The iPhone 17 Pro may finally get a much-needed update to the telephoto camera. Apple was always slow to update the zoom hardware on iPhones. It’s only recently, with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, that Apple switched to a 5X optical zoom camera.
As per a new leak from MacRumors, the iPhone 17 Pro will feature several camera upgrades as the selling point. According to the leak, Apple has recently filmed an iPhone 17 Pro commercial. A film company is producing this commercial for Apple.
Apple was listed as one of the clients for this company. Since the information hasn’t been confirmed and there’s no visual evidence, take this with a pinch of salt until there are further leaks. To avoid legal trouble, the source has also removed the name of the film company that’s producing this commercial.
The current arrangement uses a tetraprism-style zoom camera, which folds the lens multiple times internally to achieve optical zoom. There are some problems with this approach. The sensor size is extremely small. As a result, there’s a lot of noise that the software has to process. Focusing distance also suffers as a result of folding the lens internally several times.
There are several alleged changes to the cameras of the iPhone 17 Pro. The key upgrade comes in the form of a new 8X optical zoom. It’s unclear whether this is optical zoom or just a sensor crop using Pixel Binning and other software tricks to zoom in. The source claims it’s a continuous optical zoom, up to 8X, thanks to a lens that can move.
It’s highly unclear whether this will come true. It’s entirely possible that Apple may have an optical zoom of 4X that crops to 8X. Or, Apple could use an entirely new moving lens mechanism to achieve better optical zoom.
The leak also mentions a new ‘Camera app’ that has several Pro features. However, it’s entirely possible that Apple could just use the existing Final Cut Camera app and improve it, or rename it. The app could bring more pro features that enable photographers to use manual control, exposure adjustments, granular control over shutter speed and ISO, and different formats and LUT options.
This is similar to other ‘Pro’ camera apps, such as Halide or Filmic Pro. The app will also consist mostly of other options to improve videography on the iPhone. Earlier rumors from Mark Gurman also say that Apple could take videography more seriously this year, over photography.
Note: There’s a chance that Apple could keep this app exclusive to the iPhone 17 Pro models. You could also get the option to record videos from both the front and back cameras at the same time.
In other leaks, we’re expecting a redesign to the camera array, with triple 48MP cameras, a new ‘Copper’ color choice, and more.
