The iPhone 18 Pro has been tipped to get an advanced photographic feature more commonly seen on DLSR cameras.
Established Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo has given us all an early Christmas present in the shape of a fresh industry report about parts supplier BE Semiconductor.
The most interesting part of the report concerns the iPhone 18 Pro, which will launch at the end of 2026. Accorind to Kuo, Apple’s next-NEXT generation flagship phone will feature a variable aperture camera, and BESI will supply the assembly equipment.
This isn’t the first time Kuo has made such a prediction – he initially spoke about it early last month. However, in this latest report he specifically mentions the logistics of supplying aperture blades – a technology that’s core to the feature.
Variable aperture cameras literally allow you to adjust the aperture of the main lens for varying effects. Most phone cameras (including those of all iPhones to date) have fixed apertures, which tend to sit at a relatively low f-stop. The iPhone 16 Pro, for example, features a pretty standard f/1.8 aperture.
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Such a fixed aperture is good for letting lots of light in (ideal for low light shots) and for getting that creamy bokeh effect (sharp subject, blurry background), but they miss out on the ability of higher apertures to keep more of a scene in focus – particularly with close-up subjects. Offering a variable aperture gives you the choice.
The iPhone 18 Pro wouldn’t be the first phone to feature a variable aperture camera by any means. Just recently the Nubia Z70 Ultra packed in the feature, while the Sony Xperia Pro-I and Samsung Galaxy S9 have also included it, to name just three.
It’s still not what you’d call a normal smartphone camera feature though, even at the very top end of the smartphone market. One thing’s for sure, if Apple can execute seamlessly on this advanced function, we could be seeing a lot more variable aperture cameras in the smartphone market from 2027 onwards.
