iPhone 14 Pro 48MP camera samples: Magical optical zoom to finally take on Galaxy S22 Ultra?
This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
Perhaps for the first time since 2017, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max’s brand new camera system surprisingly isn’t the main focus of Apple’s brand new premium flagship phones, and that’s all thanks to something called… “Dynamic Island”. What a time to be alive!
Despite that, though, like every year, Cupertino’s made a bunch of big and bold claims about the “all-new” camera system on the iPhone 14 Pro series, and I’ll do my best to break it all down. But before that, let’s see what Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro premium flagships promise to bring to the table…
According to Apple, “the Pro camera system gets massively more Pro”, and that’s thanks to:
But until then, let’s do something like a “fact-check” on Apple’s claims and promises about the new 72MP camera system on the iPhone 14 Pro series. Does the new camera array guarantee success for Apple against the best Android camera phones from Google and Samsung?
It’s been 15 years since the original iPhone came out, and after a long time of iPhones with relatively low-res cameras, Apple’s finally joining the big time, high-rest megapixel race to compete with the Pixels and Galaxies of the world.
Because this is an opinion piece, I get a chance to repeat something I’ve said many times before and this is that, in my view, more megapixels don’t necessarily make for a better camera/photos. They never have been the primary determinant of a good camera and they probably never will be.
That being said, though, it’s not like high-res cameras don’t have the potential of bringing some notable improvements to the iPhone camera, as they’ve done with a number of Android phones.
The three main benefits of switching to a high-res cameras on iPhone should be:
While the first two benefits of having more megapixels look pretty straightforward, the last one probably needs a little bit more background…
As Apple explains, “for most photos, you want to optimize for light capture”. Therefore, the new 48MP camera sensor on iPhone 14 Pro groups four pixels together into one large “quad pixel”, gathering 4x more light and producing spectacularly better photos at the practical 12MP size.
That’s right! As we expected and as do all Android flagship phones, your iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will still be taking 12MP photos by defaul. However, these should now be brighter in low-light and even more detailed, at least in the right lightning conditions.
Of course, the 65% larger main camera sensor that the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max get is another (resolution-independent) advantage which should help make photos show higher detail, brightness, and even more accurate colors. These images should also be less noisy and look less processed, since Apple (hopefully) won’t need to digitally enhance the detail (at least as much as before).
At first glance, there isn’t much new about the iPhone 14 Pro’s zooming system, and that’s because the only camera on Apple’s 2022 flagship that’s not really new/upgraded is the 3x zoom lens, which debuted last year on the iPhone 13 Pro. But that’s where another benefit of that 48MP primary camera comes into play and apparently allows Apple to say that the iPhone 14 Pro also has a “2x optical-quality telephoto”.
The iPhone 14 Pro series now has an additional 2x zoom toggle within your familiar camera viewfinder, reminiscent of the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro series, which should technically make the iPhone 14 Pro’s camera more versatile than that of the iPhone 13 Pro.
However, as we established, the iPhone 14 Pro’s zoom camera is fixed at 3x zoom and this hasn’t changed. Moreover, the phone certainly doesn’t have a new, fourth camera…
Where you might be more familiar with this tech would be from Google’s “Super-Res zoom” on the Pixel 6 series, where the phones use the middle 12.5MP part of their 50MP primary camera sensors to get an optical crop of what you’re taking a photo of at 2x zoom (and more).
This isn’t the whole story, though, as Google also uses advanced processing algorithms to retain even more detail, which is exactly what helps the Pixel 6, which doesn’t have a zoom camera deliver much better 2-5x zoom photos than the iPhone 13 which… also doesn’t have a zoom lens. So, more or less the same “magical” zooming tech is now coming to iPhone 14 Pro.
Apple’s plan is to use this “optical telephoto zoom” to let you take Portrait Mode Photos at 2x zoom, which now goes back to that “perfect for portraits'' 48mm magnification, like on the good old iPhone 12 Pro (the 12 Pro Max had a 2.5x zoom camera). What remains to be seen is whether the 2x “optical telephoto” photos will indeed be of “optical quality” compared to the 3x dedicated zoom lens.
The other, much more impressive part of the zoom story on the iPhone 14 Pro is that Apple also promises “4K videos with no digital zoom”!
The company’s website doesn’t go into details, but I guess what they mean is that the 2x zoom in video will now be of optical quality thanks to the fact that Cupertino’s (probably) managed to implement the same sensor-cropping technique like in photos, to video. Hence, “4K videos with no digital zoom” at 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 3x zoom. It’s possible that the 2-2.9x zoom will also make use of the new trick to deliver optical quality, but I’m speculating here. On the other hand, it’s very unlikely that zooming beyond 3x will also give you “optical quality. That’s because the 3x zoom camera still uses the old 12MP sensor.
