We've heard a lot of rumors about the iPhone 16 Pro's camera, especially the telephoto lens. not only is the iPhone 16 Pro expected to have a 5x optical zoom tetra prism lens, but there may be an even more serious upgrade next year. However, there may be an even more serious upgrade next year.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo details a number of upgrades that may be coming to the iPhone in the next few years in a new blog post on Medium. While he repeats rumors about the tetra prism available on the iPhone 16 Pro, he also talks about how its lens will change on the iPhone 17-19 from 2025.

Kuo claims that the "high-end iPhone 17 model" may feature upgraded versions of the tetra prism lens. These upgrades include a larger 1/2.6-inch sensor and 48MP resolution - apparently a fairly hefty upgrade from the 1/3.1-inch 12MP tetraprism lens coming to the iPhone 16 Pro. The lens will also reportedly come in an all-new design, with the prism "having a shorter form factor to reduce the height of the camera."

Kuo does not know if this will be exclusive to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but if so, he predicts that the iPhone 18 Pro will receive this same upgrade the following year.

Kuo believes that we will not see a significant upgrade to the tetra prism until 2027, when the iPhone 19 series is released. Details are rather scarce, but Kuo states that the phone should support better optical zoom.

Details on what this upgrade could offer are scarce, but Kuo speculates on how Apple could increase the optical zoom of the tetra prism. He notes that the most obvious is to increase the number of prisms in the lens, which would increase design complexity and require smaller prisms, given the problems Apple is rumored to have faced in producing enough tetraprism lenses for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, that may be something Apple would like to avoid unless it is completely necessary.

Kuo also correctly points out that adding a prism to the design would not make it a tetraprism lens. So Apple would have to abandon its existing brand name, but if the upgrade is strong enough, it might be a worthwhile deal.

If you're going to get the iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max, there are still plenty of camera upgrades: not only will the iPhone 16 Pro have a 5x optical zoom with a tetraprism lens, but both models will have 48MP ultra-wide angle camera may be included. The Pro Max may also have a larger 1/1.4" sensor, capturing more light and improving overall camera performance, with a focal length of 300mm.

Of course, we won't know for sure until the September Apple event, when the iPhone 16 series is expected to be announced along with Apple's other fall lineup.