The iPhone 15 could be an optical zoom monster

The iPhone 15 can offer 10x optical zoom thanks to the use of a periscope lens.

In recent years, we have already seen smartphones, especially from Huawei and Oppo, enter the market on a rather impressive scale. Scaling isn’t usually an aspect of photography that Apple puts too much emphasis on. For example, a device like the iPhone 12 Pro Max could only have 2.5x optical zoom.

iPhone 15 may offer 10x optical zoom

That said, things could change with the arrival of the iPhone 15, which should arrive next year, i.e. 2023. At least that’s what analyst Jeff Pu says, who says the iPhone will offer up to 10x optical zoom. Either way, a pretty crazy number when it comes to iPhone cameras. And this feat was made possible by the use of a periscope lens.

The rumors suggesting that Cupertino uses this periscope lens technology don’t date from yesterday. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo already said in 2021 that the iPhone 15 could benefit from a lens design that allows for better zoom. Optical zoom is widely preferred over digital zoom, the latter ultimately only consisting of software framing of your main subject.

This is due to the use of a periscope lens.

While ultra wide angle lenses are more popular, especially for everyday photography, telephoto lenses can be very useful too. They can be used for portraits, the zoom helps to frame the subject well, and obviously they are all designed for landscapes if you want to highlight certain elements such as a snowy mountain top, an element of the landscape. Interesting architecture etc.

In any case, if the Apple brand manages to integrate a periscope lens into its iPhone and the result is, it could seriously return the American giant to the photophone segment.