Smartphone cameras could have been pushed apart by AI hype previously two years, however they’re nonetheless one of many greatest causes to improve – and as TechRadar’s former cameras editor, I’m significantly excited concerning the iPhone 16 Pro.
Granted, a few of that enthusiasm could also be as a result of my day by day driver is a creaking iPhone 11 Pro, which has now reached traditional automobile standing in smartphone phrases. But currently, I’ve felt the attract of capturing with one thing extra discrete and pocketable than my Fujifilm X-T5 – and relatively than a Ricoh GR IIIx, it is the iPhone 16 Pro that is caught my eye.
We’re nonetheless very a lot in rumors territory for Apple’s subsequent flagship telephone forward of its launch on September 9. But after intently following the hypothesis this 12 months, it appears to me just like the iPhone 16 Pro may very well be the best pocket digicam to enhance my beefier Fujifilm X-series physique and lenses.
So why am I pondering of lastly upgrading this 12 months, relatively than ready for the iPhone 17 Pro or the rumored iPhone 17 Air subsequent 12 months? Here are the highest 5 photographic explanation why I’m making ready to make the leap on the smaller Pro mannequin, based mostly on the most recent rumors…
1. Apple’s finest ever ultra-wide digicam
- The rumor: iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max tipped to get 48MP ultra-wide digicam
This may very well be essentially the most helpful iPhone 16 Pro digicam improve for me, if the rumors are true. According to revered tech analyst Jeff Pu, Apple is planning so as to add a brand new 48MP ultra-wide digicam onto each of its iPhone 16 Pro fashions – and will not be preserving it unique to the Pro Max.
That can be a fairly large deal. The iPhone’s ultra-wide digicam has historically been its weakest hyperlink. My iPhone 11 Pro got here with Apple’s first ultra-wide and it is distinctly common, due to its sluggish f/2.4 aperture and fixed-focus lens. It’s actually improved over latest generations, however the iPhone 15 Pro nonetheless solely has a 12MP sensor and an f/2.2 aperture.
The advantage of a brand new 48MP sensor can be that the iPhone 16 Pro’s ultra-wide may use the identical pixel-binning approach as its most important digicam to spice up picture high quality in difficult gentle. If it could actually produce 24MP recordsdata (produced from a combo of a 12MP and 48Mp picture) with a number of the high quality I’ve seen from the iPhone 15 Pro’s most important digicam, the ultra-wide would change into a much more usable possibility.
2. A mature 5x telephoto digicam
- The rumor: iPhone 16 Pro to inherit the 5x telephoto digicam from the 15 Pro Max
Last 12 months, I made a decision to withstand the temptation of the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s new 5x telephoto lens as a way to keep on with my golden Apple rule – at all times look forward to any new function to achieve second-generation maturity.
Okay, it was additionally as a result of I did not significantly wish to lug round a 6.7-inch smartphone, which was my solely possibility as a result of Apple made its tetraprism expertise unique to the Max mannequin. Not so this 12 months, in response to the most recent iPhone 16 Pro digicam rumors – the 6.3-inch iPhone 16 Pro is extremely more likely to get the identical 120mm equal digicam as its larger brother.
I do not suppose having a 120mm digicam is essentially higher than a 72mm equal, which is what the iPhone 15 Pro affords. In reality, leafing by my Lightroom catalogue, I largely shoot within the 35mm-70mm vary on my Fujifilm X-T5. But then once more, I exploit my telephone for various sorts of pictures – and the pliability of having the ability swap from 14mm to a refined 120mm telephoto, all on my telephone, could be very alluring.
Apple’s spectacular stabilization and picture processing managed to eke out some strong, sharp outcomes from the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 5x telephoto digicam – after a 12 months of software program refinements, I’m anticipating that to have improved once more this 12 months.
3. The rumored Capture button
- The rumor: Apple to introduce a brand new ‘Capture’ button throughout the entire iPhone 16 sequence
One of my greatest points with smartphone cameras is their ergonomics – they merely aren’t as enjoyable to shoot with as the perfect mirrorless cameras. While you may enhance this to an extent with instances just like the Shiftcam ProGrip, latest rumors counsel Apple can be planning to introduce a extra camera-like expertise to your complete iPhone 16 sequence with a brand new Capture button.
