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Apple hasn't even announced the iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro, and rumors are already circulating about what the company could have planned for the iPhone 17 Pro Max. For photographers, Apple looks to be working on a significant upgrade, adding three 48MP lenses to the phone.
The report on Medium comes from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, a reliable source for Cupertino information. He said the new iPhone would get an upgrade to a Tetraprism 1/2.6" 48MP sensor, up from the 1/3.1" 12MP expected to be used in the soon-to-be-announced iPhone 16 Pro models.
A previous report suggested that Apple would upgrade the iPhone 16 Pro models to a 48MP ultra-wide lens, so with the telephoto upgrade reportedly coming to iPhone 17 Pro Max (assuming it retains the 48MP ultra-wide), then it would be the first iPhone model to ditch 12MP lenses in favor of all three shooters at 48MP.
The current iPhone 15 Pro lineup offers a 48MP primary camera, 12MP ultra-wide and 12MP telephoto sensors, which are great for most people, but there's always room for improvement. Kuo noted that it's currently uncertain whether only the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the upgraded Tetraprism camera but says the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will get it.
Kuo's report goes further than the iPhone 17 Pro Max, suggesting that 2027 iPhones will have a more substantially improved Tetraprism camera with an improved optical zoom. Technically, the upgrade would make it not a Tetraprism lens, as Apple would need to increase the number of prisms to lengthen the light path, as noted by MacRumors. That's a long way away, but it's exciting to watch for future iPhone buyers.
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