The iPhone 16 and 16 Pro will likely launch in less than a week at Apple’s Sept. 9 “Glowtime” event, and they could arrive with some big improvements to their cameras. The rumor mill has been churning away for months and there are loads of leaks about what we might get, including larger display sizes with thinner bezels, new processors and a slimmer design. Apple has already talked about its Apple Intelligence skills coming to iOS 18.
But as a professional photographer, I’m most excited about the cameras.
Apple has always packed the iPhone with some of the best cameras you can get in a smartphone, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, with its 5x optical zoom, remains one of the best camera phones money can buy right now.
Read more: Best iPhone to Buy in 2024
Competition is fierce, particularly in the photography arena, and Apple will be looking for ways to keep the phone’s photo-taking skills top-notch. So let’s dive into what the rumor mill has been saying about the cameras in the iPhone 16 range.
A new physical camera button
The iPhone 15 Pro’s Action button will possibly be joined by a new physical camera button.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max brought a new “Action” button to the outer edge of the phone which allows you to customize it to perform various actions like launching the camera or taking a voice memo.
MacRumors suggests that an additional button will appear on the next model, aimed specifically at photographers. The button will act as a camera shutter, with multiple levels of sensitivity allowing for a half press for focusing and a full press for taking an image. Rumors also suggest the button will recognize swipe gestures, with left or right swipes letting you zoom in or out.
The volume buttons have been able to activate the camera shutter for some time, but this new button would bring deeper camera controls and allow you to operate the iPhone more like a compact digital camera.
Better zoom for all Pro models
The S23 and S24 Ultra’s 10x zoom may get some competition.
According to Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo, the base iPhone 16 Pro will be equipped with a 5x optical zoom lens. This was something only found on the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max so it’d be good to see the same zoom level offered in a smaller, more pocket-friendly package.
Both phones may get an upgrade, with some earlier rumors suggesting the iPhone 16 Pro Max will get a “super telephoto” lens offering zoom levels beyond the current 5x range. While this would be a welcome addition to sports or wildlife photographers who rely on long zoom levels, these rumors circulated in the summer of last year, before we even saw the launch of the iPhone 15. So take them with a grain of salt.
Larger image sensors
The Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s larger image sensor makes it a photography powerhouse.
According to a MacRumors story, covering claims from Weibo user Digital Chat Station, the iPhone 16 Pro’s main camera could have a larger image sensor. This would apparently be 1/1.14 inches in size, making it bigger than the 1/1.28-inch sensor found on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
A larger sensor captures more light and image information allowing for better details, dynamic range and improved low-light performance so it’d be great to see such a large size increase. Known leaker Majin Bu posted on X what they claim are leaked cases for the upcoming Pro models, which show a significantly larger cut-out for the camera island. This would make sense if indeed we do see larger camera sensors — and therefore larger camera units — on the phones.
It’d be smart for Apple to up its game here as phones like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra are already using even larger image sensors of 1/0.98-inches (known as 1-inch type) for their main cameras.
Watch this: What Apple Should Copy From Google’s Pixel Event
Higher-resolution ultrawide cameras
The iPhones’ ultrawide cameras have felt a little neglected in the past few generations, with the resolution remaining at 12 megapixels since the iPhone 11. A report from noted analyst Jeff Pu, seen by 9to5Mac, says the ultrawide cameras on both the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will get a significant bump up to 48 megapixels.
Read more: The Best and Worst Times to Buy a New iPhone
Vertical camera arrangement
The iPhone 12 with vertically stacked cameras.
Various rumors and leaked renders suggest that the base iPhone 16 and 16 Plus models will have a vertical camera layout, rather than in the diagonal form seen on the iPhone 15. It’d make the design look more similar to the iPhone 12, but there’s a bigger reason this may happen beyond simple aesthetics.
A vertical camera layout like this would allow the phones to more easily shoot spatial video, using information from both cameras to create a 3D-like effect. It’d make sense, as Apple brought spatial video shooting to the iPhone 15 Pro range, but not to the base iPhone 15 models, likely due to the camera layout.
Spatial videos could be viewed properly on the Apple Vision Pro headset.
While spatial videos look just like regular 2D videos when played on your iPhone, they’re designed to give a 3D effect when viewed on Apple’s Vision Pro headset.
Other things we want to see
iPhone footage recorded in the Log color space has to be edited on computers or the iPad. It would be good to see more options for processing this footage on the iPhone itself.
While Apple talked a lot about AI at its WWDC event, it didn’t really talk about ways that might extend to image taking. The iPhone’s camera already uses AI to varying degrees in its computational photography, skin tone reproduction, depth mapping and even down to the auto settings it uses when taking an image.
Read more: Apple iPhone 16 Plus Leaks Hint at Compact Battery, More Colors
Deeper AI would allow for better scene recognition and therefore better use of settings and processing to take nicer-looking images. I’ve also been impressed at the AI object removal seen on the Google Pixel range and we may see similar AI-based editing tools on the next iPhone.
Speaking of editing, Apple may introduce more ways to edit video on the phone, in particular when shooting using Log on the 15 Pro and Pro Max. Log video is designed to look flat and gray when shot as it gives a better base for editing and adding color and contrast back in later.
Right now you have to transfer that footage to an iPad or computer to edit your Log videos in software like BlackMagic’s DaVinci Resolve, so it’d be good to see Apple introduce more ways to process Log footage on the phone. Perhaps even to introduce its own range of “LUTs” — presets used to quickly apply color and contrast to videos — into the iPhone’s edit tools.
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
