Despite the fact that we’re nonetheless no less than eight months away from the debut of Apple’s iPhone 16, analysts and leakers are already leaping in with reviews on what Apple’s 2025 iPhone 17 may maintain — and one such change could be essentially the most vital increase to the entrance digicam for the reason that iPhone X.
For the previous 4 years, the specs for the iPhone selfie digicam have remained basically unchanged. The iPhone 14 noticed a bump to a bigger f/1.9 aperture, however the identical 12-megapixel (MP) sensor has been round for the reason that iPhone 11 got here alongside in 2019.
There’s each indication that pattern will proceed with this yr’s iPhone 16, which, by most reviews, is specializing in rising the Extremely Large lens sensor to 48 megapixels as a substitute.
That may change with subsequent yr’s iPhone 17, although. In accordance with analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is already lining up suppliers for a brand new entrance digicam, they usually’re anticipated to supply 24MP sensors with a six-element lens.
Kuo shared the knowledge in a put up on Medium earlier this week, including that Apple is anticipated to make use of Genius, the identical firm that’s been pegged to offer the periscope lenses for this yr’s iPhone 16 Professional.
The entrance digicam of the iPhone 17 might be upgraded to 24MP/6P lens (vs. the 12MP/5P lens of iPhone 15 & 16), which can considerably enhance the picture high quality. Genius is the first lens provider for iPhone entrance cameras.
Ming-Chi Kuo
To place that in perspective, the iPhone 11 by iPhone 15 all use a 12MP five-element lens for the entrance digicam, with the one distinction being the shift from an f/2.2 to an f/1.9 aperture with the iPhone 14. The iPhone 16 will possible use the identical configuration.
Whereas Apple has been utilizing TrueDepth cameras with depth sensing for the reason that iPhone X, the early X and XS fashions solely featured a 7MP shooter with an f/2.2 aperture and a four-element lens — the identical lens used on the non-TrueDepth-equipped iPhone 7 and iPhone 8.
It’s unclear if Apple plans to make use of “pixel binning” with the brand new sensor, which may lead to capturing solely 12MP images and utilizing the additional information to enhance computational images. Nevertheless, with the transfer to 24MP native capturing on the rear cameras in final yr’s iPhone 15 lineup, it appears possible that 24MP can even be the usual decision for selfies, permitting them to seize extra gentle and element — and be zoomed in digitally with out shedding as a lot. The six-element lens would additionally assist to enhance picture readability, seize extra gentle, and scale back chromatic aberrations.
Curiously, different reviews counsel that the iPhone 17 Professional might be the primary mannequin to achieve under-display Face ID. This was initially supposed to come back to the iPhone 16 Professional this yr earlier than being rolled out throughout all the iPhone 17 lineup; nevertheless, it ended up pushed again a yr attributable to sensor points, suggesting that we gained’t see it on the usual fashions till the iPhone 18 debuts in 2026.
Most analysts anticipate that Apple will implement this under-display expertise in two phases, first shifting the TrueDepth emitters and sensors beneath the show and changing the pill-shaped Dynamic Island digicam array with a extra conventional hole-punch digicam for the first picture sensor. Hiding the precise selfie digicam behind the show and eliminating the cutouts completely may take till 2026 or 2027.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]