Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The iPhone 18 series will get a variable aperture main camera, according to a trusted analyst.
- This feature first debuted on Samsung smartphones and is currently found on devices from HUAWEI, HONOR, Xiaomi, and more.
- This would enable more realistic portrait-style shots, brighter images, and more.
The iPhone 16 series has only been out for just under two months, but there’s been no shortage of iPhone 17 series rumors. If that’s not enough, a trusted source has now revealed a major iPhone 18 series detail.
Noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has reported (spotted via Jukanlosreve on X) that the “high-end” iPhone 18 will get a variable aperture main camera. The analyst says this feature, which is seen on several Android camera phones, will “significantly” enhance the photography experience. The feature was initially rumored to appear on the iPhone 17 range, but it looks like it’ll now debut one year later.
An aperture is the opening that lets light into the camera, but the vast majority of smartphones have fixed apertures. However, there are a few reasons why an adjustable or variable aperture would be a welcome addition.
Why should you look forward to variable aperture cameras?
The ability to adjust the size of a smartphone camera’s aperture means you can control the amount of light hitting the camera sensor. You can opt for a wide aperture at night when you need all the light you can get, and then switch to a narrow aperture during the day when there’s plentiful sunlight.
Switching to a wider aperture also gives you a shallow depth of field, which is handy for portrait-style shots as only your subject is in focus and everything else is blurred. That means you don’t have to rely on software to generate a convincing portrait image. Conversely, a narrow aperture gives you a deep depth of field, which means the entire scene is in focus (including your subject and background). Check out the comparison below.
Another reason to look forward to a variable aperture camera on smartphones is that it allows you to get a little closer to your subject before things get blurry. This is particularly important for today’s large (~1-inch) mobile camera sensors, which don’t let you get very close to a subject in the first place compared to much smaller sensors. We’ve even seen Xiaomi use the variable aperture on the Xiaomi 14 Ultra to create starburst-shaped light sources in photos, as seen below.
Samsung was the first OEM to adopt the feature on modern smartphones with the Galaxy S9 series in 2018, shortly followed by the OPPO R17 Pro that same year. It’s made a comeback in recent years on devices like Xiaomi’s Ultra series, HUAWEI’s last few flagship phones, and the brand-new HONOR Magic 7 series. So Apple clearly won’t be the first smartphone maker to adopt variable aperture cameras, but we’re keen to see what the iPhone maker can do with the tech.
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