Apple Starts Planning a Future iPhone's Cameras Around Three Years in Advance

Following the launch of the iPhone 13 models, Apple's vice president of camera hardware engineering Graham Townsend and vice president of camera software engineering Jon McCormack spoke with British GQ's Robert Leedham about iPhone cameras.

iPhone 13 Pro Light Blue Side Feature
Townsend revealed that Apple starts planning future iPhone camera systems about three years in advance of public availability, suggesting that the company began developing the camera systems on the iPhone 13 models as early as 2018.

"The planning has to start about three years ahead, because that's when we actually fix the specification of the silicon," says Townsend. "So, for instance, the sensor gets defined at that point and the A15 Bionic processor is also frozen. That's when we have to begin to talk with Jon and predict the experiences that we want. Obviously when we designed the new ultra-wide lens, we were going to deliver macro photos. But how is that going to work both in stills and video?"

All four iPhone 13 models feature a new Cinematic mode that lets users record video with a shallow depth of field and automatic focus changes between subjects, and McCormack reflected on the challenges of developing this feature.

"It was a long process with lots of windy roads, but like most profound things it takes a while," says McCormack. "We're not just looking at the depth of every single frame, but there's also this thing called temporal stability: as we move between frames with people moving, how do we make sure you don't end up with weird edges and stuff like that?"

The interview goes on to discuss Apple's environmental responsibility and emphasizes how far the iPhone camera has come over the years.

"We're not asking for the impossible, but we are asking that the camera achieves the best it can every year," says Townsend. "Over the past ten years we've seen a dramatic improvement, but there is no rest."

Townsend and McCormack also spoke with CNN Underscored's Jacob Krol, touching on the simplicity that Apple aims for with the iPhone camera:

"Long before you even hit the shutter, you just bring the camera up, we're looking at auto exposure, white balance, autofocus to make sure that we're getting all of the right information, raw information captured," Jon McCormack, VP of camera software engineering at Apple, tells us.

The Stalman Podcast also shared an interview with Townsend and McCormack.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
General Spotify Feature

Spotify Preparing to Launch Long-Awaited Lossless Audio Tier on iPhone

Thursday June 19, 2025 1:46 pm PDT by
Spotify appears to be gearing up to launch its long-awaited lossless music tier. Chris Messina (via TechCrunch) and Spicetify (via The Verge) spotted new lossless references within the code for Spotify's desktop app and web player. With assistance from Aaron Perris, MacRumors has confirmed that the latest beta of the Spotify app for the iPhone also contains new lossless-related code....
new iphone lockscreen ios 26

iOS 26: Five Changes Coming to Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday June 17, 2025 8:46 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has made some additions to the iPhone Lock Screen that aim to make it more customizable than ever. Of course, things can always change before the software makes its way to the general iPhone-owning public, but here are five new things iOS 26 can do on the Lock Screen as of the current developer beta. Widgets Top or Bottom In iOS 18, the row of widgets on your Lock...
Craig Federighi No

John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism

Wednesday June 18, 2025 8:10 pm PDT by
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Apple Says iOS 26 Won't Be Available on These iPhone Models

Tuesday June 10, 2025 6:58 am PDT by
Apple this week revealed that iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer. That means that iOS 18 is the end of the road for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, which were all released in 2018. However, those devices will continue to receive security updates for at least a few more years. iOS 26 is compatible with the following iPhone models: iPhone 16e iPhone...

Top Rated Comments

Jakewilk Avatar
49 months ago

Is design chosen 10 years in advance? I have been ready for something new the last 2 generations
We got an entirely new design last generation… What are you waiting for? A circular display?
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Unregistered 4U Avatar
49 months ago
Wait, everyone knows that Apple doesn’t make final decisions on what will be in an iPhone until a few days before their introduction! I’ve read a LOT of stories about things that Apple cuts at the last minute while still being able to procure parts, build and deliver millions and millions of phones within a week.

This is just someone attempting to undercut Apple’s well known miraculous abilities to produce devices with little to no lead time!

/s
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
satchmo Avatar
49 months ago

Incredible, did you know Samsung and Google only plan their cameras 1 year in advance?
No, but maybe you can point me to where you got that info.

BTW, Pixel 5 sold 7mil to iPhone 12's 200m. It's a bit easier to change yearly when you don't have to source parts and scale as much.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
n0va Avatar
49 months ago
CONFIRMED: apple will make iphones in 3 years
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AirunJae Avatar
49 months ago

Great news! The day will come when iPhone will be able to produce great results as DSLR.
Gonna be a couple days before that happens, hard to beat physics! That said, iPhone photos look great on the screen of a phone, just need more data as they start to fall apart a bit when you view them on something larger like a 13" screen. This was one of the reasons I got a Fujifilm for photos of our kid, in case we ever wanted to print them.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FlyingTexan Avatar
49 months ago

Scale also stifles innovation. There was a member who had posted a very informative article on why the innovation at Apple is slow. The gist was obviously “scale”
Innovation at apple is slow? They just blasted Intel and AMD out of the water with CPU efficiencies and capabilities, have the highest quality laptops, started a TV network, have built their own cloud storage, created their own OS that has integrated multiple OS's across multiple products basically into one, made a cell phone on your wrist that can measure your heart and vitals, and are building a freaking car.... what's your idea of fast innovation?

You can't pick and chose across multiple companies. Name a single company doing anything like apple? Just because Samsung put a 10x lens in a camera with more MP or Huawei had a full screen without a notch doesn't cut it. They build a very solid product and the people complaining about the product are missing the fact that the phone is only 1/3rd of it (at least for me). There's the phone, the integration with my other products, and there's the services. I started out using Android and hated iPhones back in the HTC one days. But there's no phone you could put in my hand that has the quality, innovation, and ability of the iPhone. Everyone else is just playing catchup and slapping a few gimmicks on it to try and makeup for the mountain of shortfalls. I keep wanting to go back to android and each time I try it just underwhelms and I'm back. The problem with apple is they've done things so well we take it all for granted, like the Messages app, that until you live without it for a week or two you don't really notice it.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)