Next year’s iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature an upgraded 48-megapixel Tetraprism camera for improved photo quality and zoom functionality, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
In his latest investor note published on Medium, Kuo said the key specification change will be a 1/2.6″ 48MP CIS sensor, compared to the 1/3.1″ 12MP sensor expected to be used in this year’s iPhone models 16 Pro.
Both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are expected to get Tetraprism telephoto lenses in 2024, rather than the technology being limited to the larger Pro Max as in the iPhone 15 series. (The iPhone 15 Pro has a 12-megapixel telephoto camera that offers 3x zoom, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max uses an improved telephoto system that allows for 5x zoom.) This means that both iPhone 16 Pro models will feature at least 5x optical zoom and at least 25x digital zoom.
Kuo said he is currently unsure if only the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the improved Tetraprism camera. But if it’s exclusive to the model, then both iPhone 18 Pro models will get it in 2026. The upgraded Tetraprism camera requires all-new design prisms that need to have a shorter form factor to reduce the height of the camera, he added Kuo.
The analyst report confirms a claim made last year by Jeff Pu of Haitong International Securities. Pu said in December that the improved 48MP telephoto lens on the iPhone 17 Pro Max will be optimized for use with Apple Vision Pro. Current iPhone 15 Pro models can record spatial video with 3D depth for Vision Pro playback – when held in landscape orientation, the main and ultra-wide lenses combine to record spatial video with added depth.
Pu previously said that both iPhone 16 Pro models will feature a 48MP ultra-wide lens, making the iPhone 17 Pro Max the first iPhone model to have a rear camera system made up entirely of 48MP lenses. To put that into perspective, current iPhone 15 Pro models have 48MP primary, 12MP ultrawide and 12MP telephoto lenses.
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