Leaks Claim Apple Has a "Four-Step" iPhone Camera Upgrade Roadmap
A well-known Chinese leaker, "Digital Chat Station," recently posted on social media claiming that Apple is planning a "four-step" camera upgrade plan for future generations of iPhones, with the first project to be implemented starting with this year's iPhone 18 Pro series. According to the source, the four main camera upgrades Apple is discussing and evaluating include: variable aperture, a 1/1.12-inch "ultra-large" main camera sensor, stronger optical image stabilization for the ultra-wide lens, and a 200MP periscope telephoto lens.
According to current rumors from various sources, the variable aperture feature is expected to debut first on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, scheduled for release in September of this year. As early as December 2024, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated that the rear main cameras of the two iPhone 18 Pro models would support variable aperture. In October 2025, reports emerged that Apple had advanced the plan and was communicating with component suppliers regarding specific components. If the news is true, this will be the first time an iPhone has been equipped with a variable aperture mechanism – from the iPhone 14 Pro to the iPhone 17 Pro, the main camera has consistently used a fixed ƒ/1.78 aperture, with the lens always fully open during shooting.
Unlike a fixed aperture, a variable aperture allows the camera to automatically adjust the amount of light entering based on the environment: opening the aperture in low-light conditions to collect as much light as possible, and closing the aperture in bright light to avoid overexposure. It also provides users with more flexible control over depth of field. The industry expects this change to improve low-light imaging quality, enhance exposure control, and deliver more natural depth-of-field transitions in everyday shooting and portrait mode.
In addition to the variable aperture, the other three upgrades mentioned by "Digital Chat Station" are considered to be more of a medium-to-long-term plan for iPhone models after the iPhone 18 Pro, and there is currently no clear mass production schedule. Regarding the main camera sensor, Apple is testing a "ultra-large" solution labeled as 1/1.12 inches, but this naming follows traditional optical format standards and is not the actual physical size. In terms of conversion, the diagonal length of such a sensor is approximately 14.5mm. While smaller than the intuitive impression given by the name, it is already a very large specification in the smartphone field. Reports indicate that this size is consistent with the LYT-901 in Sony's LYTIA series, which is currently used in the vivo X300 Ultra. Compared to the 1/1.28-inch main camera sensor used in the iPhone 17 Pro, it has a larger area and is expected to bring substantial improvements in low-light performance, dynamic range, and signal-to-noise ratio.
Regarding the 200MP periscope telephoto lens, "Digital Chat Station," who has repeatedly mentioned this plan, stated that Apple is indeed researching and conducting related tests, but its latest statement is that the possibility of this level of telephoto camera appearing on the iPhone before 2028 is low. This means that even if Apple has begun evaluating large-bottom, high-pixel telephoto lenses, actual mass production and implementation still belong to medium-to-long-term plans. For the ultra-wide lens, Apple is also exploring stronger optical image stabilization solutions, aiming to further improve image stability at focal lengths beyond the wide-angle, but the specific implementation path and timeline remain unclear.
"Digital Chat Station" has over 3 million followers on the Chinese social media platform Weibo and has a certain track record of accuracy in leaks related to Apple products. For example, it previously disclosed the overall appearance design of the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro, as well as the configuration of three 48-megapixel rear cameras on the iPhone 17 Pro, which later proved to be consistent with the actual situation. Recently, the account also claimed that Apple's first foldable model is expected to be released simultaneously with the iPhone 18 Pro and may be named "iPhone Ultra."
Currently, Apple has not made any public response to the above-mentioned camera upgrade plans. Given that the information mainly comes from the supply chain and leakers, the hardware specifications and timeline of the final mass-produced models remain subject to change. However, judging from Apple's overall trend in camera hardware, a multi-stage imaging upgrade roadmap starting with the iPhone 18 Pro is gradually taking shape.