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Debunked: Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro does not have seven lenses

by on14 September 2023


Camera obscura marketing

Strapped for a real innovation on its new and overpriced iPhone 15 Pro, Apple appears to have over-egged the pudding when it comes to the spec.

In the marketing material, Apple talked about the phone having the equivalent of seven different lenses. The information has been copied by the Tame Apple Press who are generally stuck with a way of singing the phones praises.  Some sites even say that the phone has seven cameras in total.

However, this is not exactly true. The iPhone 15 Pro has a 48-megapixel camera that has a fixed focal length of 24mm. Every focal length beyond that is entirely digital and not optical. This means that 28mm, 35mm, and 48mm are all digital, as the lens itself is mechanically not capable of moving. Even the 12-megapixel telephoto is actually 77mm instead of 120mm, as Apple has marketed.

What is shameful about this sort of marketing is that to the average Apple fanboy they are going to see these settings and assume that it is Apple’s wonderful hardware, when it is just software that most Android also see.

There is a huge difference between digital and optical zoom.  An optical zoom has better depth of field, colours and clarity. Digital zoom is just enlarged cropping. While the iPhone 15 Pro has a 48-megapixel sensor, deterioration will not be that bad, but it is still not a real zoom – let alone seven lenses.

Last modified on 14 September 2023
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