Base iPhone 15 models will get 48 megapixel cameras, says Kuo

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited July 2023

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the forthcoming iPhone 15 will get a 48mp wide angle lens, and that Apple's orders for it mean manufacturer Sony is having to cut back on sales to Android firms.

iPhone 14 Pro camera bump
iPhone 14 Pro camera bump



Kuo says specifically that the base or "standard models" of the iPhone 15 range will get this new camera. That partly backs up recent rumors that the whole range will be upgraded to 48mp, but Kuo does not mention the iPhone 15 Pro models -- given that the iPhone 14 Pro already has them, most likely.

iPhone 15CIS48MP

Will Semi is the indirect biggest beneficiary of the upgrade of the wide camera CIS of two iPhone 15 standard versions to 48MP. The cooperation between Smartsens and Huawei will

-- (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo)



"The wide camera CIS [Contact Image Sensors] of the two iPhone 15 standard models will be upgraded to 48MP and adopt a new stacked CIS design," writes Kuo in his full report on Medium.

Sony is producing the camera lens and as previously reported, is having difficulties with manufacturing the volumes needed.



"Due to the low yield rate, Sony has increased the CIS production capacity for Apple by 100-120% to meet Apple's demand," continues Kuo, "resulting in a significant reduction in high-end CIS supply for Android."

Kuo further says that it's not only Sony's production capacity that is being stretched by Apple orders, but so its R&D resources. He expects that to have an impact on Android manufacturers, and consequently on Sony's rivals in the field.

There may also be an impact on Apple, however. Recently it was reported that issues with the 48mp camera could cause production delays.


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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 29
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,681member
    Mega is M, milli is m.

    Yeah, I know what you meant, but standards are standards,
    BiCCwilliamlondondewmeAlex1Njbirdiikun
  • Reply 2 of 29
    accsmobiaccsmobi Posts: 10member
    This weird obssesion,this fetish with bigger and bigger cameras on phones, with truckloads of megapixels,just to take a pic of your cat,or a sloppy selfie, is getting out of hand already . 

    The camera on the original iPhone SE was more than enough. But nooo,snob teenagers want moar ,moar! 
    williamlondondewmeAlex1N
  • Reply 3 of 29
    BiCCBiCC Posts: 59
    eriamjh said:
    Mega is M, milli is m.

    Yeah, I know what you meant, but standards are standards,

    Hahahaha!! That's a funny one, standards are standards, no room for argument in that one!
    williamlondon
  • Reply 4 of 29
    libertyandfreelibertyandfree Posts: 175member
    accsmobi said:
    This weird obssesion,this fetish with bigger and bigger cameras on phones, with truckloads of megapixels,just to take a pic of your cat,or a sloppy selfie, is getting out of hand already . 

    The camera on the original iPhone SE was more than enough. But nooo,snob teenagers want moar ,moar! 
    Wow you must joking.  I am not a teenager nor millennial and I definitely want better iPhone cameras.  Ideal situation is to have an 6-8x zoom with great low light sensitivity and high pixel density that can replace my stand alone Sony alpha camera.  I know we are still a few generations away from this but I suspect we will get there.  
    muthuk_vanalingamgrandact73williamlondonking editor the grateAlex1N
  • Reply 5 of 29
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,543member
    accsmobi said:
    This weird obssesion,this fetish with bigger and bigger cameras on phones, with truckloads of megapixels,just to take a pic of your cat,or a sloppy selfie, is getting out of hand already . 

    The camera on the original iPhone SE was more than enough. But nooo,snob teenagers want moar ,moar! 
    With respect, I disagree. The quality of photos from an iPhone really started being "good" from around the iPhone 6S and up, at least in my opinion. I have taken thousands of photos of my children growing up and of course I'll continue to take thousands more.

