iPhone 18 Pro expected to have a variable aperture camera system
Apple's rumored iPhone 18 Pro camera update has surfaced again, with the use of a variable aperture wide-angle lens expected to offer improved depth of field effects in photography.
The rear cameras of a Pro-tier iPhone
The iPhone 17 was rumored in July to gain a variable aperture system, which can change the way photographers use an iPhone for shooting images. Now, an analyst has doubled down on his own claim that it is a feature expected for the iPhone 18 Pro.
In a Monday post by TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo covering multiple Apple rumors, Kuo slips in a small element about the iPhone 18 Pro. It is declared that the iPhone 18 Pro's wide camera will be upgraded to use a variable aperture in 2026.
The reason for the reference is because the article discusses BE Semiconductor, a supplier of assembly equipment. Some hardware it supplies is used to make aperture blades, a key part to enable a variable aperture in an iPhone camera module.
This is not the first time Kuo has talked about variable apertures in the iPhone 18 generation. A November posting by Kuo was based on his own industry sources, with the aperture able to "significantly improve the user's photography experience."
Variable aperture's benefits
Current smartphone photography relies on a fixed aperture, namely a defined size of hole for light to pass through between the lenses and the sensor. In an iPhone, the aperture is fixed, simply because using aperture blades to resize the hole and actuators to move those blades can take up valuable space.
A variable aperture system can make the aperture bigger and smaller, which affects the amount of light hitting the sensor. This can force other parts of the exposure triangle to change, such as increasing the amount of time it takes for the shot to be actually taken, so that enough light is captured.
The result of changing the size of the aperture is the ability to change the visible depth of field. By making the aperture larger, that could force the depth of field effect to be narrower, introducing the blurry bokeh in the background behind the subject.
Current iPhone photographers will be aware of the Portrait Mode's depth of field adjustment system, which does so computationally. It takes a sharp image, detects the subject, then simulates bokeh blur in the background elements to fake the effect.
With a variable aperture, users who want the real thing can actually get it without any post-processing assistance.
Rumor Score: Possible
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Comments
Instead of Apple reminding itself that the reason people buy phones is to make phone calls and send text messages. The phone call quality is good in most cases. The texting is horrible, horrible, horrible.
It is nigh impossible to write a text message without making some stupid, embarrassing mistake and when you attempt to go back and fix it you get stepped over by that dumb auto-correct. So say you are trying to type luv you. You get lettuce. How dumb is that?
But hey, camera, camera, camera we are all wanting to become professional photographers and movie directors.
Without the great visionary Steve Jobs Apple has lost its way and is eating the fruits of the tree that he created.
Ironically I was watching a demo that Steve did years ago, prophetic words: 'we don't create the technology and then try to find the market, but the other way around, we find out what people want and then create the best tech we can'.
Words to live by. Recently I read an article on this forum that the site where Steve Jobs demoed the first Mac has been turned into rubble. May I add that his great vision and mission statement for Apple has also been razed in the interest of $$$.
Great example, the Vision Pro. Nobody in their right mind wanted or asked for that. So Apple spent billions creating a device that no one wants or asked for and now they are trying to shoe horn it into the market. Precisely the opposite of what Steve said all those years ago.
Apple is the world's most valuable and admired company today for a long list of products and developments having nothing to do with Steve. Chief among them is the Services Division, now the 2nd highest revenue generator for Apple after iPhone and--most importantly--the fastest growing and most profitable segment for Apple BY FAR. Services now equals one half of iPhone's gross revenue, but... Services gross revenue is growing SIXTY TIMES faster than iPhone: 12% annually vs. 2/10ths of 1%. Services gross margin is also about 80% higher than iPhone gross margin: 74% vs. 42%. Do the math. Apple would be in terrible shape right now if it were relying on the products that were created under Steve--essentially, there would be little to no growth and little prospect for growth. Thanks to Tim, it has Services, Wearables and Apple Silicon that are powering an enormous amount of profitability now and a bright future for the company.
But in your limited understanding you equal revenue = visionary products that change the way we live and communicate: iPhone, iPad the Mac.
All that Cook & Co. are doing is reaping the seeds he sawed. But that can only go so far. What's next iPad 95, iPhone 101 etc. etc.
We need something groundbreaking. Not some dumbass Mixed Reality headset.
But you can't see that.
If Steve were at the helm we would have the next big thing. Not services. Apple is not a digital supermarket.
A variable aperture on an iPhone would go in the other direction, the one of a smaller aperture); a sharper image all around. But for what purpose? I don’t see it.
A smaller aperture also reduces the light reaching the sensor. This increases visible image noise. With a small sensor image noise is already an issue.
Perhaps, more important is "diffraction". This is an optical phenomenon that reduces overall sharpness. It becomes more pronounced with smaller aperture diameters. The iPhone wide angle camera already has a very small aperture diameter, thus further reductions will result in images which are visibly less sharp.
It is for the speed.
The apertures are already as large as can be practically made, so it is doubtful that a variable aperture will allow the lens to be faster.
It's worth remembering that some competing phones have had physical variable aperture for at least a couple of generations now.
It's obviously part of some of the flagship phones feature sets. It hit the general market in 2022. Before that there were other attempts to use variable aperture but without much success.
It's a nice feature to have but it's clear YMMV.
Re: Charlesn - mate you are just not getting the RAISON D'ÊTRE and uniqueness of Apple. According to your limited understanding Apple should stop innovating and inventing and pour all its trillions into creating a stock trading firm on Wall Street. How is that going to benefit us mere mortals who are always on the lookout for inspiring tech? Look around you. What great tech has been unleashed since the iPhone and Google search. Nothing. Nada.
HP once an innovative and inspiring company has now deteriorated into a printer company like Brother.
Google, aside from Search, has created nothing since. That leaves Apple. And hopes and Prayers.
Vision Pro is a multi-year effort that sold about 80%-90% of its production capacity in year one and gained 5% market share in the headset space despite a $3500 price tag. Apple is no stranger to having its products declared flops in their early lives--hey, no "serious" user was ever going to want a smartphone without a physical keyboard! And we know how that turned out. The Vision Pro and Vision OS have significant lives ahead of them as Apple continues to evolve both the hardware and software over time.