On iPhone 16 ProThe awesome camera on can take some of the best photos possible to squeeze out of a phone. With more crystal clear lenses and new shooting styles, there's plenty to impress even the most discerning photographers. He even fought hard against it best camera phones around, including Galaxy S24 Ultraon Pixel 9 Pro and on Xiaomi 14 Ultra.
Read more: The iPhone 16 Pro takes on the Xiaomi 14 Ultra
But it's not a perfect camera. As an experienced phone reviewer and professional photographer, I have extremely high expectations for top-of-the-line camera phones, and having used the iPhone 16 Pro since its launch, I have some thoughts on what needs to change.
Here are the main points I want to see improved on the iPhone 17 when it is likely to launch in September 2025.
Larger image sensor
While the 1/1.28-inch sensor found on the iPhone 16 Pro's main camera is already a good size — and marginally larger than the S24 Ultra's 1/1.33-inch sensor — I want to see Apple go bigger. A larger image sensor can capture more light and offer better dynamic range. Therefore, professional cameras tend to have at least “full-frame” image sensors, while really high-end cameras like the amazing Hasselblad 907Xthey have huge “medium format” sensors for flawless image quality.
Even with professional cameras, sensor size matters. Even the full-frame image sensor in the middle has been rejuvenated by the medium-format sensor on the right. Phone camera sensors don't come close to this size.
Xiaomi understands this, equipping its 14 Ultra with a 1-inch type sensor. It's larger than the sensors found on almost any phone, which allows the 14 Ultra to take amazing photos in different conditions — including Taylor Swift concerts. I'm interested to see Apple at least match Xiaomi's phone here with a similar 1-inch type sensor. Although, if we're talking wish-in-the-sky, maybe the iPhone 17 could be the first smartphone with a full-frame image sensor. I won't hold my breath on that — the phone and lens would have to be huge to accommodate it, so it would probably be more efficient to just let you make calls with the mirrorless camera.
Variable aperture
Speaking of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, one of the other reasons the phone is so difficult to photograph is its variable aperture on the main camera. Its widest aperture is f/1.6 — significantly wider than the iPhone 16 Pro's f/1.78. That wider aperture lets in plenty of light in low light and achieves more authentic out-of-focus bokeh around the subject.
The street light outside this pub is transformed into an attractive starburst thanks to the variable aperture of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.
But the Xiaomi's aperture can close down to f/4, and with that narrower aperture, it can create starbursts around points of light. I like to achieve this effect in night pictures with my phone. It makes the resulting images look much more like they were taken with a professional camera and lens, while the same points of light on the iPhone look like rounded blobs.
More photography styles
While Apple has had a variety of styles and effects integrated into iPhone cameras, the iPhone 16 range has taken it further, with more control over effects and more toning options. Enough of that CNET Senior Editor Lisa Eadicico even announced the new Photographic Styles for her”favorite new feature on Apple's latest phone.
I think they are great too. Or rather, they are great beginning. Different color tones, like the ones you get with the amber and gold styles, add a lovely warmth to scenes, and the Silent effect adds a vintage cinematic fade, but there's still not much to choose from. I'd like to see Apple introduce more photographic styles with different color toning options, or even tones that mimic vintage film stocks from Kodak or Fujifilm.
I like the warmer tones produced by the iPhone's amber styling in this image, but I'd definitely like to see more options for tonal creativity.
And of course, there are plenty of third-party apps like VSCO or Snapseed that let you play with color filters all you want. But using Apple Styles means you can take your pictures with the look already applied, then change it if you don't like it—nothing is inserted into your picture.
Better integration of ProRaw with photo styles
I think Apple missed a bit of an opportunity with their Photo Styles, in that you can only use them when shooting in HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format). Unfortunately, you can't use them when shooting in ProRaw. I love Apple's use of ProRaw on previous iPhones, because it takes advantage of all the advantages of computer photography on the iPhone – including things like blending HDR images – but still outputs a raw DNG file for easier editing.
A DNG file usually also offers more width to lighten dark areas or tone down an image, making it extremely versatile. Previously, Apple's color presets could be used when shooting in ProRaw, and I loved it. I often shot street style photos using the high contrast black and white mode and then further edited the raw file.
I do a lot of street photography in black and white, and would like more flexibility to shoot ProRaw monochrome shots.
Now using the same black and white look means only shooting images in HEIF format, eliminating the benefits of using Apple's ProRaw. Oddly, while the older-style Filters are no longer available in the camera app when taking a raw image, you can still apply those filters to raw photos in the iPhone gallery app via the edit menu.
LUTs for ProRes video
And while we're on the subject of color presets and filters, Apple should bring them to video as well. On the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple introduced the possibility of record video in ProResresulting in shots with very low contrast and an almost gray appearance. The idea is that video editors will take this raw footage and then apply their own edits on top, often applying contrast and color presets known as LUTs (look-up tables) that give the footage a distinct look — think dark and blue for horror movies or warm and bright tones for a romantic drama atmosphere.
But Apple doesn't offer any kind of LUT for editing ProRes video on the iPhone, other than simply increasing the contrast, which doesn't really do the job right. Of course, the point of ProRes is that you're going to get that footage off the iPhone, put it into software like Davinci Resolve, and then color grade the footage properly to make it look sleek and professional.
The ProRes footage looks very low contrast and desaturated. Apple should introduce ways to help you do more with ProRes files on the iPhone.
But that still leaves the files on your phone, and I'd like to be able to do more with them. My gallery is full of ungraded video files that I will do very little with because they need external color grading. I'd like to share them on Instagram or with my family via WhatsApp after transforming those files from dirty and gray to beautifully colorful.
With the iPhone 17 and even the iPhone 16 as a software update, I want to see Apple create a series of custom LUTs that can be applied directly to iPhone ProRes video files.
If Apple could implement all these changes – with the exception, perhaps, of a full-frame sensor that even I can admit is a touch ambitious – it would have an absolute beast of a camera on its hands.