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We’ve heard a bunch of rumors about the iPhone 16 Pro’s camera, particularly where the telephoto lens is concerned. Not only is the iPhone 16 Pro expected to get a tetraprism lens, with 5x optical zoom. But next year may see even more serious upgrades.
In a new Medium blog post, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo details a number of possible upgrades coming to iPhones over the next few years. While he does reiterate rumors about tetraprism availability on iPhone 16 Pro, he also talks about how that lens will change from 2025, on iPhones 17 through 19.
Kuo claims that the “high-end iPhone 17 model” may feature an upgraded version of the tetraprism lens. Those upgrades include a larger 1/2.6-inch sensor and 48MP resolution — a pretty hefty upgrade from the 1/3.1-inch 12MP tetraprism lens apparently coming to the iPhone 16 Pro. This lens will also reportedly come with a brand new design, with prisms that “have a shorter form factor to reduce the camera’s height”.
Kuo isn’t sure if this will be exclusive to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but if it is then he predicts that the iPhone 18 Pro will receive this same upgrade the following year.
Kuo believes that we won't see any significant tetraprism upgrades until 2027, with the release of the iPhone 19 series. Details are pretty scarce, but Kup says that the phones should support better optical zoom.
A tetraprism is a folded glass structure that sits below the main lens of the camera that reflects light rays four times over. It allows light to travel for longer in the same space and results in a new focal length without extra bulk in the overall phone design. It's been used in smartphone cameras since 2017.
There aren’t many details on what this upgrade could offer, but Kuo speculates on how Apple could increase the tetraprism’s optical zoom. He notes that the most obvious would be to increase the number of prisms in the lens, which would add to the complexity of the design and require smaller prisms. Considering the rumored issues Apple faced producing enough tetraprism lenses for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, that may be something Apple wanted to avoid unless it's completely necessary.
Kuo also rightly points out that it can’t be a tetraprism lens if you add more prisms to the design. So Apple would have to ditch its existing brand name, though that may be a worthy trade if the upgrades are strong enough.
If you’re planning on picking up the iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max, you still have plenty of camera upgrades to look forward to. Not only is the iPhone 16 Pro expected to get the tetraprism lens’s 5x optical zoom, we may also see the debut of a 48MP ultrawide angle camera on both Pro phones. The Pro Max may also get a larger 1/ 1.4-inch sensor, which would capture more light and improve overall camera performance, and a 300mm focal length.
Of course we won’t know for sure until the September Apple Event, when the iPhone 16 series is expected to be announced alongside the rest of Apple’s fall line-up.
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