Camera improvements coming on iPhone 16 and 17 series, Says Kuo

The latest update coming from TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo showcases some major improvements about Apple’s next-gen iPhone 16 and 17 series. Sourced from Genius, Apple’s major lens supplier, talking about the ultrawide camera on the iPhone 16 series and the front-facing camera on the iPhone 17 series. Here’s the tee!

First up, Apple is likely to upgrade the front-facing camera from 12MP with a 5P lens (on the iPhone 15 series) to 24M with a 7P lens. This will significantly improve image quality on the front cameras. For Genius, it means increased costs to produce and ship the 7P lens at approx 100 to 120$ higher than what the 5P lens would cost.

As the iPhone 16 Pro series is getting a 0.2” larger screen real estate, the 6.3” iPhone 16 will enjoy some added benefits. The tetraprism periscope zoom lens on the 16 Pro Max is expected to remain unchanged compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It should appear on the iPhone 16 Pro as well. These periscope lenses will be shipped by Largan, Apple’s primary supplier while Genius will add to the list of suppliers. It is estimated to ship the lens by the end of 2Q24 or early 3Q24 if everything goes as planned/

It’s not just the front cam but the iPhone 16 Pro series will see an upgraded ultrawide sensor. For now, we use a 12MP ultrawide cam with a 1.0-micron pixel size and a 1/3.6” sensor size. This will upgrade to 48MP 0.7 micron and 1/2.6” pixel size. This should improve the image quality on the iPhone 16 series (and iPhone 17 series as well) without adding much to the cost since it is still based on a 6P lens setup.

Genius is also behind the pancake lens shipped for Apple Vision Pro arriving in a few days. It is an exclusive supplier of flat and thin lenses. All this will greatly improve Genius revenue reaching NT$3 billion by 2H25 along with the 24MP 7P front cam.

Apple iPhone 16 series is expected to ship this September followed by iPhone 17 series in September 2025. We still have almost 10 months to reach the edge of the rumor mills to find what’s concrete and what’s not.