According to research firm TrendForce, the iPhone 14 Pro models will feature a 48-megapixel camera. Specifically, this refers to the wide-angle camera located on the back, which is currently a 12-megapixel camera on the iPhone 13 Pro models. Multiple sources, including analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, have mentioned that the iPhone 14 Pro models will add a 48-megapixel wide-angle camera, and he expects the upgraded camera to support 8K video recording as well.
In the case where the image remains the same sensor size, simply increasing the smartphone megapixels camera pixels will lead to smaller, and thus the light capture becomes small, resulting in low-quality low-light photography. As a solution, Kuo has previously said that the iPhone 14 Pro models will support both 48-megapixel and 12-megapixel outputs, possibly through a practice known as pixel binning.
This technique, already used in Android phones like Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra, combines data from multiple small pixels on the camera’s image sensor into a “superpixel” to improve low-light sensitivity. The introduction of this similar technology will allow the iPhone 14 Pro models to take high-resolution 48-megapixel photos in bright conditions and 12-megapixel photos in low-light conditions but still have high quality.
Given the large file size of 48-megapixel photos, the iPhone 14 Pro models will likely take 12-megapixel photos by default, but it remains to be seen how Apple will implement that. Apple is expected to announce four new iPhone 14 models in September, including the 6.1-inch iPhone 14, 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max, 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, and 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max, the latter two devices will be equipped with a 48-megapixel camera.