Analyst: iPhone 16 Pro Set to Receive Enhanced 48MP Ultrawide Camera
The last several years have seen smartphone camera resolution skyrocket from a mere 12 or 16 megapixels to 200 megapixels in Samsung’s latest flagship Android phones. However, Apple hasn’t followed the same trajectory. It stuck with 12MP for a few more years, and even now, only the primary camera has been upgraded. An ultrawide upgrade is coming with the iPhone 16, though, according to a new analyst report. This information comes from noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is often (but not always) right about what Apple has planned. The current iPhone 15 family has a 48MP primary sensor, which first debuted in the iPhone 13 Pro before expanding to the base model with the iPhone 14. The ultrawide and telephoto sensors have remained 12MP. Like other smartphone camera sensors, Apple’s 48MP shooter is designed with pixel binning in mind. It has 48 million pixels, but those pixels are tiny. The smaller a pixel, the less light it can collect for each capture. Pixel binning allows groups of pixels (four of them in the case of the iPhone) into one “superpixel” that can collect more light. So, you still get a 12MP image, but it’s a much better 12MP image. Apple does include an option to shoot at full resolution if you prefer. According to Kuo, the iPhone 16 Pro will debut later this year with a 48MP ultrawide camera that operates along the same lines. If Apple continues its usual upgrade cadence, this sensor could come to the non-Pro iPhone next year. That’s also when Kuo says the iPhone 17 Pro will add a third and final 48MP sensor for the phone’s telephoto lens. The base model iPhone does not currently have a third sensor, so there won’t be a corresponding upgrade for the iPhone 18 unless Apple decides to redesign its 2026 devices.
The current iPhone 15 and 15 Pro have a 48MP primary sensor, but the others are still 12MP.
The days of judging camera quality solely by resolution are long gone—plenty of budget phones are puffed up with 50 or 64MP cameras, but they produce much worse results than an iPhone or Google Pixel with a 12MP camera. What higher resolution can do is provide more data for the computational photography technology that powers the best mobile cameras. However, Kuo notes the updated ultrawide camera will offer the same manual options as the main sensor. So, 48MP ProRAW files are on the menu for those who want them. As usual, we expect to see new iPhones in the fall. The cadence of leaks will pick up as we get on toward the summer.