Seven cameras for the price of three on the iPhone 15 Pro Max: Is it good enough to rival Android?

Seven cameras for the price of three on the iPhone 15 Pro Max: Is it good enough to rival Android?

The enhanced camera system on the iPhone 15 Pro and (mainly) the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the second most exciting new iPhone feature, after the USB-C port, which has now become an official part of the iPhone 15 series.

Unquestionably, people prefer Apple's Pro models over vanilla ones mostly due to the Pro models' superior camera systems, and this year Apple is taking extra care to differentiate its iPhone models' camera systems even further.

I found this quotation from Apple's iPhone 15 Pro presentation to be quite noteworthy:

Apple is claiming that even though the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max only have three real cameras on the rear, they can use those cameras to give the impression that you have a whopping seven cameras at your disposal, which is astounding. But is it really the case?

And is this the most noteworthy aspect of the new camera system on the iPhone 15 Pro series, or will the ostensibly minor improvements prove to be the most significant?

The highly anticipated 5x zoom camera included in the iPhone 15 Pro Max may be the last reason to upgrade this year, if I were to sum up the camera situation on the new iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

This may not necessarily be a negative thing, though, as Apple "brought it" in new ways that may actually have a more significant impact on how you snap shots and how they turn out. But I'll get to that in a moment.

The significant news regarding the camera on the new Pro iPhones is that they no longer share the same camera system (clearly intended to encourage customers to purchase the most costly model). While the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro settles for a 3x optical zoom lens, much like last year, the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Pro Max now sports a new, exclusive 5x optical zoom camera.

The optical/lossless zoom range of the iPhone 15 Pro is as follows:

Macro-mode

0.5x (13mm)

1x (24mm)

1.2x (28mm)

1.5x (35mm)

2x (48mm)

3x (77mm)

Maximum digital zoom is 15x.

Apple's stated maximum optical/lossless zoom range for the iPhone 15 Pro is:

Macro-mode

0.5x (13mm)

1x (24mm)

1.2x (28mm)

1.5x (35mm)

2x (48mm)

5x (120mm)

Maximum digital zoom is 25x.

Apple's seemingly ludicrous assertion that owning an iPhone 15 Pro or Max is like "having seven pro lenses in your pocket" is actually... true, as you can see from the "lens breakdown". But don't be misled; Apple like using complex terminology and idioms to wow customers, and this is undoubtedly another excellent piece of marketing from Tim Cook & Co.

Of course, there are still only three physical cameras available for use on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, Apple's 2x sensor-crop zoom is arguably the best available and fulfills the guarantee of "optical quality" More significantly, unlike any other 2x sensor-crop zoom on the market (sorry, Android), the lossless 2x zoom also functions in video. Is the macro setting a different "focal length"? If you're really into macro photography, I suppose it is.

With the new 28 and 35mm focal lengths that the iPhone 15 Pro's main camera now offers, things start to get more interesting. The fact that they will also be produced as 24MP images (which is the new standard primary camera resolution across the entire iPhone 15 lineup) leads me to believe they are not merely digitally zoomed versions of the 1x/24mm mode, even though Apple didn't specify whether they are too "optical quality" sensor crops.

However, even for Tim Cook & Co., calling the new 1.2x and 1.5x zoom options—which scarcely offer any magnification—two more focal lengths might be a touch pretentious. Apple has managed to achieve lossless quality zoom at 28/35mm.

In short, it appears that Apple is telling the truth about the "seven lenses" claim. I'll let you decide whether or not you care about the usefulness of those "seven lenses" because that is a separate topic.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max's 5x zoom camera is unlike anything we've ever seen, but is it unique solely on the inside?

It's only fair to take a minute to concentrate on the greatest camera difference between the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max and the smaller iPhone 15 Pro model, which is Apple's new 5x zoom camera, when discussing the focal lengths of the new iPhone 15 Pro camera system.

In other news, Apple has finally entered the race with its own long-range zoom camera solution as the zoom measuring competition in the smartphone sector continues. And in typical Apple form, Cupertino had to adjust a few things.

For the nerds in our audience, Apple's unconventional 5x optical zoom method also explains why the iPhone 15 Pro Max's 5x zoom camera has a circular shape. On the outside, conventional periscope cameras have a square appearance.

What distinguishes the new iPhone 15 Pro Max camera with 5x optical zoom is:

The iPhone 15 Pro Max's 5x optical zoom camera doesn't seem to use a conventional periscope zoom design like the ones we've been seeing for years in phones like the Huawei P30 Pro (the first modern phone with a periscope zoom camera), Galaxy S23 Ultra, or Pixel 7 Pro, proving that Apple has once again played a trick on everyone.

It turns out that Apple has created a novel-looking "Tetraprism" mirror that appears to be much more compact than a conventional periscope solution, enabling the camera to make use of a considerably larger image sensor (25% larger than the 3x sensor of the iPhone 15 Pro), and to capture more light.

The 5x zoom camera on the iPhone 15 Pro Max has the brightest 5x zoom camera of any smartphone (f/2.8), though not by much (the 5x periscope camera on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra has an f/3.0 aperture)

Apple claims that the 5x zoom camera on the iPhone 15 Pro Max has "the most advanced stabilization yet," delivering twice as many micro-adjustments as before thanks to a 3D sensor-shift OIS and an autofocus module that moves in all three directions. Although Apple's terminology is a little hazy, this is the first time we've seen a zoom camera with sensor-shift OIS, which may make using the 5x zoom camera on the iPhone 15 Pro Max lot simpler.

While this seems like a missed opportunity on Apple's part, don't be surprised if Cupertino is saving this upgrade for the coming years (iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 17 Pro Max, etc.). It's important to keep in mind that we're still talking about a 12MP camera here, meaning you can forget about any sensor-cropping magic that gives you 10x lossless zoom photos like with the 48MP 5x zoom camera of the Pixel 7 Pro.

In the end, despite Apple's best efforts to provide the impression that the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max offer far more versatility when it comes to cameras, the camera system in the smaller iPhone 15 Pro is mostly identical from the previous year. Similar to the iPhone 14 Pro, you get a 12MP ultra-wide, 48MP wide, and a 12MP 3x zoom camera. And that's... depressing.

However, despite how advanced the 5x zoom camera of the iPhone 15 Pro Max appears to be in terms of technology, it is still "only" a 5x zoom camera. These have been around for a while (Huawei did it in 2019).

It appears that this year's Android flagships, including the Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 8 Pro, and Xiaomi 13 Ultra, may still outperform the iPhone in terms of focal length choices without having to make the "seven cameras" claim. Not to mention that the Galaxy S23 Ultra's outstanding 10-20x zoom images and movies will ensure that it continues to reign supreme in the long-zoom category.