{"id":621099,"date":"2026-04-22T13:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/621099\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:29:10","slug":"iphone-18-pro-to-kick-off-apples-four-part-camera-upgrade-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/621099\/","title":{"rendered":"iPhone 18 Pro to Kick Off Apple&#8217;s Four-Part Camera Upgrade Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Apple is evaluating four camera upgrades for future iPhone models, with the first new feature scheduled for this year&#8217;s iPhone 18 Pro models, according to a reputable Chinese leaker.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iphone-17-cameras-zoom.jpg\"   alt=\"iphone 17 cameras zoom\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1126\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1018421\"\/><br \/>The Weibo-based account <a href=\"https:\/\/weibo.com\/6048569942\/QBZkctRju\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Digital Chat Station<\/a> claims that Apple has implementation plans for the following upgrades:<\/p>\n<p>Variable aperture<br \/>\n1\/1.12-inch &#8220;ultra-large&#8221; main camera sensor<br \/>\nEnhanced optical image stabilization for ultra-wide lens<br \/>\n200-megapixel periscope telephoto lens<\/p>\n<p>The variable aperture is widely rumored to be introduced with the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, expected to launch this September. Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2024\/12\/23\/iphone-18-pro-rumored-camera-upgrade\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 2024<\/a> that the main rear camera on both \u200ciPhone 18 Pro\u200c models will offer variable aperture. More recently in October, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2025\/10\/15\/iphone-18-pros-major-camera-upgrade\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a> claimed that Apple is moving ahead with those plans and was discussing components with suppliers.<\/p>\n<p>Apple has never implemented a variable aperture on an iPhone. From the iPhone 14 Pro through the iPhone 17 Pro, the main camera uses a fixed \u0192\/1.78 aperture, meaning the lens remains fully open at all times when capturing images. In contrast, a variable aperture lets the camera control how much light reaches the sensor. In low-light conditions, it opens to admit more light, while in bright scenes, it closes to avoid overexposure. This should also give users more control over depth of field.<\/p>\n<p>The other camera upgrades the leaker mentioned appear to be ones that Apple is testing for future models beyond the iPhone 18 Pro, with an unclear timeline for implementation.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding the &#8220;ultra-large&#8221; main sensor, the 1\/1.12-inch label is based on a legacy optical format, not a literal measurement. It dates back to video camera tubes, so the number doesn&#8217;t correspond directly to the sensor&#8217;s physical width. In practice, a 1\/1.12-inch sensor has a diagonal of around 14.5mm \u2013 far smaller than the label might suggest, but very large by smartphone standards. It&#8217;s the same size as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sony-semicon.com\/en\/info\/2025\/2025112701.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sony&#8217;s LYTIA LYT-901<\/a>, which is shipping in the Vivo X300 Ultra. It&#8217;s significantly larger than the 1\/1.28-inch main sensor the iPhone 17 Pro models use, and would offer improved low-light performance, dynamic range, and signal-to-noise ratio.<\/p>\n<p>As for the 200-megapixel periscope telephoto lens, Digital Chat Station has mentioned multiple times that Apple is studying the technology, but they recently said it is unlikely to feature in an iPhone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2026\/04\/21\/200mp-telephoto-iphone-lens-unlikely-before-2028\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">before 2028<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Digital Chat Station has more than three million followers on Weibo, and has a track record of accurately leaking Apple-related information. For example, they accurately revealed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2025\/02\/17\/iphone-design-to-change-significantly\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">overall design<\/a> of the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro, as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2025\/01\/10\/both-iphone-17-pro-models-three-48mp-cameras\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">triple 48-megapixel rear camera system<\/a> of the \u200ciPhone 17 Pro.\u200c Recently, the leaker claimed Apple&#8217;s first foldable, expected to arrive alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models, will be called &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2026\/04\/07\/foldable-iphone-fold-iphone-ultra\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">iPhone Ultra<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apple is evaluating four camera upgrades for future iPhone models, with the first new feature scheduled for this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,21185,60,90732,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-621099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-digital-chat-station","11":"tag-featured","12":"tag-iphone-18-pro","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}