The iPhone 14 Pro to Have a Much Larger 48MP Main Camera: Report

For years the iPhone has been stuck with a 12-megapixel camera, whilst arguably still delivering great quality pictures, there has been no upgrade on resolution for multiple generations. A new report says that is changing this year.

The iPhone 14 is reportedly set to receive a camera that has four times as many megapixels as the current version that is expected to be released in less than six months.

According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, the iPhone 14 will get the pixel upgrade but the improved camera will only be available on the Pro model of the phone in order to tempt buyers to upgrade to the more expensive model. Gurman has a particularly good record when it comes to Apple rumors and leaks, including most recently correctly predicting the Mac Studio as well as the other products announced during the last Apple hardware event.

Not much more is known about the camera, but the 48-megapixel camera upgrade has been rumored for over a year now and if correct, Apple’s 2022 phone will be able to deliver more detailed images.

As a result of the increased number of megapixels, the iPhone 14 Pro’s camera pixels will allegedly be smaller, measuring at 1.22µm, a reduction of 0.68µm compared to the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The device’s sensor is reported to be 1/1.3-inches in width, which is an increase over the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max models which have a smaller 1/1.65-inch sensor. If the report holds true, that means the iPhone 14 will feature a sensor that is approximately 57% larger than the current model.

All of this pixel pushing should hopefully result in more detailed, high-resolution files for iPhone users. However, compressing the pixels smaller may result in weaker low light performance which Apple may have to fix with software.

Other Features

According to Gurman, the other changes coming to the iPhone 14 aren’t quite as attention-grabbing as the improved camera. The iPhone 14 will supposedly have a similar design to that of its predecessors, although the notch may change to a pill-shaped cutout for Face ID and a circular cutout for the camera.

Gurman says another selling point is that the basic model will be available with a 6.7-inch screen, which could turn out to be extremely popular given the popularity of that screen size on the iPhone 13, a feature that was only available on the Pro version.


Image credits: Header photo by Ted Kritsonis for PetaPixel.

Discussion