iPhone 16 Pro Rumored to Feature 48MP Ultra Wide Camera

The iPhone 16 Pro could feature an upgraded Ultra Wide camera with a 48-megapixel sensor, according to a Weibo leaker.

iphone 11 pro ultra wide
The rumor comes from Weibo user "Instant Digital" and suggests that 2024's ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ models will be the first to feature more than one 48-megapixel sensor, leaving the Telephoto camera as the only rear-facing lens with a 12-megapixel resolution. The Ultra Wide camera's upgrade to a 48-megapixel sensor should allow it to capture more light, resulting in enhanced photos when shooting in 0.5× mode, especially in low-light environments.

The iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 15, and iPhone 15 Pro models already have a 48-megapixel Main camera that uses "pixel binning" to merge data from four pixels on the sensor into one "super pixel" for improved low-light capture. With the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ models, this technology is expected to expand to the Ultra Wide lens, which is currently a 12-megapixel lens.

This also means that ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ models should be able to shoot 48-megapixel ProRAW photos in Ultra Wide mode. These photos retain more detail in the image file for more editing flexibility, and can be printed at large sizes.

The Weibo rumor corroborates a forecast from Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu, which said that the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ will feature a 48-megapixel Ultra Wide camera and support for Wi-Fi 7. In 2025, the iPhone 17 Pro is expected to complete the rear camera array's transition to 48-megapixel sensors, bringing the technology to the Telephoto lens.

Instant Digital has a mixed track record in terms of revealing accurate information about Apple's plans. The source was first to report the ‌iPhone 14‌'s Yellow spring refresh, Spatial Video on the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌, and the Apple Watch Series 9's minor hardware update, as well as being the only source of the only rumor claiming that the ‌iPhone 15‌ and ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus would feature frosted back glass. However, they also made claims about several iOS 17 features and the release of a new iPad Air in October 2023 that did not pan out.

Related Roundup: iPhone 16 Pro

Top Rated Comments

s_muxiu Avatar
19 weeks ago
just wanna 48Mp Telephoto camera
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aluminum213 Avatar
19 weeks ago
*throws iPhone 15 pro max in the garbage*
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
swiftapplefan Avatar
19 weeks ago
Happy to see this, let’s hope that the sensor also gets bigger, so that the photos will be actually usable most of the time
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MudPipes Avatar
19 weeks ago
I have a theory the 48MP ultra wide upgrade is going to be a key feature for spatial video. Cropped to 1X to match same focal length as main camera at 1X. Does that make sense?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
swiftapplefan Avatar
19 weeks ago
Yay! So that means high-quality digital zoom on the 0.5x camera!


…wait
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
H.E. Pennypacker Avatar
19 weeks ago
Can we please look at some better improvements to the iPhone outside of the camera year after year. Is anyone complaining about photo quality still? How about some friggin innovation for goodness sake!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...