apple increased the size of the iPhone 16 Pro was to make room for the 5x optics.
Since a 48MP sensor would require new prisms for the lens, it’s possible we could see this upgrade apply only to the Max model, at least for this year. The iPhone 18 Pro might catch up, but Kuo notably expects the 2027 iPhone 19 Pro to push the optical zoom to even greater heights.
Still, the Weibo report suggests that the 48MP sensor will come to both iPhone 17 Pro models while adding that the front cameras will get a boost to 24MP. This echoes a more speculative report from Kuo a year ago that was corroborated in August by analyst Jeff Pu. All three reports agree that the 24MP selfie camera will come to all four iPhone 17 models, including the ultra-slim “iPhone Air.”
As usual, these are all just rumors and should be taken with the usual side-serving of your favorite sodium-based seasoning. However, an increase in camera quality on both sides of the iPhone 17 certainly seems plausible based on recent trends.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
