Periscope camera coming to iPhone 15 Pro Max, but could it also arrive on smaller 15 Pro model?

by techlowdown · 20 June 2022

The iPhone 14 is not even out yet, but we are already seeing reports about next year’s iPhone 15 series, so… how does that work?

Well, it does because the iPhone 15, and specifically the Pro models, are expected to get one big camera upgrade in the form of a brand new periscope zoom lens. And whenever there is an upgrade of that magnitude, that means setting up processes with manufacturers and suppliers, and these things seem to leak out.

So this latest report comes from Haitong Intl Tech Research and analyst Jeff Pu (via 9to5Mac), and in it we learn that Lante Optics, one of the companies that is rumored to supply Apple with the zoom lens continues raising its capacity for the prism required to make this lens:

“Lante continues raising its planned capacity for prism. We continue seeing a very high chance of the periscope’s adoption, with Lante being the major supplier.”

Back in January 2022, we saw reports about the Apple/Lante partnership and back then, those reports claimed that Cupertino was to finalize a deal and a decision in May 2022. We don’t know if this had happened, but it certainly seems so in light of this recent report.

If such a deal goes through, Lante could receive orders for as much as 100 million units of the crucial component.

Rumors say it will be a 5X zoom lens

The same analyst, Jeff Pu, initially predicted that Apple is to adopt a 10X periscope zoom lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but later changed his expectations that it will be a 5X zoom lens, something that another famed industry insider, Ming Chi Kuo, also agrees with.

In this latest note, Pu mentions that it is not yet clear whether it will be just the Pro Max, or if the smaller iPhone 15 Pro might also get this new periscope lens.