Apple is leading the charge on square-format sensors, and it's the most I've been excited for a new phone in years!

Not to sound too negative but I‘m somewhat pessimistic of the need for manufacturers to bring out a new smartphone annually. I can’t be the only one that feels we’ve gotten to the point of diminishing returns where we’re seeing rather small tweaks rather than those big upgrades we enjoyed in the 2000’s and early 2010’s like 3G, GPS, gyroscopes, touch screens, app stores and haptic actuators to name but a few.

That being said, there was one feature of Apple’s most recent iPhone 17 in September 2025 that did make me stand upright and gave me the same giddy excitement. Apple has done something rather ground-breaking by making its front-facing camera for selfies a square format. In the world of cameras this is a pretty leftfield move – Apple calls it a ‘frame changer’ and I’m inclined to agree. Here’s why…

The new Apple ‘Center Stage’ front camera has a square 1:1 aspect ratio so for selfies taken at an arms length it no longer matters whether you hold the camera in the awkward landscape, or more comfortable portrait orientation, as you’ll be getting the best photo from either position.

I have wondered for years if we’d ever see a manufacturer with big enough cojones to pull off a circular sensor that would maximise the output from lenses which naturally produce an imaging circle. With the conventional 3:2 and 4:3 digital imaging sensors most of us use in our best DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, we crop off a lot of the data from that imaging circle to meet the common rectangular sensor sizes.

I’m thrilled that Apple has been brave enough to pull off such a move with its square sensor format that is no doubt more cost effective to produce than a circular sensor and provides the same 1:1 aspect ratio. The great thing is that it’s also 18MP so there’s plenty of resolution to crop the image any which way you want.

I can totally see why this tech would come in handy for selfies and vlogging, but I’m perhaps more excited to see if other camera manufacturers take note. Apple has for years been a bit of a trendsetter so I’m hopeful that one day the likes of Canon, Nikon or Sony could bring out a square format sensor, paired with OpenGate the cropping options would be hard to beat. 6x6cm film for medium format cameras used to be a perfectly acceptable form factor so I’m hopeful we see the return of more square sensors in the near future.

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