Still, if Apple manages to give us virtually smooth, optical zoom quality between the ultra-wide-angle, main, 2x, and 3x zoom camera, this would be super impressive! It’s almost as if Cupertino is trying to stitch together a “variable zoom” camera system without using an actual variable camera (like Sony does), which could result in incredible video zoom on iPhone 14 Pro. At least up to 3x.
The iPhone 14 Pro series also has new ultra-wide-angle and selfie cameras and that might be where we see some of the biggest gains in terms of photo quality.
The iPhone 13 series ultra-wide-angle cameras have been suffering from poor performance in low-light, and now Apple promises up to 2x better low-light photos. The same stays true for the now auto-focus-enabled selfie camera with a new f/1.9 aperture, which should always keep things in focus and illuminate them better.
All of that will make your ultra-wide, Macro Mode, and selfie photos and videos in all lighting conditions look better than before, but particularly those low-light shots where most help was needed.
I remain cautiously optimistic about Apple’s new camera system, which technically doesn’t bring anything we haven’t seen before, particularly on Android flagships.
However, the iPhone 14 Pro brings plenty of new camera hardware and software tricks that users with older iPhones will probably appreciate a lot! Also, as we know, Apple almost always does things later but better, so Samsung and Google’s upcoming flagships might have a bit more to worry about this time!
All in all, would I pay $1,300 for the iPhone 14 Pro in Europe? I don’t think so and that’s because the iPhone 15 Pro is rumored to finally get a new periscope zoom camera, possibly starting at 6x optical zoom!
For the record, I don’t personally believe the iPhone 15 Pro will get such a long-range zoom camera, but even a 4x periscope zoom lens would do the trick for me!
And what about USB-C? Well, I actually have a theory about that, and it is that USB-C might not be coming to iPhone 15, but that’s… a story for a different time!
Despite that, though, like every year, Cupertino’s made a bunch of big and bold claims about the “all-new” camera system on the iPhone 14 Pro series, and I’ll do my best to break it all down. But before that, let’s see what Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro premium flagships promise to bring to the table…
- A brand new quad-pixel 48MP primary camera for enhanced detail, with “up to 4x the resolution for jaw-dropping cropping” (and I thought my rhymes were cheesy!)
- Versatility - Apple’s adding a “2x optical-quality telephoto” to the iPhone 14 Pro’s camera array, which will work in both photo and video
- “Much more detail in much less light” - Tim Cook & Co promise up to 3x better low-light photos on the new ultra-wide camera and up to 2x better low-light photos on the new primary camera and the old 3x telephoto camera
- Cinematic Mode in 4K 24-30fps (versus 1080p 30fps on the iPhone 13)
- Brand new Action Mode stabilization for shaky videos
- A new TrueDepth selfie camera “in a class by itself” with autofocus and “up to 2x better low-light photos” or “up to 38% better light-gathering performance”
- A new Adaptive True Tone flash that adjusts the pattern and intensity of new, nine LEDs depending on the focal length of your photos, so your subject always appears in the best light - - I call it "flash zoom"
The upgraded iPhone 14 Pro camera ISP and software magic will be powered by the brand new A16 Bionic processor, which if leaked iPhone 14 Pro Max benchmark scores are to be believed, is over 10% more powerful than the iPhone 13’s A15 Bionic and about 45% stronger than the most capable Android flagship phones, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+Gen 1.
To be clear, the photo samples you’ll see are all taken by Apple (or by someone else but for Apple) - they are clearly meant to make the iPhone 14 Pro’s new camera system look as good as possible, so take them with a grain of salt. We will indeed be doing our own detailed camera comparison featuring the Google Pixel 6 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra very soon, so stay tuned for that!
But until then, let’s do something like a “fact-check” on Apple’s claims and promises about the new 72MP camera system on the iPhone 14 Pro series. Does the new camera array guarantee success for Apple against the best Android camera phones from Google and Samsung?
iPhone 14 Pro 48MP camera samples: Does resolution matter? The answer to the million-dollar question is…
It’s been 15 years since the original iPhone came out, and after a long time of iPhones with relatively low-res cameras, Apple’s finally joining the big time, high-rest megapixel race to compete with the Pixels and Galaxies of the world.
The three main benefits of switching to a high-res cameras on iPhone should be:
- Enhances detail in photos taken in good lighting conditions - whether you shoot in the full 48MP mode or not
- The ability to record high-res videos and crop into them without losing as much detail
- The ability to gather more light for better low-light photos
While the first two benefits of having more megapixels look pretty straightforward, the last one probably needs a little bit more background…
As Apple explains, “for most photos, you want to optimize for light capture”. Therefore, the new 48MP camera sensor on iPhone 14 Pro groups four pixels together into one large “quad pixel”, gathering 4x more light and producing spectacularly better photos at the practical 12MP size.
