iPhone 15 Pro Max's 5x Optical Zoom Lens Enables 25x Digital Zoom

The iPhone 15 Pro Max features a new Telephoto lens that uses a tetraprism design to enable 5x optical zoom, an improvement over the 3x zoom that's available in the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ and the prior-generation iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models.

iphone 15 pro max camera
5x optical zoom allows for 25x digital zoom, and while that's the most zoom an Apple device has offered, it still falls below the competition.

Samsung's latest Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone has 100x Space Zoom that can capture images from 330 feet away. The Pixel 7 Pro has 30x digital "Super Res Zoom" with its 5x optical zoom lens. Apple has never leaned into digital zoom because the quality is poor. Optical zoom provides a crisp, clear image using the camera hardware, but digital zoom uses software enhancement to crop in.

5x optical zoom is an ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max-specific feature that is not available on the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌. Both devices share other camera improvements, though. The 48-megapixel main camera has a larger sensor that lets in more light, and it can be set to 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm focal lengths.

There's also an updated 13mm Ultra Wide camera, and second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization.

Related Roundup: iPhone 15 Pro

Top Rated Comments

Motawa Avatar
3 weeks ago

Samsung and other phones with the extreme digital zoom just uses Ai to make up the picture. Optical is WAY better!
Samsung has 10x optical. Apple 5x
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Liquid Galaxy Avatar
3 weeks ago
I’ll be honest, I was disappointed it was only 5x
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
3 weeks ago
It’s pretty cool what is inside the iPhone 15 Pro models! Wow!



Attachment Image
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Born Again Avatar
3 weeks ago
my camcorder had 100x digital zoom. I'm not impressed.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SonofSpingo Avatar
3 weeks ago
Digital zoom is a waste of time that can basically be achieved by cropping in post, Or use an application like Topaz AI in post to increase the resolution of the image using AI. In my view digital zoom is a marketing ploy that means absolutely nothing but fools people into believing they are getting something worth having.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dooyou Avatar
3 weeks ago
I have the Pixel 7 Pro here, with 30x digital zoom (5x optical). Honestly, the digital zoom is for the ton and what else should it be. Cropped over cropped and then still extrapolated.

It may look reasonably good on the smartphone display, but on any external screen you can just see how bad it is.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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