iPhone 18 could get Samsung's camera as benefit of Apple's US manufacturing push

AppleInsider

With Apple bringing more manufacturing to the U.S., a new report suggests the iPhone 18 camera could be a big beneficiary, getting Samsung's 200 megapixel cameras.

A render of a possible Copper-colored iPhone 17 Pro - Image Credit: AppleInsider

Apple announced Wednesday that it was making another $100 billion investment in manufacturing facilities in the United States. But the company stopped short of saying which components would be involved.

While Apple confirmed that it was working with Samsung to launch "innovative new technology for making chips," details were sparse. It only confirmed that the "facility will supply chips that optimize power and performance of Apple products, including iPhone devices shipped all over the world."

This isn't the first time that we've seen rumors of Samsung's involvement in iPhone camera tech. Reports had the company battling it out with Sony for Apple's iPhone 18 sensor business as far back as July 2024.

Now, a Korean report claims that Samsung will use the Austin plant to produce CMOS image sensors (CIS) for iPhones. Currently, Sony is the only supplier of such parts.

Citing unnamed sources, DealSite says that discussions between Apple and Samsung started in 2024, with the deal being concluded this year. Mass production is set to begin in March of 2026.

That timescale suggests that Apple is aiming to use Samsung CIS components in the iPhone 18 family of devices. If so, we can expect a huge increase in pixel count.

Samsung's own flagship phones sport 200-megapixel main cameras, compared to Apple's 48-megapixel shooters. Sony is reportedly hard at work on its own competing 200-megapixel sensors, but this report might suggest Apple's patience has run out.

As photographers will readily point out, more pixels don't always mean better photos. But there is no denying that Apple's 48-megapixel cameras are starting to lag.

As displays start to get bigger and better, images taken with higher-resolution cameras will look better than those taken with current iPhones. The same can also be said for images that are printed, too.

All of this will come too late for this year's iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro launches, of course. Apple's next iPhone release is expected to take place in September.

Rumor Score: Likely

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melgross

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying that I do NOT want a 200mp sensor in my phone. There is no point to that.

6ryph3n

At this point megapixels are nothing more than marketing and bragging rights. It will eat up more storage and serve no real purpose. I shoot professional photography at 40MP and even that is overkill. I hope they introduce a software solution limit file sizes. 

canucklehead

Absurd to include that. The 48mp sensor is already overkill. The priority should be to improve image quality. I'm always shocked at the amount of digital processing done in the images, likely due to the small sensor size combined with the high megapixels producing noise that is processed away digitally. The end result is less than impressive when you zoom in to see the detail. This is especially bad with the 12mp 5-25x optical zoom, to the point that I question whether or not it's actually optical zoom as advertised.  Fix these deficiencies first! I mean, wtf is going on with these letters and numbers?

edited August 8