iPhone 14 - rumored 48MP wide camera

[Cmaier]

iPhone 14 design to feature even larger camera bump - 9to5Mac

Apple is doubling down on the camera bump with the iPhone 14 design. The camera bump will reportedly get even bigger thanks to a new sensor..

9to5mac.com

According to Kuo, the 14 will have a bigger camera bump due to a 48MP sensor on the wide camera. Increasing the megapixels ordinarily would be a wash, but I assume this means they are also increasing the size of the sensor. And since the image from the wide lens is used computationally when forming images from the other sensor(s?), having more megapixels to work with should increase the performance of the other lenses too, I’d imagine.

That said, a pill-shaped hole to replace the notch and another camera upgrade might not make for much of an upgrade over the 13’s unless there’s more.

Sounds like iPhone 15 will be the big jump, with periscope lenses to eliminate the camera bump, and under screen faceID to eliminate the notch.

 

[Runs For Fun]

iPhone 14 design to feature even larger camera bump - 9to5Mac

Apple is doubling down on the camera bump with the iPhone 14 design. The camera bump will reportedly get even bigger thanks to a new sensor..

9to5mac.com

According to Kuo, the 14 will have a bigger camera bump due to a 48MP sensor on the wide camera. Increasing the megapixels ordinarily would be a wash, but I assume this means they are also increasing the size of the sensor. And since the image from the wide lens is used computationally when forming images from the other sensor(s?), having more megapixels to work with should increase the performance of the other lenses too, I’d imagine.

That said, a pill-shaped hole to replace the notch and another camera upgrade might not make for much of an upgrade over the 13’s unless there’s more.

Sounds like iPhone 15 will be the big jump, with periscope lenses to eliminate the camera bump, and under screen faceID to eliminate the notch.

Would they switch to a pill-hole just for one generation though? Apple seem to like to stick to a design for a while.

 

[Cmaier]

Would they switch to a pill-hole just for one generation though? Apple seem to like to stick to a design for a while.

Hard to say. But I think they are bifurcating the Pro from the regular phones going forward. So this year’s pro may have pill and A16, while the regular iPhone 14 sticks with A15 (and maybe notch?). Then iPhone 15 Pro gets under-screen faceid and iPhone 15 gets the pill?

 

[Runs For Fun]

Hard to say. But I think they are bifurcating the Pro from the regular phones going forward. So this year’s pro may have pill and A16, while the regular iPhone 14 sticks with A15 (and maybe notch?). Then iPhone 15 Pro gets under-screen faceid and iPhone 15 gets the pill?

Good point. It would be nice to see them differentiate between the regular and the Pro line more.

 

[Eric]

iPhone 14 design to feature even larger camera bump - 9to5Mac

Apple is doubling down on the camera bump with the iPhone 14 design. The camera bump will reportedly get even bigger thanks to a new sensor..

9to5mac.com

According to Kuo, the 14 will have a bigger camera bump due to a 48MP sensor on the wide camera. Increasing the megapixels ordinarily would be a wash, but I assume this means they are also increasing the size of the sensor. And since the image from the wide lens is used computationally when forming images from the other sensor(s?), having more megapixels to work with should increase the performance of the other lenses too, I’d imagine.

That said, a pill-shaped hole to replace the notch and another camera upgrade might not make for much of an upgrade over the 13’s unless there’s more.

Sounds like iPhone 15 will be the big jump, with periscope lenses to eliminate the camera bump, and under screen faceID to eliminate the notch.

That has always been a drawback, I'll claim ignorance to how they'll fit a true CMOS sensor that size into but it can't be easy. The 42 for my Sony AR7III is on a Full frame sensor with dimensions of 35.9 x 24 mm and sensor area of 861.60mm2. I'm guessing it'll still be cropped but who knows.

 

[Cmaier]

That has always been a drawback, I'll claim ignorance to how they'll fit a true CMOS sensor that size into but it can't be easy. The 42 for my Sony AR7III is on a Full frame sensor with dimensions of 35.9 x 24 mm and sensor area of 861.60mm2. I'm guessing it'll still be cropped but who knows.

I think the current 12MP sensor is around 44mm^2. So tiny. The fact that the thickness of the bump is increasing tells me they are increasing the are somewhat, but it will still be tiny compared to what you get in a ”real” camera. On the other hand, there are multiple sensors that are computationally combined, which increases the effective sensor size, at least for part of the frame. But unless you increase the size of the box a lot, there will always be a place for stand-alone cameras.

 

[Cmaier]

So I take it what we’ll see is:

	iPhone	iPhone Pro
2022	Notch 12MP wide camera A15 (maybe variant)	Pill/hole cutouts 48MP wide camera A16
2023	Pill/hole cutouts A16 48MP wide camera?	Under-screen face ID A17 Periscope lens/no camera bump

 

[Citysnaps]

Interesting. I assume they'd still automatically pixel-bin 48MP down to 12MP for low light situations to reduce pixel noise. Starting with a physically larger sensor I think would end up being a plus in those situations.

