Those who have been waiting for the iPhone 13 in anticipation of a major camera upgrade may be disappointed; according to a new note from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors), the 2021 and potentially the 2022 iPhones are not likely to have any major updates to the camera hardware.

The memo describes a price war between camera lens suppliers Largan and Genius Electronic Optical. In it, Kuo mentions that with respect to future iPhones, "there will be no significant camera lens upgrades in 2022." Therefore, we may not see a significant upgrade of the iPhone series' camera lenses until the iPhone 14 or even the iPhone 15.

While it may seem disappointing to many, Apple has had a habit of making hardware changes for the sake of it. While many other phones have started to feature four camera lenses, like the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, Apple's most expensive device still has three.

Similarly, all of the iPhone 12's lenses offer 12 MP resolution and do not fall into the trap of trying to make you think that a higher resolution sensor is the best way to improve image quality. This is because resolution does not change much other than file size.

We have heard reports that Apple will include a LiDAR sensor in the iPhone 13 and 13 mini; LiDAR was in the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, so it is not new to us. However, it would be an important upgrade for Apple's standard iPhone, which has come with a dual-camera setup.

As for the rumor that Apple will include a new periscope-like folding optical lens, we will have to wait and see. Maybe Apple will upgrade the telephoto lens on the iPhone 13 Pro, or maybe they will wait for a future phone. It is too early to know for sure.

The lack of hardware changes does not mean that Apple is letting the camera languish either; Kuo's note does not rule out the possibility of a smaller, incremental upgrade to the iPhone 13's camera sensor, but the past few years have shown that hardware is not all there is to it, and the past few years have shown that it is not all there is to it.

There is absolutely no doubt that Apple will make significant improvements to the iPhone 13's imaging capabilities. That way, the focus will be less on the camera hardware and more on what the phone can do to improve the final image after it is taken.

There is also room for other advanced camera modes such as ProRAW, none of which rely on changing the physical camera module. Rather, such features rely on computational photography, an area in which Apple has made great strides since the iPhone 11 Pro.

The iPhone 12 series has impressed us greatly with its camera performance, and we have high hopes for the iPhone 13, which will arrive later this year. We will report on that as soon as we hear more.