Apple is expected to iPhone 16 series next month, perhaps on September 10. In preparation for the event, camera details for all four models were revealed today.
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will have dual cameras like their predecessors, only this time they’ll be vertically aligned on the back. The primary camera will be the same 48 MP one as in the iPhone 15 And 15+.
The ultra-wide lens gets a faster f/2.2 aperture (compared to f/2.4 on last year’s models), which should make for better low-light photos. Non-Pro iPhones will also reportedly support macro photography for the first time.
The iPhone 16 Pro And ProMax will both have a 5x telephoto camera, which is no longer exclusive to the larger model like last year. It will be the same 12 MP with f/2.8 aperture.
The main camera on the Pros is also unchanged from last year, but there will be a significant change in the ultrawide. This will be a 48MP pixel-binning sensor that will have .7μm pixels that create an effective pixel size of 1.4μm when used in binning mode. You should also be able to shoot 48MP ProRaw photos.
Apple is also rumored to be adding a new photo format this year, JPEG-XL. The two Pros will also support 3K video at 120 fps with Dolby Vision.
Finally, the Capture Button will appear on all four iPhone 16 models, a move that will surely make Sony feel really understood — it’s had a button like this for ages, after all. Apple’s button will be capacitive, however, so you won’t actually be moving it when you press it. It will only be available for use by camera apps, with third-party apps supported.
It will have a force-sensitive half-press that will be accessible via a developer API to enable things like locking exposure and focus before pressing all the way down to take a photo. Because it’s capacitive, it will also be able to function as a trackpad — sliding your finger across it will trigger various actions. Apple might use this gesture to zoom in and out, but third-party developers will be able to use the accompanying API to do other things with it.