Apple’s current flagship iPhone feature, the Dynamic Island, is set to trickle down to the standard iPhone 15 when the device launches in September this year – but now we’re almost certain that the company’s next vanilla iPhone will be getting a 48MP main camera, too.
We’ve actually been hearing this rumor for months, but it’s now been corroborated by a new report – seen by ITHome – which says that Sony has asked chipmaker TSMC to help it manage more demanding iPhone orders in light of every model in the upcoming iPhone 15 line featuring a 48MP main camera.
For reference, the standard iPhone 14 features a dual-camera setup comprising a 12MP main sensor and a 12MP ultra-wide camera. This setup is essentially unchanged from the iPhone 13 – save for the upgraded imaging pipeline and larger aperture measurements inside the iPhone 14 – so it’s good to hear that Apple may be preparing to give vanilla iPhone fans a tangible reason to consider upgrading to the iPhone 15 this year.
Notably, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max were the first iPhones to get pixel-binning 48MP sensors. In other words, they’re capable of capturing 12MP images, with four pixels combined into one effective larger pixel, which results in better low-light performance and color fidelity.
The iPhone 14 Pro (above) sports three rear cameras, while the iPhone 15 will likely stick with two (Image credit: Future / Apple)
By the sounds of things, though, these premium sensors won’t be remaining exclusive to Apple’s Pro-level iPhones for much longer, and the addition of a 48MP camera on the standard iPhone 15 seems likely to result in a camera bump redesign versus the iPhone 14, too.
The standard iPhone 15 may also still lack one of the iPhone 14 Pro’s biggest features. The latter boasts adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate technology (dubbed ProMotion) that automatically adjusts the smoothness of its display to suit whatever’s happening on-screen, but the iPhone 15 will reportedly stick with its predecessor’s 60Hz refresh rate.
Apple’s always-on display functionality relies on ProMotion to function, so it looks like the standard iPhone 15 won’t be getting that feature, either.