iPhone 16 Pro's Ultra Wide Camera Rumored to Receive Major Upgrade

The iPhone 16 Pro models will be the first to feature more than one 48-megapixel sensor, leaving the Telephoto as the only rear-facing camera with a 12-megapixel resolution, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports.

iphone 11 pro ultra wide
Writing on Medium, Kuo explained that the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro's Ultra Wide camera will feature a 48-megapixel sensor. The upgrade should allow the camera 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.

Last year, International Securities analyst Jeff Pu claimed that the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro will feature a 48-megapixel Ultra Wide camera. Just a few months later, further details about Apple's plan for the new Ultra Wide camera emerged on Chinese social media site Weibo. With Kuo now throwing his weight behind the rumor, the upgrade seems highly likely.

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. Kuo added that the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro is on-track to feature the tetraprism Telephoto camera introduced on the ‌iPhone‌ 15 Pro Max. He also said that the iPhone 17 lineup will feature an upgraded front-camera camera unit with a 24-megapixel sensor and a six-element lens.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone Air

Report: 'Virtually No Demand' for iPhone Air

Wednesday October 22, 2025 3:22 am PDT by
Apple is "drastically" cutting production of the iPhone Air and shifting focus toward the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models, Nikkei Asia reports. The business publication claims to have learned of a major cut to iPhone Air production motivated by weaker-than-expected consumer interest, nearly to "end of production levels." Despite early reports of the iPhone Air selling out within hours of...
sam sung auction

Former Apple Employee Sam Sung Changed His Name to Avoid Attention

Wednesday October 22, 2025 4:44 pm PDT by
Back in 2012, an Apple retail employee named Sam Sung went viral because his name is similar to Samsung, one of Apple's main competitors. In a recent interview with Business Insider, he detailed that period in his life, how Apple responded, and he explained why he ultimately changed his name. Someone posted an image of Sung's Apple business card on Reddit in 2012, and it spread rapidly....
cadillac lyric infotainment

GM to Remove CarPlay from All Future Vehicles, Including Gas Cars

Wednesday October 22, 2025 11:34 am PDT by
General Motors began phasing out support for CarPlay in its electric vehicles back in 2023, leading to complaints from iPhone users, but the company has no plans to back down. In fact, GM is going further and plans to remove CarPlay from all future gas vehicles, too. In an interview with The Verge, GM CEO Mary Barra said that the company opted to prioritize its platform for EVs, but the...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features for Your iPhone

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

Apple's Plan to Launch Three New iPhone Designs Allegedly Revealed

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:24 am PDT by
Apple plans to launch a new type of iPhone every year for the foreseeable future, according to an Asia-based source. The detailed information was shared by the account "yeux1122" in a blog post on the Korean platform Naver, citing domestic trend and component research companies. Corroborating other reports, Apple will apparently launch its first foldable iPhone in 2026, featuring a...
ios 26 1 liquid glass opaque

iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle

Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass. The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
maxresdefault

Apple's iPhone Air Experiment Fails as Supply Chain Cuts Production by 80%

Wednesday October 22, 2025 10:48 am PDT by
iPhone Air demand failed to meet Apple's expectations and the company's supply chain is scaling back shipments and production, reports Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Suppliers are expected to reduce capacity by more than 80 percent between now and the first quarter of 2026, and some components with longer lead times will be discontinued ...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

Report: Apple to Skip 'iPhone 19' Name for 'iPhone 20'

Thursday October 23, 2025 4:28 am PDT by
Apple's new iPhone lineup launched in the fall of 2027 will be called the "iPhone 20" models, rather than the "iPhone 19," according to research firm Omdia. Speaking at a conference in Seoul (via ETNews), Omdia Chief Researcher Heo Moo-yeol corroborated rumors that Apple plans to move the launch of its standard iPhone to the first half of the year and provided some additional clarity about...
iOS 26

What's New in iOS 26.1 Beta 4

Monday October 20, 2025 1:02 pm PDT by
Even though we're at the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple is continuing to add new features. In fact, the fourth beta has some of the biggest changes that we'll get when iOS 26.1 releases to the public later this month. We've rounded up what's new below. Liquid Glass Transparency Toggle Apple added a toggle for customizing the look of Liquid Glass. In Settings > Display and Brightness,...

Top Rated Comments

orderoftheditch Avatar
24 months ago
All three rear cameras should use the same 48 MP sensor.
Just because the shot requires using the wide or telephoto doesn’t mean the photo should have to be taken using an inferior 12 MP sensor.
Obviously the iPhone is now so mature adding new features each year gets harder and harder, probably why they are dragging this out. Wide to get 48MP this year and then the telephoto to also get 48MP for the iPhone 17?
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wikiverse Avatar
24 months ago
The telephoto camera also needs a better sensor, especially on the 5x. I don't want to say the photos are bad, but they're different... from good.

I'd be willing to bet the biggest selling point of this will be Spatial Videos in 4K resolution, and almost no one is going to care. But an upgrade to the Ultra Wide photos is a bonus, so I won't complain.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kiranmk2 Avatar
24 months ago
This is what I hate about modern Apple. You can see the roadmaps are there to drip features down the range and over time. No doubt the reason it's the ultrawide sensor being upgraded first is so it can be dripped down to the non-pro range the next year, when the Pro models will get a telephoto "upgrade". There should be no reason why all phones in the range don't get 48 MP sensors for all the rear cameras this year.

As someone who only ever wanted the Pro for the telephoto lens (not interested in log / proraw, don't want always on screen and can't see much improvement in 120 Hz screens compared to an iPad), I'm now happy to go with the regular iPhone as the 2x sensor crop is fine for me (perfect for portraits).
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vegetassj4 Avatar
24 months ago
Rumor has it that the 17 Pro Max has a Super Utra Wide Camera+:

There are even some leaked selfie shots:



Attachment Image
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rymc02 Avatar
24 months ago
Still hoping to see Sony's stacked imx903 on the main sensor next year.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PsykX Avatar
24 months ago
One word : FINALLY !


How many people really using that
I LOVE using the Ultra Wide Angle lens.
So that makes at least 1 person ?

I did notice the quality has always been subpar though compared to the Wide Angle. The images are darker.

Here's one of my latest shots so you know I actually use it. I couldn't have done this shot with just the Wide Angle.

Attachment Image
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)