Apple’s next-gen iPhone 14 Pro will likely come with a big camera improvement according to a leading industry insider.
New information from famed Apple analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, comes in the form of a ‘prediction’, spread over four tweets, in which he claims that both iPhone 14 Pro models will come with a new ultra-wide camera that delivers a big improvement over the iPhone 13 Pro.
Apple's iPhone 14 Pro looks set to receive some big camera upgrades.
The upgrade comes in the form of a higher spec-image sensor with significantly larger pixels than the current model. Larger pixels typically improve low-light performance at any given megapixel resolution, so the new camera is likely to perform noticeably better in low light
According to Kuo, the new camera’s pixels will feature 1.4µm pixels, up from 1.0µm on the iPhone 13 Pro models. This represents a very significant improvement — almost doubling the size of each pixel by area (It’s not just an increase of 40%).
Consequently, there is a significant price increase associated with the new camera module, and the cost to Apple of key individual components will rise by between 40% and 70%. These are a Sony CMOS image sensor, a voice coil motor supplied by both Minebea and Largan, and a compact camera module from LG Innotek.
Although undeniably useful, ultra-wide lenses often provided much lower-quality results than the main wide camera. Furthermore, as revealed in Dxomark’s camera tests, the iPhone 13 Pro ultra-wide camera lacks dynamic range when compared to the best available alternatives. The new camera should address this weakness. I would expect macro shots to get a similar boost as the iPhone 13 Pro switches automatically to the ultra-wide lens when shooting extreme close-ups. It’s reasonable, therefore, to expect the iPhone 14 Pro might do the same.
The new ultra-wide camera would complement the expected 48-megapixel primary camera already leaked for iPhone 14 Pro models, resulting in a compelling overall upgrade.
All will be revealed as part of Apple’s “Far out” launch event this September 7.
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