It’s a cycle that never ends. A new iPhone is announced, we speculate about it for a few months, a few rumors leak out from Apple HQ before specs are officially announced, a new iPhone is launched, then the cycle repeats. We’re currently in the leaked rumors portion of the path.
According to claims from “Digital Chat Station,” a Weibo user with details about the new iPhone as found on Macrumors, the new iPhone 16 Pro Max is slated to be an “image flagship” for the next iteration of Apple’s smartphone line and will be heavily focused on maxing out its camera capabilities.
Let’s take a look at these rumored reports and focus on what could end up being the most powerful camera sensor ever contained in an iPhone device— plus what that could mean for its video capabilities.
iPhone 16 Pro Max Camera
We’ve already written about some leaked reports of a new mechanical button feature coming to the iPhone 16. However, this is honestly more exciting—and much more important for film and video pros.
According to the reports above, the iPhone 16 Pro Max will feature a bigger, more advanced primary camera sensor that should deliver improved photography and videography recording overall. The iPhone 16 Pro Max will reportedly feature a new, customized 48-megapixel Sony IMX903 sensor with advanced features like a stacked design for better performance.
The sensor could also see a 14-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) for higher-quality image data conversion, plus Digital Gain Control (DCG) for better dynamic range and noise control as well.
The current iPhone 15 camera sensor
Apple
12% Larger Camera Sensor
The reports go on to claim that this new sensor for the iPhone 16 Pro Max will be 12% larger than the iPhone 15 Pro Max version equivalent at a 1/1.14-inch size. (For reference, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro models have sensors at 1/1/28-inch sizes.)
This larger sensor would obviously improve the iPhone’s primary camera’s performance and dynamic range, plus see all types of improvements with background blur, low-light enhancements, and overall improvements for both photo and video as the sensor will be able to capture more light with the same shutter speed and aperture.
Sifting through the reports, we also found notes about the iPhone 16 potentially having a more curved screen design, expanding upon some design features introduced with the iPhone 15 lineup, too.
iPhone 16 camera sensor rumors
Apple
What’s Next for the iPhone 16?
Overall, while these rumors are exciting to Apple-heads already looking ahead to the iPhone 16, we do need to remind folks that the iPhone 15 was just released back in September. With its Apple Log recording, the iPhone 15 Pro has proven to be one of the biggest innovations in smartphone for video camera technology in quite some time and is currently revolutionizing the industry.
Apple has certainly doubled down on video with their previous iPhone releases, especially in their marketing efforts, so it wouldn’t be any surprise to see them pull out even more stops to improve the iPhone 16’s video capabilities and performance again.
Still, with an expected lineup unveiled in the fall of 2024, we have a bit longer to wait until we begin this whole cycle again next year.
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