Adjustable aperture: Allegedly only a feature in the iPhone 18 Pro
Apple is working on long-term improvements to its camera modules. According to a report, the rear optics will be configurable in the Aperture value in future.
iPhone 15 Pro: The three camera modules from last year.
(Image: Sebastian Trepesch)
In a future iPhone generation, it should be possible to adjust the aperture of one of the camera modules for the first time. This is the prediction of well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from TF International Securities. According to him, however, this will still take a while: The plan will reportedly only be implemented with the iPhone 18 Pro, which is scheduled for release in 2026.
No more fixed aperture?
Kuo mentions the innovation in a report to investors about possible suppliers of the components. According to the report, the innovation is planned for the wide-angle camera on the back of the iPhone 18 Pro –, i.e. the main camera alongside ultra-wide-angle and telephoto. Apple currently uses a fixed aperture of f/1.78 for the iPhone 16 Pro (and its predecessors 14 Pro and 15 Pro). The ultra-wide-angle camera is set at f/2.2 and the telephoto camera at f/2.8.
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Kuo does not specify the range in which the iPhone 18 Pro would be variable here. According to him, however, the customizability should lead to a "significantly better user experience in the field of photography". In practice, an adjustable aperture means that the main camera could be better adapted to different lighting conditions. The bokeh, i.e. the background blur or depth of field, could also be better controlled –, even optically and without using computational photography such as Apple's portrait mode.
Three suppliers already found
Kuo claims that the aperture itself and the necessary mini lenses come from Sunny Optical and Largan; alternatively, Luxshare should also help. Sunny Optical already has experience in this area for Android customers and could probably deliver comparatively quickly for Apple.
The idea of an adjustable mechanical bezel was originally predicted for the iPhone 17 Pro. In the summer, the US news service The Information reported on corresponding plans. It now appears that Apple is taking a little longer to implement it. In view of the size of the image sensor and the optics, however, it is unlikely that the aperture would really be highly variable. However, this could be compensated for by computational photography.
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