Apple’s upcoming iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are tipped to receive a big camera upgrade, but now it appears that upgrade may not be quite as huge as we had hoped.
According to a recent Weibo post by well-known tipster, “Digital Chat Station”, Apple will deliver a long-awaited upgrade to the primary camera on both lower-priced iPhone 15 models by increasing the sensor resolution from 12 megapixels up to 48 megapixels—the resolution currently reserved for Apple’s “Pro” iPhones. This has led, understandably, to excited speculation over the possibility that the new budget iPhone 15 cameras might level up to iPhone 15 Pro quality.
However, although the standard iPhone 15 primary cameras will likely match the Pro lineup in terms of pixel resolution, the new report claims their imaging sensors will be physically much smaller and therefore inferior to their iPhone 15 Pro counterparts.
This is an important distinction, because the overall size of an imaging sensor has a huge impact on the light-gathering capabilities of the camera, and therefore overall quality—especially when shooting in low light.
While the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are expected to receive a Type 1/1.28 (10 x 7.5mm) sensor, the regular iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are slated to receive a smaller, Type 1/1.5 version (at approximately 8.2 x 6.1mm). Consequently, the iPhone 15 Pro models will deliver superior photos from the primary camera when compared to the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.
This will come as a disappointment to any Apple fans hoping for Pro-level quality from the basic models, but the new 48-megapixel iPhone 15 camera will still offer a significant bump over the current iPhone 14, which features a considerably smaller 12-megapixel component—either Type 1/1.9 (6.85 x 5.14mm) or Type 1/1.7 (7.6mm x 5.7mm), depending on who you believe (Apple doesn’t publish these specifications).
Together, the larger sensors and higher resolutions of the non-Pro iPhone 15 range are still likely to represent a compelling upgrade over the iPhone 14 when they launch this September alongside their Pro counterparts. However, Apple is always going to reserve the best camera for the Pro models.
What remains to be seen is how the iPhone 15 will make use of its 48-megapixel upgrade. Currently, iPhone 14 Pro users must switch to Apple ProRAW mode to take true 48-megapixel shots. Without this feature, the output photo resolution remains at 12 megapixels. It’s not known whether Apple might introduce a similar 48-megapixel mode for the standard iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, especially as ProRAW is a distinctly pro-level feature.
However, even without a 48-megapixel mode, the iPhone 15 main camera will be able to leverage the increased resolution of its new primary sensor to help improve the quality of the digital zoom function. This will be especially important on the lower-end models which leaks tell us will again lack a dedicated telephoto lens.
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