    In the future, when I look back, I'll appreciate the extra quality that I got with each upgrade (roughly every 4 years for me). Comparing the pictures from my iPhone 4S to my iPhone 14 Pro Max is simply a night and day difference. Yes, the original iPhone SE had a pretty decent camera. But it cannot hold a candle to my current phone.
    edited July 2023 muthuk_vanalingamgrandact73williamlondoncaladanianking editor the grateAlex1N
  • Reply 6 of 29
    M68000M68000 Posts: 777member
    I’m more interested in what this means for storage being taken up on the phone.  Will we see ios giving more options to change the resolution which affects storage?  
    Alex1N
  • Reply 7 of 29
    jbtuckrjbtuckr Posts: 28member
    I'm just hoping they finally introduce the option to take a non-RAW 48mp image. I have thousands of raw 48mp images that I wish weren't all 100mb each. 

    It's also weird that they didn't include this even with iOS 17. To get a 48mp image to not be raw, I have to send it in iMessage and save it (it becomes regular, and 20mb)
    edited July 2023 williamlondonAlex1N
  • Reply 8 of 29
    accsmobiaccsmobi Posts: 10member
    saarek said:
    accsmobi said:
    This weird obssesion,this fetish with bigger and bigger cameras on phones, with truckloads of megapixels,just to take a pic of your cat,or a sloppy selfie, is getting out of hand already . 

    The camera on the original iPhone SE was more than enough. But nooo,snob teenagers want moar ,moar! 
    With respect, I disagree. The quality of photos from an iPhone really started being "good" from around the iPhone 6S and up, at least in my opinion. I have taken thousands of photos of my children growing up and of course I'll continue to take thousands more.

    In the future, when I look back, I'll appreciate the extra quality that I got with each upgrade (roughly every 4 years for me). Comparing the pictures from my iPhone 4S to my iPhone 14 Pro Max is simply a night and day difference. Yes, the original iPhone SE had a pretty decent camera. But it cannot hold a candle to my current phone.
    Well,ofc its a big difference ,those devices are many years apart. What I meant is that imo,the cameras became sufficient years ago,for our ocasional cat,Dog,child,tree,selfie photos . 

    If I need more professional,I still have a Canon nearby . I want my phone to be slim,suple,with amazing battery,lightweight. Not covered on cameras and punch holes. 

    Smartphones should be in essence ,mini portable computers. How many laptops or iPad/tablets have you seen with 3,4,5 cameras ? 

    Still I got myself a Pro Max, cause I like the quality and the ecosystem. But its bulky and heavy . 
    williamlondondewmeAlex1Njbirdiikun
  • Reply 9 of 29
    accsmobiaccsmobi Posts: 10member
    @saarek , with respect too .  I forgot to add it . I do appreciate a polite civilised dialogue .:D 
    williamlondonAlex1N
  • Reply 10 of 29
    king editor the grateking editor the grate Posts: 655member
    accsmobi said:
    This weird obssesion,this fetish with bigger and bigger cameras on phones, with truckloads of megapixels,just to take a pic of your cat,or a sloppy selfie, is getting out of hand already . 

    The camera on the original iPhone SE was more than enough. But nooo,snob teenagers want moar ,moar! 
    Phone is my sole camera for my weekly paper. I’m upgrading every two years and would enjoy better zoom, better low-light quality, RAW burst mode.
    williamlondonAlex1N
  • Reply 11 of 29
    longfanglongfang Posts: 489member
    accsmobi said:
    saarek said:
    accsmobi said:
    This weird obssesion,this fetish with bigger and bigger cameras on phones, with truckloads of megapixels,just to take a pic of your cat,or a sloppy selfie, is getting out of hand already . 

    The camera on the original iPhone SE was more than enough. But nooo,snob teenagers want moar ,moar! 
    With respect, I disagree. The quality of photos from an iPhone really started being "good" from around the iPhone 6S and up, at least in my opinion. I have taken thousands of photos of my children growing up and of course I'll continue to take thousands more.

    In the future, when I look back, I'll appreciate the extra quality that I got with each upgrade (roughly every 4 years for me). Comparing the pictures from my iPhone 4S to my iPhone 14 Pro Max is simply a night and day difference. Yes, the original iPhone SE had a pretty decent camera. But it cannot hold a candle to my current phone.
    Well,ofc its a big difference ,those devices are many years apart. What I meant is that imo,the cameras became sufficient years ago,for our ocasional cat,Dog,child,tree,selfie photos . 

