System shock: ''No way the iPhone 16 Pro still has the same Sony IMX803 sensor as the iPhone 14 Pro''

After getting the (almost) same iPhone for yet another year, people are now starting to pay closer attention to the just-released iPhone 16 lineup. Somehow, they are getting more upset and frustrated with Cupertino's latest champion.

Revealed at the "It's Glowtime" September 9 event – possibly the most boring Apple event ever – the iPhone 16 lineup consists of the following handsets:

• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 16 Pro Max

The standard-sized Pro variant is what bugs some Reddit users, who are making a lot of sense with their observations, like:



People said they were hoping for a new "pixel stacked main sensor", but Apple did not include the phrase "new sensor" for the main camera in their vocabulary for the September 9 event. "Quite disappointing", many Redditors say.

The user @A10Fusion sums it up elegantly:



Well, "yes way". Let's wait for the actual teardowns, but I won't be shocked to see the same old sensor in the sparkling-new Pro. Apple is confident enough to serve up the same dish for a third consecutive year: people will buy each and every thing with the fruit logo on it, right?

What was previously expected on the 16 Pro line was the Sony IMX903 sensor for the main camera: it's rumored to be a bigger, better sensor. In fact, the Sony IMX903 was rumored to debut on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max devices last year, but Apple had other plans. Maybe it's going to pack it in the iPhone 17?

However, I expect the iPhone 16 Pro camera to be better – if only by a bit – than the one on the 15 Pro, regardless of the same sensor they share. Improvements can be made on the optical front, as well as on the software front.

It's nice that the ultra-wide camera packs a new 48MP sensor, but a new, bigger sensor for the main camera would be even nicer. Like, a lot nicer.