There are blended stories on whether or not this new button will likely be capacitive or mechanical, however all of them agree that it will be targeted on capturing pictures and movies with a two-step motion that permits you to first lock focus and publicity, then take a shot. A report from The Information in January prompt that you will additionally have the ability to swipe throughout the floor of this button to zoom out and in of your scene.
In different phrases, Apple may make the iPhone 16 sequence really feel extra like the perfect compact cameras, solely with much more computational energy. As we have seen with the Action button, which might additionally change into your digicam shutter, this could make an actual distinction for genres like road pictures that depend on pace.
Physical shutter buttons, the return of horizontal snapping – signal me up.
4. AI pictures future-proofing
- The rumor: iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max to get new A18 Pro chip for Apple Intelligence options and graphically-intense apps
I largely edit pictures utilizing Lightroom Classic or the Lightroom app on iOS, and the latter acquired its equal of Google’s ‘Magic Eraser’ software again in May. But now Apple is getting into the AI-powered picture enhancing sport with instruments like Clean Up, I wish to make certain my subsequent iPhone is future-proofed (to an extent) for comparable iOS improvements – and it appears like that’ll be the case with the iPhone 16 Pro.
The newest iPhone 16 spec predictions counsel that, whereas each mannequin within the sequence will get 8GB RAM, the Pro fashions will get a brand new A18 Pro chip (in comparison with the usual A18 chip on the iPhone 16). Exactly what that’ll be able to stays unclear, however the newest rumors level to it having a extra highly effective graphics processor – which might be significantly helpful for gaming and, sure, computational pictures.
The motive this issues for Apple’s personal Apple Intelligence instruments, like Clean Up, is as a result of it prefers to run them on-device relatively than, like Adobe, through the cloud. I should still largely stick to Lightroom for enhancing, but when I’m offline then Apple Intelligence options may change into useful photographic backups for fast edits.
There’s already speak that subsequent 12 months’s iPhone 17 Pro Max may get unique Apple Intelligence upgrades, so I’m underneath no phantasm that the 16 Pro will capable of deal with all of Apple’s finest AI options sooner or later. But it is actually extra future-proofed than the poor iPhone 15, which is already locked out of the AI celebration attributable to its 6GB of reminiscence.
That further processing energy may additionally assist enhance non-AI options like Apple’s Cinematic Mode for video, which has slowly been bettering over time (regardless of its depth-map errors).
5. New digicam lens coating
- The rumor: iPhone 16 Pro sequence to get new lens coating to cut back artifacts
A truism for conventional cameras is that lenses will make a much bigger distinction to your pictures than new digicam our bodies – in order that’s why I’m additionally happy to listen to rumors that Apple may very well be addressing a long-standing lens subject on the iPhone 16 Pro sequence.
According to a well known Apple tipster, a brand new digicam lens coating (utilizing a method referred to as atomic layer deposition, or ALD) is getting used on iPhone 16 Pro fashions to assist scale back artifacts like flares and halos, that are fairly frequent in iPhone pictures.
I do not fake to grasp the specifics of that specific manufacturing course of, but when that is true it will be a useful quality-of-life improve for the iPhone 16 Pro’s cameras. In idea, it must also assist scale back ghosting in fast-moving objects.
Final ideas
If the iPhone 16 Pro will get most of those rumored options, I’ll virtually actually be upgrading and hitting these iPhone 16 preorders on September 13 (after they’re rumored to be beginning).
Even if its most important digicam stays the identical with a 48MP Quad Bayer sensor and f/1.8 aperture, a brand new 48MP ultra-wide and 5x telephoto can be big {hardware} upgrades – and I additionally just like the sound of the Capture button. Combine that with the ability and future-proofing of the rumored A18 Pro chip, and the iPhone 16 Pro is shaping as much as be fairly a pocket digicam.
Apple could also be lagging behind Google in relation to AI-powered options like Add Me and Reimagine, however as one thing of a pictures traditionalist that does not hassle me an excessive amount of. iOS has at all times had the perfect digicam apps, so most gaps could be full of third-party software program – and there is additionally the prospect of dabbling with spatial pictures and video, which I’d argue is extra thrilling than AI-generated pictures.
