Both iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max to use tetraprism telephoto lens

It seems like Apple is keen on improving the telephoto capability of the iPhone 16 series by adopting a periscope or tetraprism lens on both Pro models.

Macrumors reported that the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will launch with new tetraprism, also known as periscope, telephoto cameras.

Tetraprism lenses are optical zoom technology that achieves far zoom levels by increasing the camera bump thickness using multiple prism lenses inside.

The recently launched iPhone 15 Pro Max is the only one in the lineup to use a tetraprism lens with 5X optical zoom, while it also offers a 25x digital zoom range.

However, the tetraprism lens module is a big challenge for phone makers and it requires more space than any other lens in the camera system. Therefore, Apple is likely to increase the overall size of the iPhone 16 Pro model.

Past leaks suggest that the iPhone 16 Pro could expand to 6.3 inches in display size compared to 6.1 inches in the 15 Pro. This would allow the expansion of the entire device dimension and create more space to fit this telephoto camera module.

Documentation on this matter also hints that the camera system on the iPhone 16 Pro may be identical to the iPhone 15 Pro max. However, this could be taken as an exciting piece of information regarding this upcoming iPhone lineup.

Well-known Apple analyst, Ming Chi-Kuo shared details of the tetraprism camera supply, saying that Apple will fetch these lenses from Taiwan’s Largan Precision and take it over 160% YOY as compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Kuo also mentioned that future iPhones could switch to Largan’s glass lens with the iPhone 17 and iPhone 18 series in 2025 and 2026 respectively.