Everyone’s talking about the iPhone 15’s “periscope” camera, but what does that mean?
If you’ve been following iPhone 15 rumors or have been anywhere near an Apple production line, you may have read or heard the phrase “periscope camera” many times in reference to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. This feature has been talked about since before the launch of iPhone 14, so we are confident that it will come true.
Additional leaks reinforced these rumors, which is one of the many reasons why it is believed that the iPhone 15 Pro Max price will increase by $ 200. But with all the chatter about the existence of a periscope camera, not many people really understand this technology. What does “periscope camera” mean and why should you care about its arrival on the iPhone?
What is the periscope camera of the iPhone 15?
The rumor centering around the phrase “periscope lens” is merely a description of a technology intended to serve as a selling point. In practical terms, this new lens allows the iPhone 15 Pro Max to have 6x optical zoom. Previous iPhone models could only do 3x optical zoom, allowing for a much larger hardware-dependent zoom before turning into a grainy mess thanks to digital.
Imagine a traditional telephoto lens, the kind you see attached to professional cameras. When you zoom in, you can see the lens actually lengthen, causing it to stick out. This cannot be done with smartphones on a large scale, which is why optical zoom for telephoto has been limited for years.
Periscope instead uses reflection of light through multiple lenses aligned through the height or width of the phone, reflecting the light at right angles in the final step. Imagine an aperture, but instead of having to protrude outward to zoom in further, each lens inside the phone is aligned across its body and then reflected through a 90-degree prism to pass through the lens.
The technique isn’t simple, but have you ever played one of those games that look like a long rod with two holes at the top and bottom? When you look through the bottom hole, you can see clearly through the top hole, which always amazed me as a kid. This is exactly what periscope is. Depending on your age, you can probably google “binoculars game” and get it right away.
But this technology is not entirely new. In classic Apple fashion, the company jumps into this trend a little later than others. Samsung has been doing this since the launch of the Galaxy S20 Ultra, which was released in 2020. So far, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra features 10x optical zoom thanks to the periscope lens. The Google Pixel 6 Pro also has 4x optical zoom with the periscope, while the Pixel 7 Pro has been upgraded to 5x.
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