Rumor: iPhone 6S Will Have Five-Element 12 Megapixel Camera

According to recent reports, the iPhone 6s will have a five-element 12 megapixel camera at the back. This means we can expect the iPhone 6S to capture higher-quality photos than the iPhone 6. The iPhone maker is ordering such components from suppliers, and the components are apparently already in mass-production and on schedule.

The current iPhone 6 has a five-element 8-megapixel lens. The more lenses a camera has, the better pictures and videos it can produce, as it is able to absorb more light. The elements in a smartphone lens are made of high-quality plastic rather than glass, and they are apparently very cheap to produce, with each lens costing $1.

However, Apple has planned an even bigger update for the 2016 iPhone’s camera. According to the same report, the iPhone 7 is set to receive an even more substantial upgrade when it comes to photo and video quality. The rear camera will have six elements rather than five. Six-element cameras are already in use (the Galaxy S5 and OnePlus 2 have such cameras), but Apple will only use them in iPhones next year at the earliest, assuming this new report is accurate.

Smartphone makers typically order six-element lenses, the report says, but Apple has never competed on hardware with its main rivals. The iPhone maker stuck with the 8-megapixel rear camera of the iPhone while consistently improving its performance. The iPhone is still the most popular phone camera on Flickr, a position it retained for years.