Apple is expected to add a periscope camera to its iPhone lineup for the first time with the release of the iPhone 15 Pro Max later this year. But a new report says anyone hoping the technology would trickle down to the smaller iPhone 16 Pro in 2024 will be left disappointed.
The use of a periscope camera would allow Apple to increase the level of optical zoom its camera can manage without also making the iPhone itself even thicker than it already is. It’s an approach that other phone makers like Samsung already take and the iPhone 15 Pro Max is expected to be the first to get such a camera. Next year, it looks set to be an iPhone 16 Pro Max feature too.
Writing in a series of tweets, prolific analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple will keep the periscope camera as an iPhone 16 Pro Max feature in 2024, despite previous market expectations that more iPhones would benefit from the technology.
The Kuo report contradicts one from The Elec earlier in January that suggested the exact opposite. That report suggested that the iPhone 16 Pro would get the same camera.
Keeping the camera feature as a Pro Max-only one does make some sense, however. Apple continues to try to differentiate its iPhone models more, as seen by the way it only put the 48-megapixel camera into the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models in 2022. Those same iPhones also benefit from a new A16 Bionic chip, while the non-Pro iPhones make do with the A15 Bionic.
Whatever Apple’s plans, we won’t know them for sure until September when Apple is expected to officially unveil the new models.
