The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are now official. But what’s new inside their camera modules? Here’s everything you need to know about the iPhone 15 Pro Max camera…
- Key Takeaways: iPhone 15 Pro Max’s Camera Features
- The Basics: Shared Features with the iPhone 15 Pro
- What Sets the iPhone 15 Pro Max Apart?
- The Verdict: Does the Pro Max Have the Edge?
- All the pre-launch iPhone 15 Pro Max camera rumors…
- iPhone 15 Pro Max Periscope Camera Rumored
- What is a Periscope Lens?
- More RAM, New Chipsets & USB-C
Key Takeaways: iPhone 15 Pro Max’s Camera Features
Superior Telephoto Lens
The iPhone 15 Pro Max boasts a more advanced 12MP 5x telephoto lens compared to the Pro’s 3x telephoto lens. With a 120 mm focal length, ƒ/2.8 aperture, 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilization, autofocus, and a unique tetraprism design, this lens is designed for capturing high-quality, detailed shots from a distance.
Expanded Optical Zoom Capabilities
The Pro Max offers a 10x optical zoom range, which includes 5x zoom in and 2x zoom out. This is a significant upgrade from the Pro’s 6x optical zoom range, making the Pro Max more versatile for a wide range of photography scenarios, from capturing expansive landscapes to zooming in on distant wildlife.
Next-Level Digital Zoom
The Pro Max pushes the boundaries of digital zoom, supporting up to 25x compared to the Pro’s 15x. This extended digital zoom range can be a game-changer for capturing intricate details from afar.
Bottom line? the iPhone 15 Pro Max offers superior telephoto, optical, and digital zoom features, making it the go-to choice for serious photographers.
Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max is now official and it brings with it plenty of updates and improvements, and nowhere is this more evident than in its camera system.
While the iPhone 15 Pro offers a robust camera setup, the Pro Max takes it a step further, making it the go-to choice for photography enthusiasts and professionals alike.
In this article, we’ll delve deep into the camera features of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, highlighting what sets it apart and why it might be the perfect fit for your photography needs.
The Basics: Shared Features with the iPhone 15 Pro
48MP Main Camera
Both the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max feature a 48MP main camera with a 24 mm focal length and ƒ/1.78 aperture.
This camera is equipped with second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization and 100% Focus Pixels, ensuring sharp, well-focused photos. It also supports super-high-resolution photos in both 24MP and 48MP, giving you the flexibility to choose the level of detail you want.
12MP Ultra-Wide Camera
The ultra-wide camera on both models offers a 13 mm focal length, ƒ/2.2 aperture, and a 120° field of view. Like the main camera, it also comes with 100% Focus Pixels, allowing for quick and accurate focusing even in challenging lighting conditions.
12MP 2x Telephoto Camera
Both devices feature a 12MP 2x telephoto camera with a 48 mm focal length and ƒ/1.78 aperture. This camera also benefits from second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization and 100% Focus Pixels, making it ideal for capturing distant subjects without sacrificing image quality.
Check out this detailed comparison of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max to see how they compare on a wider scale.
What Sets the iPhone 15 Pro Max Apart?
Additional Telephoto Lens
While the iPhone 15 Pro features a 12MP 3x telephoto lens with a 77 mm focal length and ƒ/2.8 aperture, the Pro Max ups the ante with a more powerful 12MP 5x telephoto lens. This lens has a 120 mm focal length, ƒ/2.8 aperture, and comes with 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilization, autofocus, and a unique tetraprism design. This makes it a powerhouse for capturing crisp, detailed shots from a distance.
Extended Optical Zoom Range
The Pro Max offers a more extensive optical zoom range compared to the Pro. While the latter provides a 6x optical zoom range (3x zoom in and 2x zoom out), the Pro Max offers a 10x optical zoom range (5x zoom in and 2x zoom out).
This extended range makes the Pro Max more versatile for various photography scenarios, from landscapes to wildlife photography.
Enhanced Digital Zoom
The Pro Max also takes digital zoom capabilities to the next level, supporting up to 25x digital zoom compared to the Pro’s 15x. This feature can be a game-changer when you need to capture details from a significant distance.
The Verdict: Does the Pro Max Have the Edge?
If you’re a photography enthusiast or a professional who demands the best camera system, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the clear winner. With its more advanced telephoto lens, greater zoom capabilities, and the same foundational features as the iPhone 15 Pro, it offers a more comprehensive package for serious photographers.
