iPhone 15 Pro Max is expected to debut in the second half of 2023 as the successor to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Unlike previous Pro iPhone models, the company is tipped to equip this year’s top-of-the-line flagship phone with a periscope camera. A new leak speculates that in order to make room for the periscope lens, which improves the zoom capability of the telephoto camera, the Cupertino company plans to rearrange the rear camera layout on the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Tipster Unknownz21 (Twitter: @URedditor) claims that Apple will change the layout of the triple rear camera setup on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, swapping the positions of the ultra-wide angle and telephoto cameras. The camera located between the LiDAR and the LED flash will be a periscope lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and a standard telephoto camera on the iPhone 15 Pro.
The 15 Pro Max’s ultrawide camera is swapping positions with the telephoto compared to the 14.
Why? Because there is no room on the bottom lens for the periscope. Can’t go down because of the battery. Can’t go right because of the LiDAR scanner.
Has to be the middle lens. https://t.co/OnGyEh5ahp pic.twitter.com/yrnuvykPen
— Vadim Yuryev (@VadimYuryev) May 16, 2023
It is worth taking these claims with a pinch of salt as Apple is yet to reveal any plans to upgrade the zoom capabilities of the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max. Meanwhile, Max Tech’s Vadim Yuryev suggests that the periscope lens on the purported smartphone will have to be located under the ultra-wide angle camera and above the primary camera simply because there would be no place for the periscope lens in the other two positions.
A periscope camera setup allows for a larger distance between the image sensor and the lens compared to a regular telephoto camera, but it takes a considerable amount of space horizontally. As a result, the addition of a periscope lens will require other components to be moved around.
Yuryev claims that the battery below the bottom lens and the LiDAR scanner are two components that prevent the company from equipping the periscope lens at the bottom of the camera module. The middle lens position will allow Apple to change the design of the logic board to accommodate the new lens setup — something that won’t be possible on the smaller iPhone 15 Pro due to limited space, he claims.
This is not the first time that Apple has been tipped to equip the iPhone 15 Pro Max with a periscope lens. Last month, it was reported that the upcoming handset is expected to sport a periscope camera lens with support for up 6x optical zoom. The rumoured value is still lower that the 10x optical zoom on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s periscope camera. As previously mentioned, Apple is yet to announce any details of its plans to equip the iPhone 15 Pro Max with a periscope lens.