    If I need more professional,I still have a Canon nearby . I want my phone to be slim,suple,with amazing battery,lightweight. Not covered on cameras and punch holes. 

    Smartphones should be in essence ,mini portable computers. How many laptops or iPad/tablets have you seen with 3,4,5 cameras ? 

    Still I got myself a Pro Max, cause I like the quality and the ecosystem. But its bulky and heavy . 
    Are you suggesting that the cameras should not be improved then? That’s very luddite of you. 
    king editor the gratewilliamlondon
  • Reply 12 of 29
    pulseimagespulseimages Posts: 618member
    accsmobi said:
    This weird obssesion,this fetish with bigger and bigger cameras on phones, with truckloads of megapixels,just to take a pic of your cat,or a sloppy selfie, is getting out of hand already . 

    The camera on the original iPhone SE was more than enough. But nooo,snob teenagers want moar ,moar! 
    You’re kidding right? Apple would like nothing more than to offer the convenience of a real camera in your pocket. 
    king editor the gratewilliamlondonAlex1N
  • Reply 13 of 29
    WolflowWolflow Posts: 9member
    Better zoom functionality and no cameras sticking out would be nice
    king editor the gratewilliamlondonjbirdiikun
  • Reply 14 of 29
    AppleZuluAppleZulu Posts: 2,076member
    Wolflow said:
    Better zoom functionality and no cameras sticking out would be nice
    The one thing iPhone cameras can’t do is ‘zoom.’ The two things you’re asking for here are, in effect, mutually exclusive. 

    Look at a zoom lens on a ‘real’ camera. It’s long, and most get even longer as you zoom in.  This is because of the physical laws of light and how lenses work. Zoom lenses actually contain multiple stacked lenses in a cylinder, and zooming in involves increasing the distance between those lenses. Getting a sharp zoomed-in image requires a very complex series of lenses to capture, bend and refocus light. That’s why such lenses on ‘real’ cameras can cost thousands of dollars. 

    Even with the little bump-outs making them thicker, iPhone lenses are stationary and don’t have room to physically do the things that a long zoom lens can do. So zooming in on an iPhone is accomplished two ways. First, they use computational trickery to switch between the two or three lenses on your phone, which are fixed at wide, medium and telephoto. The iPhone can also combine images from those lenses to get some in-between effect. 

    The second way zoom is accomplished with these fixed lenses is simply by cropping images as they’re captured. This process quickly degrades image quality, because it’s effectively ‘blowing up’ and using fewer and fewer of the pixels from the center of the image. 

    This is a primary reason for increasing the ‘megapixels’ of the iPhone cameras’ sensors, because it increases the number of pixels available in the cropping process of digital zoom. The tiny size of the sensor and physical limitations of the lenses makes the increasing of megapixels a thing of diminishing return, however. 

    One thing on the horizon is the talk of ‘periscope’ lenses. The purpose of this would be to somewhat overcome the limitation of the very limited thickness of lenses you can put in a phone, even with the bump-outs currently used. Periscope lenses would use a prism to bend light 90° and send it down a longer chamber carved out inside the body of the phone. The image sensor would be at the end of that chamber, with other lenses inside the chamber, potentially moving around to carry out the optical functions of a proper zoom lens. The tiny space available in the thin phone body would still be very limiting to such an arrangement, which would explain why periscope lenses are long-rumored but still not available. 
    king editor the grateAlex1N
  • Reply 15 of 29
    SkepticalSkeptical Posts: 183member
    jbtuckr said:
    I'm just hoping they finally introduce the option to take a non-RAW 48mp image. I have thousands of raw 48mp images that I wish weren't all 100mb each. 

    It's also weird that they didn't include this even with iOS 17. To get a 48mp image to not be raw, I have to send it in iMessage and save it (it becomes regular, and 20mb)
    Uh just turn off RAW. It’s not that hard. 
    williamlondonAlex1N
  • Reply 16 of 29
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,543member
    accsmobi said:
    saarek said:
    accsmobi said:
    This weird obssesion,this fetish with bigger and bigger cameras on phones, with truckloads of megapixels,just to take a pic of your cat,or a sloppy selfie, is getting out of hand already . 

