iPhone 14 Pro again rumored for 48-megapixel camera upgrade

Iphone 13 Pro Sierra Blue Hero
Iphone 13 Pro Sierra Blue Hero (Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple is rumored to have a 48-megapixel camera upgrade planned for iPhone 14 Pro.
  • Apple's iPhone 13 Pro currently uses a 12-megapixel camera.
  • It's likely that the iPhone 14 Pro would still take 12-megapixel still photos in poor lighting conditions.

If all goes according to expectations we can expect Apple to announce the iPhone 14 series of devices in or around September and a new report suggests the Pro models are in for a big camera upgrade. Current Pro iPhones ship with a 12-megapixel camera on board but hopes are high that we can expect that to increase to 48 megapixels when the iPhone 14 Pro rolls around.

We've already heard similar reports from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo along with claims of impending 8K video support. Now it's research outfit Trendforce pointing to the rear camera of iPhone 14 Pro and suggesting it could see a huge increase in the number of pixels on offer.

According to the latest Trendforce report, Apple will bring the 48-megapixel camera to its Pro models this year.

... a 48 million pixel primary camera is expected to be introduced to the iPhone 14 Pro series (tentative name) that Apple will release this year, further reducing 12 million pixel products to a 15% share in 2022.

It's widely expected that the new camera will take 12-megapixel shots by default with the option to use all 48 megapixels on demand. Pixel binning is also likely to be a feature, something that allows phones to use the camera's full capabilities but output an image with a lower pixel count — often in low light conditions.

Apple's current best iPhone in terms of photography is the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the images it can produce with its current crop of cameras is impressive. Expectations will surely be through the roof when Apple announces the next line of flagship models later this year.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.