Wired
IT House reported on January 12 that the research institute TrendForce said that Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro model will be equipped with a 48-megapixel camera. Specifically, this refers to the rear wide-angle camera, which is currently 12MP on the iPhone 13 Pro models.
Multiple sources, including analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, have mentioned that the iPhone 14 Pro model will add a 48-megapixel wide-angle camera, and he expects the upgraded camera to support 8K video recording.
Simply increasing the megapixels of a smartphone camera, while keeping the size of the image sensor the same, results in a smaller pixel area, which captures less light, resulting in lower-quality low-light photos. As a solution, Ming-Chi Kuo has previously stated that the iPhone 14 Pro models will support both 48-megapixel and 12-megapixel outputs, likely through a process known as pixel binning.
IT House has learned that some Android phones like Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra are already using pixel binning that combines data from multiple small pixels on the camera’s image sensor into a “super pixel” to improve low-light sensitivity. Pixel binning will allow the iPhone 14 Pro models to take high-resolution 48-megapixel photos in bright conditions and 12-megapixel photos in low light, but still have high quality.
Given the large file size of 48-megapixel photos, the iPhone 14 Pro models will likely take 12-megapixel photos by default, but it remains to be seen how Apple will implement that.
Apple is expected to announce four new iPhone 14 models in September this year, including the 6.1-inch iPhone 14, 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max, 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro and 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max, the latter two Pro The device will feature a 48-megapixel camera.