That’s right! As we expected and as do all Android flagship phones, your iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will still be taking 12MP photos by defaul. However, these should now be brighter in low-light and even more detailed, at least in the right lightning conditions.
iPhone 14 Pro new "2x optical telephoto" zoom samples: iPhone 14 Pro finally puts up a fight against the mighty Galaxy S22 Ultra (Samsung remains the king of zoom)
At first glance, there isn’t much new about the iPhone 14 Pro’s zooming system, and that’s because the only camera on Apple’s 2022 flagship that’s not really new/upgraded is the 3x zoom lens, which debuted last year on the iPhone 13 Pro. But that’s where another benefit of that 48MP primary camera comes into play and apparently allows Apple to say that the iPhone 14 Pro also has a “2x optical-quality telephoto”.
Although Apple’s introduction of the iPhone 14 Pro might make it seem that the phone has a new “2x optical telephoto” camera, it absolutely… does not. But it kinda does.
The iPhone 14 Pro series now has an additional 2x zoom toggle within your familiar camera viewfinder, reminiscent of the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro series, which should technically make the iPhone 14 Pro’s camera more versatile than that of the iPhone 13 Pro.
However, as we established, the iPhone 14 Pro’s zoom camera is fixed at 3x zoom and this hasn’t changed. Moreover, the phone certainly doesn’t have a new, fourth camera…
So, then what is Apple talking about? Well, the magic word is… sensor-cropping.
This isn’t the whole story, though, as Google also uses advanced processing algorithms to retain even more detail, which is exactly what helps the Pixel 6, which doesn’t have a zoom camera deliver much better 2-5x zoom photos than the iPhone 13 which… also doesn’t have a zoom lens. So, more or less the same “magical” zooming tech is now coming to iPhone 14 Pro.
Apple’s plan is to use this “optical telephoto zoom” to let you take Portrait Mode Photos at 2x zoom, which now goes back to that “perfect for portraits'' 48mm magnification, like on the good old iPhone 12 Pro (the 12 Pro Max had a 2.5x zoom camera). What remains to be seen is whether the 2x “optical telephoto” photos will indeed be of “optical quality” compared to the 3x dedicated zoom lens.
iPhone 14 Pro might take video zoom to a level no other phone’s ever achieved before
The quad-pixel sensor allows us to go beyond the three fixed lenses of the Pro camera system to create an additional 2x Telephoto. Which expands your zoom options to 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 3x. This new Telephoto uses the middle 12 megapixels of the quad-pixel sensor to deliver full-resolution photos and 4K videos with no digital zoom.
The other, much more impressive part of the zoom story on the iPhone 14 Pro is that Apple also promises “4K videos with no digital zoom”!
The company’s website doesn’t go into details, but I guess what they mean is that the 2x zoom in video will now be of optical quality thanks to the fact that Cupertino’s (probably) managed to implement the same sensor-cropping technique like in photos, to video. Hence, “4K videos with no digital zoom” at 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 3x zoom. It’s possible that the 2-2.9x zoom will also make use of the new trick to deliver optical quality, but I’m speculating here. On the other hand, it’s very unlikely that zooming beyond 3x will also give you “optical quality. That’s because the 3x zoom camera still uses the old 12MP sensor.
iPhone 14 Pro UWA camera and auto-focus selfie camera samples: Is Apple finally taking ultra-wide-angle and selfie cameras as seriously as Samsung?
The iPhone 14 Pro series also has new ultra-wide-angle and selfie cameras and that might be where we see some of the biggest gains in terms of photo quality.
The iPhone 13 series ultra-wide-angle cameras have been suffering from poor performance in low-light, and now Apple promises up to 2x better low-light photos. The same stays true for the now auto-focus-enabled selfie camera with a new f/1.9 aperture, which should always keep things in focus and illuminate them better.
All of that will make your ultra-wide, Macro Mode, and selfie photos and videos in all lighting conditions look better than before, but particularly those low-light shots where most help was needed.
Apple's iPhone 14 Pro camera samples are promising: The upgraded camera system looks powerful but not exactly intimidating
I remain cautiously optimistic about Apple’s new camera system, which technically doesn’t bring anything we haven’t seen before, particularly on Android flagships.
However, the iPhone 14 Pro brings plenty of new camera hardware and software tricks that users with older iPhones will probably appreciate a lot! Also, as we know, Apple almost always does things later but better, so Samsung and Google’s upcoming flagships might have a bit more to worry about this time!
For the record, I don’t personally believe the iPhone 15 Pro will get such a long-range zoom camera, but even a 4x periscope zoom lens would do the trick for me!
And what about USB-C? Well, I actually have a theory about that, and it is that USB-C might not be coming to iPhone 15, but that’s… a story for a different time!
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