iPhone 16 Pro Again Rumored to Include Tetraprism Telephoto Lens With 5X Optical Zoom

Both the iPhone 16 Pro and ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ Max will include Apple's tetraprism Telephoto lens with improved zoom capabilities, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reiterated today.

iPhone 16 Cameras Feature 1
Apple introduced a new tetraprism lens system for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, enabling 5x optical zoom for the first time. The camera technology was not added to the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro, marking one of the first times that Apple has added camera technology to one Pro device and not the other.

The limitation was rumored to be because of space constraints, with only the Pro Max able to accommodate the hardware, but yield may have also been a factor. According to Kuo, when lens supplier Largan was producing the tetraprism hardware for the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max in the third quarter of 2023, production yield was at just 40 percent. Yield has now improved to 70 percent or more.

Apple is planning to increase the size of the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ to 6.3 inches, up from 6.1 inches, which will allow for more space for camera hardware. With the size increase and the yield improvement, Apple has addressed the factors that likely kept the tetraprism lens limited to the larger Pro Max iPhone.

It is not yet clear if Apple has plans to make improvements to the tetraprism lens in 2024. One rumor has suggested Apple is working on a "super telephoto camera" with a much longer focal length, but we've heard little about it at this point.

Related Roundups: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro

Popular Stories

iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
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 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

Top Rated Comments

magicchina Avatar
21 months ago

marking one of the first times that Apple has added camera technology to one Pro device and not the other.
Not exactly, iPhone 12 Pro's main camera only got 1.4µm pixel size+OIS, while iPhone 12 Pro max's got 1.7µm pixel size+IBIS.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
traveltoromantis Avatar
21 months ago

Not exactly, iPhone 12 Pro's main camera only got 1.4µm pixel size+OIS, while iPhone 12 Pro max's got 1.7µm pixel size+IBIS.
This, and the 6s+ had optical image stabilization while the 6s didn't. Perhaps better wording would have been "one of the few times". I suppose they did specify pro devices, but it's still confusing wording imo.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nfortna Avatar
21 months ago

might as well wait on the pentaprism lens in the 17, or maybe we will have dodecaprism in the XX.
"Now featuring the most prisms EVER in an iPhone"
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NT1440 Avatar
21 months ago

Basically, Apple's way of saying "periscope lens."
Nope. It’s a totally different type of mechanism. I was fully expecting a periscope lens mechanism as well. The prism doesn’t have the moving components that a periscope lens does, it’s an entirely different approach than a periscope lens assembly.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wikiverse Avatar
21 months ago
Honestly, I'm glad I didn't get the 15PM and got the pro instead. The 3x is long enough and 5x would be too long for most uses. Plus, for video 3x is already hard to keep stable, and 5x is just going to be a shaky mess.

They should just bite the bullet and go full Samsung Galaxy Camera style with a proper telescoping zoom lens on the back of the camera. Just make a version that is a camera that also happens to be a phone.

Attachment Image

Attachment Image
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
breenmask Avatar
21 months ago
and water is wet? wow what an amazing prediction
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)