The iPhone 16 Pro is able to make great images of her three rear cameras. It is seriously impressed with its photos in any conditions and it says nothing about its impressive 4K slow motion. His multiple lenses with crystal cleaning and new Photographic styles Offer a lot even for the most demanding photographers. Even led a strong fight against The best phones with cameras Around, including Galaxy S24 Ultrathe Pixel 9 pro And Xiaomi 14 Ultra.
Read more: iPhone 16 Pro picks up Xiaomi 14 Ultra
But it's not yet a perfect camera. As an experienced phone reviewer and professional photographer, I have extremely high expectations for top phone cameras and used the iPhone 16 Pro since its launch, I have a few considerations about what to change.
Here are the main points I want to see improved to the iPhone 17 when it is likely to start in September 2025.
A larger image sensor
Although the 1/128-inch sensor found on the main camera of the iPhone 16 Pro is already a good size-and marginally larger than the S24 Ultra's 1/1.33-inch sensor to see that Apple goes bigger. A larger image sensor can catch more light and offer a better dynamic range. Therefore, pro-fabric tends to have at least “full frame sensors” while they are really tall cameras, like incredible Hasselblad 907xThey have huge “medium format” sensors for impeccable image quality.
Even on Pro cameras, the size of the sensor is important. Even the full frame image sensor in the middle is a dwarf from the middle format sensor to the right. The phone camera sensors come nowhere close to this size.
Xiaomi understands this, equipping its 14 ultra-type 1-inch ultra. It is larger than the sensors found on almost any other phone that allows 14 ultra to Make stunning photos In different conditions – including Taylor Swift's concerts. I am interested in seeing Apple at least fits the Xiaomi phone here with a similar 1-inch sensor. Although, if we talk about pie-in-sky wishes, maybe the iPhone 17 could be the first smartphone with a full frame image sensor. I will not hold the breath of that – the phone and the lenses, you will need to be huge to accommodate it, so it will probably be more efficient just to allow you to make calls with your camera without mirrors.
Variable grid
Speaking of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, one of the other reasons that phone rocks so strongly for the photo is its variable grille on the main camera. Its widest grille is F/1.6-mark wider than F/1.78 of the iPhone 16 Pro. This wider grid leaves in very light in poor conditions and achieves an off-focus bokeh around an object.
Street light outside this pub is turned into an attractive starvet thanks to the variable grille of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.
But the Xiaomi rack can also be closed on f/4, and with that narrower grille, it is able to create stars for the points of light. I want to achieve this effect in night images with the phone. It makes the obtained images to look much more like they are taken with a professional camera and lenses, while the same points of light on the iPhone just look like rounded bubbles.
More photographic styles
Although Apple has different styles and effects integrated into iPhone cameras, the iPhone 16 range has taken it, with greater control over the effects and more toning options. It is enough that the senior editor of CNET Lisa Eadiciko He even declared the new photographic styles. “A favorite new feature of Apple's latest phone.
I think they are great too. Or more precisely, they are great Get started. Various color tones, like the ones you get with amber styles and gold, add beautiful heat to the scenes, and the quiet effect adds vintage film fading, but there is still not much to choose. I would like to see Apple introduces more photographic styles with different color toning options, or even with tones that mimic vintage movies from Kodak or Fujilm.
I like warmer tones made from the amber style of the iPhone in this image, but I would definitely like to see more options to be creative with color tones.
And, of course, there are many third -party applications like VSCO or Snapseed that allow you to play with color filters, all you want. But using Apple styles means you can make your pictures with your already applied look, and then change them then if you don't like it-it's not difficult to roast in your picture.
Better integration with a prorat with photographic styles
I think Apple missed the opportunity with its photographic styles, though, by using them only when shooting in Heif (high efficiency image format). Unfortunately, you can't use them when shooting at Proraw. I love the use of Apple's Proraw on the previous iPhone – and has used all the calculating photos on the iPhone – including things such as HDR -mixing – but still comes out on the DNG RAW file for easier editing.
The DNG file usually offers a larger latitude to illuminate the dark areas or to tone the highlights of the image, making it extremely versatile. Previously, the previously set Apple colors can be used when shooting in Proraw, and I wanted it. I often took street-style photos using high-contrast black and white mode and then edited the crude file further.
I am taking a very street photo in black and white, and I would like to get more flexibility to take shots from the proportion in monochrome.
Now using the same black-and-white look only shooting images in format, eliminating the benefits of using Apple Proraw. Strangely, while the “older -style” filters are no longer available in the cameras application When taking a cruel image, you can still apply those filters to raw photos in the iPhone gallery application through the edit menu.
Luts for the video of prores
And while we are on the topic of pre -color and filters, Apple has to bring them to the video. The iPhone 15 Pro, Apple introduced the possibility of Shoot a video in proresresulting in a very low contrasting, almost gray look of shots. The idea is that the video editors will take this cruel footage and then apply their edits to the top, often applying contrast contrast contrasts known as Luts (viewing tables) that gives the footage a special look-think dark and blue For horror movies or warm and light tones for romantic drama vibration.
But Apple does not offer any Lut for editing the iPhone's prores video, out of simple contrast reinforcement, which doesn't really do the job properly. Of course, the point of prores is that you would take that iPhone footage, put it in software like Davinci Resolve, and then properly evaluate the score of footage, so it looks elegant and professionally.
Proores footage looks very low contrast and unsaturated. Apple needs to introduce ways to help you make more with iPhone prives.
But it still leaves the files on your phone and I would like to be able to do more with them. My gallery is full of unbeaten video files that will make very little because they need external color evaluation. I would like to share them on Instagram, or with my family via WhatsApp, after transforming those files from the dear and gray into a beautifully colorful.
With the iPhone 17, or even with the iPhone 16 as a software update, I want to see how Apple creates a series of Lut that can be applied directly to the iPhone Proores video.
If Apple was able to carry out all these changes-excluding it, perhaps, the full frame sensor, which I can even admit is an ambitious touch-there will be an absolute camera astur on the hands.