    The camera on the original iPhone SE was more than enough. But nooo,snob teenagers want moar ,moar! 
    With respect, I disagree. The quality of photos from an iPhone really started being "good" from around the iPhone 6S and up, at least in my opinion. I have taken thousands of photos of my children growing up and of course I'll continue to take thousands more.

    In the future, when I look back, I'll appreciate the extra quality that I got with each upgrade (roughly every 4 years for me). Comparing the pictures from my iPhone 4S to my iPhone 14 Pro Max is simply a night and day difference. Yes, the original iPhone SE had a pretty decent camera. But it cannot hold a candle to my current phone.
    Well,ofc its a big difference ,those devices are many years apart. What I meant is that imo,the cameras became sufficient years ago,for our ocasional cat,Dog,child,tree,selfie photos . 

    If I need more professional,I still have a Canon nearby . I want my phone to be slim,suple,with amazing battery,lightweight. Not covered on cameras and punch holes. 

    Smartphones should be in essence ,mini portable computers. How many laptops or iPad/tablets have you seen with 3,4,5 cameras ? 

    Still I got myself a Pro Max, cause I like the quality and the ecosystem. But it’s bulky and heavy . 
    Ideally I’d like iPhone 14 Pro Max camera quality with no camera bump at all.

    But I have to accept that it’s simply not technically possible, well, at least for the moment.

    I’m sure that many would happily take a more basic camera, say iPhone X quality in such a body. But I know that I’d opt for the better quality photo model because the memories that are created are more important to me and I want them in the best quality possible.
  • Reply 17 of 29
    boboliciousbobolicious Posts: 1,153member
    Hopefully the revised UWA will be sharp enough to warrant 48mp...
    Alex1N
  • Reply 18 of 29
    accsmobiaccsmobi Posts: 10member
    longfang said:
    accsmobi said:
    saarek said:
    accsmobi said:
    This weird obssesion,this fetish with bigger and bigger cameras on phones, with truckloads of megapixels,just to take a pic of your cat,or a sloppy selfie, is getting out of hand already . 

    The camera on the original iPhone SE was more than enough. But nooo,snob teenagers want moar ,moar! 
    With respect, I disagree. The quality of photos from an iPhone really started being "good" from around the iPhone 6S and up, at least in my opinion. I have taken thousands of photos of my children growing up and of course I'll continue to take thousands more.

    In the future, when I look back, I'll appreciate the extra quality that I got with each upgrade (roughly every 4 years for me). Comparing the pictures from my iPhone 4S to my iPhone 14 Pro Max is simply a night and day difference. Yes, the original iPhone SE had a pretty decent camera. But it cannot hold a candle to my current phone.
    Well,ofc its a big difference ,those devices are many years apart. What I meant is that imo,the cameras became sufficient years ago,for our ocasional cat,Dog,child,tree,selfie photos . 

    If I need more professional,I still have a Canon nearby . I want my phone to be slim,suple,with amazing battery,lightweight. Not covered on cameras and punch holes. 

    Smartphones should be in essence ,mini portable computers. How many laptops or iPad/tablets have you seen with 3,4,5 cameras ? 

    Still I got myself a Pro Max, cause I like the quality and the ecosystem. But its bulky and heavy . 
    Are you suggesting that the cameras should not be improved then? That’s very luddite of you. 
    No,I’m suggesting there are too many . One camera should be enough. Its a smartphone not a pro camera . Unfortunatelly ,Apple fell for the Droid’s madness ,having one camera for each type of activity one might have. 

    Thats just resources wasted ,when they Could be used in researching battery tech, or some other ESSENTIAL and in need of inprovement technology. 


  • Reply 19 of 29
    doggonedoggone Posts: 386member
    At what point is there enough pixels in an image?  Can we see any difference?  Files sizes are getting so large it is hard to manage.  
  • Reply 20 of 29
    oberpongooberpongo Posts: 184member
    With 48mp on the low end iPhone what will be the differentiator for the 15 pro?
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