Apple has yet to announce the iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro, but rumors are already circulating about what the company plans to do with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. For photographers, Apple appears to be working on an important upgrade that will add three 48MP lenses to the iPhone.

The report on Medium comes from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, a reliable source of Cupertino information. According to him, the new iPhone will be upgraded to a tetra prismatic 1/2.6-inch 48MP sensor, up from the 1/3.1-inch 12MP expected to be used in the soon-to-be-released iPhone 16 Pro model.

Previous reports suggested that Apple would upgrade the iPhone 16 Pro model to a 48MP ultrawide lens, so the iPhone 17 Pro Max (assuming it retains the 48MP ultrawide) will reportedly receive a telephoto upgrade It is reportedly the first iPhone model to drop the 12MP lens and make all three shooters 48MP.

The current iPhone 15 Pro lineup offers a 48MP primary camera, 12MP ultrawide and 12MP telephoto sensor, which is great for most people, but there is always room for improvement. Kuo said it is currently unclear if only the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the upgraded tetra prism camera, but the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will.

Kuo's report goes further than the iPhone 17 Pro Max, suggesting that the 2027 iPhones will have a much more significantly improved tetra prism camera with improved optical zoom. as MacRumors noted, Apple is working to increase the optical path technically, the upgrade would not be a tetraprism lens as it would require an increase in the number of prisms to lengthen it. As MacRumors points out, Apple would need to increase the number of prisms to lengthen the optical path.

We'll keep you posted on updates on the iPhone 16, iPhone 17, and beyond, and expect plenty of news as we get closer to the iPhone 16 launch, as rumors always heat up before Apple makes an official announcement.