Apple might finally bring a major camera upgrade to the iPhone 18 Pro lineup — a variable aperture lens. According to a new report from Korea’s ETNews, both the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are expected to include the feature, allowing the main camera to physically adjust how much light it lets in.
Unlike the fixed f/1.78 aperture used on the iPhone 14 Pro through iPhone 17 Pro models, this setup can open wider in dim environments for brighter, cleaner photos, or narrow down in daylight to prevent overexposure. It also gives users more control over depth of field — useful for portraits with strong background blur or sharper landscape shots with everything in focus.
Apple is reportedly working with two Chinese companies – Luxshare ICT and Sunny Optical – for the actuator that controls the aperture’s movement. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously hinted at this collaboration back in late 2024, lending more weight to today’s report.
While Samsung experimented with variable apertures years ago on the Galaxy S9 and S10, the company dropped the feature after 2020 due to its higher cost and design complexity. With the technological advancements achieved by Apple’s contract manufacturers in recent years, the variable aperture mechanism on the iPhone 18 Pro models is expected to be both slimmer and more cost-efficient. That said, the addition could still give Apple reason to raise prices. The iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099, and the iPhone 18 Pro might go a bit higher. We’ll know more as development progresses.
The new camera system is expected to debut in fall 2026 alongside the iPhone Air 2 and Apple’s first foldable iPhone. If the leaks hold true, this could be one of Apple’s most significant leaps in mobile photography in years, blending hardware finesse with its already-strong computational processing.
The iPhone 18 Pro models are also rumored to drop the Dynamic Island in favor of an under-display Face ID system.
Don’t miss a thing! Join our Telegram community for instant updates and grab our free daily newsletter for the best tech stories!
For more daily updates, please visit our News Section.
(Source)
Comments