The launch of the new iPhone 18 is likely only a 3-4 months away, and the rumor mill is spinning up with chatter about what camera hardware it may ship with. The latest tip reiterates previous speculation that the iPhone 18 could feature a variable aperture lens for its primary camera module. The rumor comes from respected industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, though it has also been reported by a separate source in Apple's supply chain.
In the current climate where phone manufacturers often prefer AI image processing improvements over camera hardware upgrades, the news that Apple could be developing a new lens for its next iPhone seems welcome. However, I remain to be convinced that such a feature will have a noticeable improvement to camera usability or image quality.
A variable lens aperture is essential in a lens designed for a conventional, large-sensor camera like a full-frame DSLR or mirrorless body. This is because the larger the sensor, the shallower the depth of field at a given aperture. With a full-frame camera, if you want a subject close to the camera and a more distant background to both be in focus, you'll need to significantly reduce the lens aperture. But shrink the sensor down to 1/1.28" - the size of the sensor in the iPhone 17 Pro's primary camera - and, even at the module's native f/1.8 aperture, there'll still be a huge depth of field.
As background detail is almost always clearly visible behind a subject snapped by a camera phone, we've seen the implementation of portrait modes which use software processing to artificially blur background. The aim here is to emulate the shallow depth of field effect you 'naturally' get from a large-sensor camera/wide-aperture lens combination.
So if a camera phone is inherently good at producing a deep depth of field, there's little reason for having a lens with a variable lens aperture. You may as well fix the aperture to be as large as possible to get the maximum amount of light through to the sensor, thereby keeping shutter speeds high and ISO sensitivity low - the ideal recipe for sharp, low-noise shots. Having a variable aperture lens sounds impressive, but the benefits are few and far between when it comes to real world use in a camera phone.
What's more, a variable aperture lens could actually be a bad thing for iPhone 18 buyers. Kuo's tip also states that a variable aperture lens could costs as much as 50% more than the current fixed aperture glass used in current iPhones. At a time when flagship phones are likely to increase in price on account of continual rises in the cost of flash memory, paying even more for an iPhone in order to get a new camera lens with limited practical benefit is a bitter pill to swallow.
Story credit: 9 to 5 Mac