 

[Cmaier]

Interesting. I assume they'd still automatically pixel-bin 48MP down to 12MP for low light situations to reduce pixel noise. Starting with a physically larger sensor I think would end up being a plus in those situations.

I assume so - they probably also combine information from the other sensors.

 

[Citysnaps]

I assume so - they probably also combine information from the other sensors.

I think there's got to be some serious voodoo going on to make that reliable and work well. Looking at the back of my three sensor iPhone 12, I'm guessing each sensor would be sampled multiple times, and then an algorithm would align, weight, and average them onto a final image map determined by the desired focal length. Or something like that (with heavy emphasis on "something")

 

[Eric]

I think there's got to be some serious voodoo going on to make that reliable and work well. Looking at the back of my three sensor iPhone 12, I'm guessing each sensor would be sampled multiple times, and then an algorithm would align, weight, and average them onto a final image map determined by the desired focal length. Or something like that (with heavy emphasis on "something")

In the end, no matter how many cool features or sensors they add it will always lack in reach/glass without a physical addition. If you're a photographer trying to break away from the millions of other (mostly great quality) photos taken by mobile devices it's nearly impossible. A great lens gives you the ability to set yourself apart.

 

[Nycturne]

In the end, no matter how many cool features or sensors they add it will always lack in reach/glass without a physical addition. If you're a photographer trying to break away from the millions of other (mostly great quality) photos taken by mobile devices it's nearly impossible. A great lens gives you the ability to set yourself apart.

Agreed. It's really hard to beat good, fast glass, and a large pixel pitch and all the compositional flexibility it gives you. I've still yet to be properly impressed with the simulated DOF and low light capabilities in smartphones.

 

[Citysnaps]

In the end, no matter how many cool features or sensors they add it will always lack in reach/glass without a physical addition. If you're a photographer trying to break away from the millions of other (mostly great quality) photos taken by mobile devices it's nearly impossible. A great lens gives you the ability to set yourself apart.

I don't believe camera gear sets photographers apart; though perhaps it can play a small roll.

For me…and not having picked up my dSLRs and mirrorless cams and nice lenses since 2014, I’ve been a happy snapper with various iPhones. That’s all I need for what I like to make photos of. But I'm not trying set myself apart from anybody.

If I were a wedding photographer, or wanted to shoot pro sports, auto racing, birds-in-flight, wildlife in Africa, etc, then of course that would be different.

I still have a lot to learn about *making* photographs, and for the most part, for my needs, that isn’t driven by camera gear. Right now a phone cam is the right tool (for me). Different stokes for different folks.

 

[Roller]

I don't believe camera gear sets photographers apart; though perhaps it can play a small roll.

For me…and not having picked up my dSLRs and mirrorless cams and nice lenses since 2014, I’ve been a happy snapper with various iPhones. That’s all I need for what I like to make photos of. But I'm not trying set myself apart from anybody.

If I were a wedding photographer, or wanted to shoot pro sports, auto racing, birds-in-flight, wildlife in Africa, etc, then of course that would be different.

I still have a lot to learn about *making* photographs, and for the most part, for my needs, that isn’t driven by camera gear. Right now a phone cam is the right tool (for me). Different stokes for different folks.

I agree with you. There are DSLR capabilities that smartphone cameras may never duplicate, though they’ve certainly come far since the first iPhone.

I’m only an amateur photographer, but my misses have rarely been due to limitations of my equipment - they’ve resulted from my inability to get the right subject, composition, or lighting.

 

[Nycturne]

I generally agree that tools are only as good as the person holding them. I also agree that there’s a much smaller niche for DSLRs and the like because of smartphones, and I’m honestly surprised there is still any market for P&S digital cameras. But at least in my experience, there’s still quite a bit of ground in terms of the capabilities of the sensors and glass itself that feels akin to woodworking with just unpowered hand tools, or also having a good set of power tools. You can leverage more lighting situations, and more compositions and be successful.

An example is a low light photo I took a few years back. Our recently adopted cat wanted to sit in new Christmas lights while I was testing them, so I took out my iPhone X which Apple was touting for its low light capability at the time. I didn’t know if she was going to move, so I didn’t think I had time to get my other camera. Wasn’t happy with what the settings were providing. Grabbed my A7R anyways which was 2-3 years older than the iPhone X, with an old Minolta manual lens from the 80s, and was able to get another photo. The A7R was never really considered a “great” low light DSLR compared to the A7, because of the high resolution, but it still worked like a charm here.

