Tetraprism Telephoto Lens to be Available on Both iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max

Recently, MacRumors has received information indicating that Apple intends to implement the tetraprism telephoto lens on both iPhone 16 Pro and ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ Max in 2024.

iPhone 16 Pro Mock Header Updated

Our findings align with claims made by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo back in September, which were recently reiterated. The Elec also published a report earlier this month which makes the same claim about tetraprism availability, albeit with more details.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max features a tetraprism telephoto camera. The folded glass structure within it uses a tetraprism design which repeatedly reflects light, allowing for up to 5x optical zoom, up from 3x on the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

This year, the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ was released without the new-and-improved tetraprism telephoto camera, likely due to spatial constraints. The components necessary for the tetraprism camera occupy significantly more space than the telephoto camera currently found on the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌, and consequently would not fit in the smaller 6.1” device.

With the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌, Apple intends to increase the overall size of the devices, with the displays of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max measuring roughly 6.3" and 6.9", respectively. The increased device sizes would provide ample room for the new tetraprism telephoto camera, and internal documentation seen by MacRumors corroborates this change.

Internal documentation detailing the camera module design for the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ reveals that the module bears significant resemblance to the module used in the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max. At a glance, the area containing the tetraprism components can be easily identified.

It is important to consider that the information provided here constitutes pre-production information and may not reflect the hardware found on final mass production units. The ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ is still many months away and changes are always possible.

For more details on what to expect, check out our rumor roundup page for the iPhone 16 Pro.

Related Roundup: iPhone 16 Pro

Top Rated Comments

McWetty Avatar
15 weeks ago
Don’t want a bigger phone… please, for the love of Jobs, make an iPhone Pro mini.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ipedro Avatar
15 weeks ago

Don’t want a bigger phone… please, for the love of Jobs, make an iPhone Pro mini.
Here it is.



It’s so mini you can wear it on your wrist.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DocMultimedia Avatar
15 weeks ago
Can I pre-order yet? Want best camera, but can't deal with a Max. Skipped this year.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Justin Cymbal Avatar
15 weeks ago
I’m glad that Apple might be making the new tetraprism telephoto lens available on both the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max instead of what Apple did this year in only making the better camera available on the iPhone 15 Pro Max

I much prefer the smaller sized screen over the max version so I’m glad that there’s a possibility that the only differentiating factor in the iPhone 16 Pro model phones will be the screen size and not the camera features
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ipedro Avatar
15 weeks ago
I hope this pans out. I've had a large iPhone since the iPhone 6 Plus and I'm kind of done with large iPhones. As a photographer, I do want a proper telephoto so being able to choose the smaller iPhone is going to be great.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
15 weeks ago

I am not keeping my hope up on these lenses offering better image quality than this years iPhone, especially if 90% of the final photo is the result of heavy post-processing.
I would say 90% of what makes a compelling photograph comes from the photographer and his/her ability to see, compose, evaluate the quality of light, recognize gesture, the potential of releasing narrative in a viewer's mind, and on and on.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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