The periscope camera lens unique to the iPhone 15 Pro Max will be exclusively provided by Taiwan's precision optical lens manufacturer: Largan.
The rumor that the iPhone has obtained a periscope lens has been circulating since the beginning of 2020. Senior industry analysts have said that the periscope lens will be a feature of the iPhone 14 Pro, but recently he said that this lens type will be exclusively featured in the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and analyst Jeff Pu has also made such a prediction.
In a periscope system, light entering the telephoto lens is reflected by an inclined mirror onto the image sensor of the camera. The change in the direction of light travel allows the telephoto setting inside the phone to "fold" longer, allowing the user to zoom in further without blurring.
Senior industry analysts said that the average selling price of periscope camera lenses shipped by Largan is about $4 (including prisms), significantly lower than the market consensus of $4.5 to $5 or higher. "The $4 price means that Largan cannot profit from the periscope camera lens."
This year, Apple is expected to make improvements to the telephoto and wide-angle lenses of its iPhone 14 Pro model. Apple will upgrade its telephoto lens from a 6-piece lens to a 7-piece lens.
Senior industry analysts also believe that the 2022 Pro iPhone model will be equipped with a 48 megapixel wide-angle camera, which will be a significant improvement on the current 12 megapixel camera. The 8K video recording feature will enable iPhone recorded videos to be perfectly displayed on an 8K display screen or TV, providing a better user experience.
Looking ahead, senior industry analysts believe that the two iPhone 16 Pro models in 2024 will use the same or similar periscope lenses as the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and Apple will continue its trend of distinguishing between standard and Pro models, reserving some more high-end hardware features for the latter.
Senior industry analysts expect Apple supplier Genius to start supplying periscope lenses for the iPhone 16, which will be cheaper at that time.