However, if you’re an average user who still wants a powerful camera but can do without the extra zoom, the iPhone 15 Pro should more than meet your needs. But for those who want to push the boundaries of mobile photography or to use the phone as a professional tool, the iPhone 15 Pro Max stands in a league of its own.
So, whether you’re capturing the minute details of a flower or shooting a majestic landscape from afar, the iPhone 15 Pro Max has got you covered, offering unparalleled flexibility and performance in mobile photography.
But don’t discount the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, they’ve both received a slew of compelling updates and tweaks and all while keeping the price identical to last year’s iPhone 14.
All the pre-launch iPhone 15 Pro Max camera rumors…
The iPhone 15 rumours are coming in quick and fast at the moment. In this last few months we’ve heard talk about USB-C coming to iPhone and the idea that Apple will soon be forced, again, by EU regulation, to allow access to alternative app stores inside iOS.
Big changes, sweeping changes in fact. Expect Apple to battle the latter in court – there’s no way it will allow third-party app stores on its platform. Hell will almost certainly freeze over before that happens. Could you imagine Google Play and Samsung’s Apps Store running on iPhone? Neither can I…
Moving back to alleged iPhone 15 specs and hardware updates, news from TrendForce claims that, once again, there’ll be four models released in 2023 – the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max – with the iPhone 15 Ultra apparently missing in action.
iPhone 15 Pro Max Periscope Camera Rumored
Per the report, it is now believed that Apple is focussing on bulking out the iPhone 15 Pro’s camera abilities. One newly leaked feature that will almost certainly remain exclusive to its Pro and Pro Max models in 2023 is its rumoured periscope lens which will presumably live inside the phones’ telephoto lens.
According to the leaked material, the new periscope abilities of Apple’s telephoto lens will allow for 10x optical zoom – potentially even more. Currently, the iPhone 14 Pro Max tops out at 3x optical zoom, so if this rumour does turn out to be true, it’ll represent quite an update.
Key Takeaways
Here’s a brief overview of everything discussed in this article:
- Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature an updated telephoto lens that will use Apple’s as-yet-unannounced periscope technology.
- A periscope lens allows for lossless zooming abilities above 5x without making the camera module any thicker or larger.
- With its new periscope lens, Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro models will be able to acheive 10x optical zoom, potentially even higher.
- The iPhone 15 Pro Max and Pro will run Apple’s latest A17 CPU, while the base models will use 2022’s A16. The Pro and Pro Max models will also benefit from more RAM, up from 6GB to 8GB apparently.
What is a Periscope Lens?
A periscope lens takes light in and, rather than letting it hit the sensor directly, it instead reflects (or mirrors) it 90 degrees through a specific lens array, which allows for magnification, and then passes it onto the sensor. This process allows phones to achieve lossless zoom (over 5x) which isn’t possible with normal lenses.
The benefit of a periscope lens is that it can achieve lossless zoom without using a thicker or larger camera module – or, an external lens, as is the case on DLSR cameras.
With phones, thinness is important. Increases in thickness and weight are the enemy of sleek and engaging design, so the use of periscope lenses on phones is the perfect workaround, as all the mechanics that make it possible are built directly inside the lens inside the smartphone.
Also rumoured is the advent of 8K video recording on Apple’s Pro and Pro Max models. Again, this is just a rumour at present but given Apple’s love of courting content creators, and its bid to replace DSLR cameras, adding in the ability to shoot video content in 8K does make sense – Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra can already do it, for instance.
More RAM, New Chipsets & USB-C
On top of the camera-related leaks, the report claims that Apple will once again bump up the amount of RAM used inside its iPhone 15 models. The Pro and Pro Max variants will run 8GB of RAM, whereas the standard models will stick with 6GB of RAM.
Again, only the Pro and Pro Max iPhone will get Apple’s new A-series chipset, the A17, with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 using Apple’s current chipset, the A16.
With modems, it is no secret that Apple has been working on its own custom modem for iPhone. But the report says that it isn’t happy with its performance right now, so Apple will once again use Qualcomm modems inside its iPhone 15 range.
As for when we’ll see Apple’s in-house modem, nobody knows. It could launch inside the iPhone 16 or it could be delayed until the iPhone 17. Apple is a massive stickler for details; it never releases anything until it is 100% ready. This is why iPhone users had to wait so long for 5G iPhones.
Need to know more about the iPhone 15? Check out our detailed breakdown of all the latest iPhone 15 rumours for a wider overview of what’s happening with Apple’s 2023 iPhones.
