Even with a smartphone camera, the zoom factor is still worrisome. And with the rumored iPhone 15 Pro next year, this could be enhanced to 5x optical zoom.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max I own has a 3x optical zoom, but I often feel like I want to zoom more when I go to tourist spots. You can also use the digital zoom, but the image quality will inevitably drop.
According to analyst Jeff Pu, presented by 9to5Mac, the iPhone 15 Pro will feature a periscope lens to achieve 5x optical zoom. The periscope lens is a mechanism that enables high-magnification zoom by shifting the optical axis, and is widely used in Android smartphones such as the "Galaxy S21 Ultra".
On the other hand, I am a little concerned that the Galaxy S21 Ultra has a 10x optical zoom, but the iPhone 15 Pro has a 5x zoom, which is not that high. Maybe Apple cares more about image quality than magnification.
In addition, the iPhone 15 Pro is rumored to have a 48-megapixel camera with an under-display face authentication function. If you're looking to revamp camera performance, it might be a good idea to aim for next year's iPhone 15 Pro instead of this year's "iPhone 14."