Huge difference. The iPhone X shot applied aggressive noise reduction which removed the fur details, resolving them as smears. Color problems where the lights themselves are too saturated, while the white balance as a whole desaturated the carpet and the lighting highlights on the subject, and made the orange lights red. These things are, at best, difficult to fix in post. The depth of field is also drastically different. The background on the A7R shot is handled better with fairly clean bokeh that helps keep focus on the subject, and is difficult to recreate on such a small sensor like the ones used on smartphones. In terms of which one captured what it looked like in real life, the iPhone wasn’t even close in this example.

Do I think this is an example of how everyone should be using DSLRs and mirrorless cameras instead? No. But it is more meant to be illustrative of the difficulties of truly replacing dedicated camera gear. But I’d argue most people don’t need dedicated camera gear these days. Folks who did good work with Instamatics and other rangefinder cameras will do good work on smartphone cameras. Folks who learned on the F-1 and similar cameras could find smartphone cameras a little lacking though. Neither side is necessarily wrong, IMO.

(Edit: the difference in the sharpness is more stark in the non-resized images. Resizing them for the forum softened the A7R shot noticeably)

 

[Citysnaps]

I generally agree that tools are only as good as the person holding them. I also agree that there’s a much smaller niche for DSLRs and the like because of smartphones, and I’m honestly surprised there is still any market for P&S digital cameras. But at least in my experience, there’s still quite a bit of ground in terms of the capabilities of the sensors and glass itself that feels akin to woodworking with just unpowered hand tools, or also having a good set of power tools. You can leverage more lighting situations, and more compositions and be successful. ...

No argument at all on everything you said in your post. It’s a right tool for the job kind of thing. Like woodworking as you mentioned, which is something else I like to do.

Over time I’ve just moved forward narrowing down what the right tool is for what I like to make photographs of; and that’s mostly people. I still have my Canon 6D and 35mm f/1.4 lens should I ever do another project of engaged street portraiture of strangers in San Francisco neighborhoods.

But for non-project related photos of people, either candids in their environment, or engaged portraits, my current iPhone works good enough. And it’s always with me. It’s been ten years since I’ve carried a bag with camera/lenses and going out for the purpose of making photographs. Now, no matter where I’m at or what I’m doing, if I see something interesting I can make a few photos. It’s very liberating.

Are my phone photos technically as good as those from my dSLR and 35mm f/1.4, especially shooting wide open? Of course not. But for me (I try to always use that conditional), most of the time the strength of a photo has little to do with gear. Outside of shooting at night or professional endeavors, of course.

Here’s one example. Four or so years ago I was at Ocean Beach in San Francisco just hanging around with no intention of making photos that day. The tide was low and there was an interesting arrangement of people that I thought would make a pleasing photo. So I made one with my iPhone X, and then made a print 13 x18 when I got home. If I happened to have and instead used my dSLR, you’d see very little difference without a magnifying glass.

For the most part I like talking about photos, how they were made, and projects. Not so much about gear, though being in tech that’s sometimes interesting from a technology perspective.

 

[Clix Pix]

That is a VERY pleasing image -- a stunner! And you are right that in most situations it's not the gear that makes or breaks the potential of an image -- it's the photographer.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I had a Canon 40d back in the day - took some 20-30k photos on that thing with a tamron 18-250mm. Then, once the 6+ came out, I started leaving my DSLR behind and just using my iPhone. I stopped taking tons of photos and just shot for fun - and only used my iPhone.

My wife is heavily into birding so we recently got her a Canon Rebel T7 with the 75-300mm lens. (Eventually we'll save up for the Tamron 18-400mm). This helps a lot trying to get birds that are often far away.

But for everything else, my iPhone 13 PM has been absolutely amazing. From the 12PM to 13PM - shots look like I could reach my hand through the screen realistic. This is pretty much the only reason why I'll upgrade my iPhone (better camera).

I know more MP usually means more noise. Going to be fun!

 

[Citysnaps]

That is a VERY pleasing image -- a stunner! And you are right that in most situations it's not the gear that makes or breaks the potential of an image -- it's the photographer.

Thanks - I appreciate it!

Here's what it looks like after framing. I made this particular frame out of Maple and Cherry hardwoods in my shop.

 

[Cmaier]

So I take it what we’ll see is:

	iPhone	iPhone Pro
2022	Notch 12MP wide camera A15 (maybe variant)	Pill/hole cutouts 48MP wide camera A16
2023	Pill/hole cutouts A16 48MP wide camera?	Under-screen face ID A17 Periscope lens/no camera bump

Glad I didn’t include under-screen touchID in my chart:

Touch ID won't be under the screen in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16, Kuo says | AppleInsider

Apple won't release a new iPhone model with under-display Touch ID until 2025 at the earliest, according to well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

appleinsider.com