Previous reports have suggested that Apple is planning to fit a 200-megapixel camera to an iPhone in either 2027 or 2028.
While squeezing ever more pixels into the same size sensor would be bad news for low-light photography, the latest report has a couple of pieces of good news …
The 200MP camera reports
It was in May of last year that Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station (DCS) – a leaker with a decent track record – first suggested that Apple was working on a 200MP camera for a future iPhone. That would be a massive increase over the 48MP sensors used in the latest iPhone 17 Pro models.
Fast forward to January of this year and the report was backed by Morgan Stanley. The bank suggested then that the 200MP camera would be launched in a 2028 iPhone.
More megapixels aren’t always a good thing
The problem with squeezing ever more megapixels into a smartphone-sized sensor is that the pixel density increases. This means that more noise is introduced into photos, which can be especially visible in low-light shots.
This is the reason that Apple for a long time completely ignored the megapixel race and stuck firmly to 12MP while its rivals were launching smartphones with far higher pixel counts. IPhones were the best smartphone cameras around when it came to low-light photography.
That’s important because many of our most emotionally-important photos and videos are taken in low light conditions. Think birthday parties, restaurants, kids playing indoors, and so on. It’s only relatively recently that Apple bumped up the megapixels to 48MP.
Larger sensor
The best solution to the pixel density problem is to increase the size of the sensor. Alongside much better lenses, this is another key reason that standalone cameras tend to be better than smartphone cameras: the sensors are very much larger.
According to a new report by DCS, this is exactly what Apple has planned.
According to reliable supply-chain sources, Apple is also evaluating a 200MP 1/1.12-inch sensor—the same configuration as the Oppo Find X9 Ultra.
If the company does indeed use the same configuration as the Oppo camera, then the 200MP sensor would be limited to the telephoto lens.
They also suggest that this new sensor will be introduced in next year’s iPhone lineup, rather than in 2028.
Making sense of sensor sizes
We use a rather antiquated measurement system when it comes to camera sensor sizes, based on 1950s tube-based television cameras! The best way to make sense of them is to convert from the quoted size to the total area in square millimeters.
Let’s put the rumored new size into context with the main sensor of Apple’s current iPhone cameras:
| iPhone 17/iPhone Air | 1/1.56″ | 48mm² |
| iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max | 1/1.28″ | 71.5mm² |
| Rumored 200MP sensor | 1/1.12″ | 93.2mm² |
9to5Mac’s Take
I’d be worried about the pixel density of a 200MP main sensor, even with a larger size.
However, if DCS is right that Apple is taking exactly the same approach as Oppo, then the high-density sensor would only be used for the telephoto lens. This is obviously less likely to be used indoors where low light conditions can be challenging.
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