Apple Reportedly Using New Method to Assemble iPhone Cameras in Effort to Save Costs

Apple is reportedly changing up the way it produces camera modules for its iPhone, now opting to individually produce each of the camera lenses separately, rather than procure them together and have them pre-assembled, according to a report from The Elec.

iPhone 12 cameras
The report notes that up to last year, Apple's ‌iPhone‌ camera lenses were produced by its suppliers LG InnoTek, Sharp, and O'Film. The lenses were "pre-assembled." Now, Apple is consolidating the production of its camera modules to its largest supplier, Foxconn, to save costs.

Up to last year, Apple has procured double and triple camera modules from its suppliers LG InnoTek, Sharp, and O'Film that are pre-assembled.

But it is now procuring these camera modules individually and gave the job of assembly to Foxconn. The measure is being done to save cost.

Foxconn, in preparation for its new camera assembly responsibility, has received new inspection equipment from the South Korean firm Hyvision System. The new system will check whether the wide, Ultra Wide, and Telephoto cameras' lenses, including their optical axis and image sensors, are correctly aligned on higher-end ‌iPhone‌ models. An incorrect alignment could result in drastically reduced image quality.

The new changes are being done to "save costs," but it remains unclear if those savings would be presented to customers. It's also unclear whether the new production methodology and Foxconn's role in camera assembly will be in practice for the upcoming ‌iPhone‌ 13. Given that the new iPhones are already in production, that's unlikely to be the case.

Popular Stories

M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
iphone air thickness

Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales

Friday October 17, 2025 8:29 am PDT by
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec). The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New 14-Inch MacBook Pro Has Two Key Upgrades Beyond the M5 Chip

Thursday October 16, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump. First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
MacBook Pro M5 Screen

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store. In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon

Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released by the end of next week. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...

Top Rated Comments

yellowbunny Avatar
55 months ago
“it remains unclear if those savings would be presented to customers” lol
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
55 months ago
We already got those savings last year when Apple deleted the power adapter and EarPods.

iPhone 12 is $829, up from the $699 iPhone 11.

Oh wait.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JonR356 Avatar
55 months ago
I can't imagine that any cost savings would be passed onto consumers. Apple is already anticipating supply constraints.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
1BadManVan Avatar
55 months ago
Interesting. Hope it’s not at risk of any quality control though. Not like this company doesn’t already rake in enough profits
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
saudor Avatar
55 months ago

Just raise the prices of the iPhone, Apple. I’m willing to pay whatever price you decide to put out there.

The periscope camera in 2022 is not going to be cheap. It looks like a very complicated design as is.

Just take my a** already! My hole is ready for you, Apple
ladies and gents, this is why we end up with $300 keyboards with no function keys and poor writing experience!
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mrjetsondc Avatar
55 months ago
I don’t understand any of this but I still would like to comment. Thank you for reading.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)