The foldable iPhone is probably the hottest consumer product in the world that officially doesn’t exist. Its gravitational pull is such that a similar product from Samsung, one of Apple’s chief competitors, serves as a de facto advertisement for the foldable iPhone just by existing. And if the rumors are true, at the time of its release it will be Apple’s flagship product by default, apparently setting consumers back up to $2,500, and that’s if they can find one.
But according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, it will lack one of the key features expected by premium smartphone connoisseurs in the 2020s: telephoto photography.
That likely places the foldable iPhone alongside the non-Pro iPhone 17, which also lacks a telephoto lens. iPhone 17 Pros, by contrast, do have a 4x telephoto option. When combined with a ginormous 48-megapixel sensor, the 17 Pro series is capable of wonderful, continuous zoom shots.
That 4x optical zoom was technically a step down from the 5x optical zoom of the 16 Pro series (and 5x was also available on the iPhone 15 Pro Max) but the newer sensor combined with the relatively modest telephoto lens nonetheless combine to produce one of the most breathtaking zoom experiences in the smartphone universe. If you’ve never played around with Apple’s high-end photography options you may not have experienced eye-popping, seemingly impossible video shots like this one that combines digital and optical zoom, and utilizes all three iPhone lenses:
So, to be precise about what Gurman is claiming, based on his conversations with anonymous insiders, the foldable iPhone “lacks a telephoto camera,” he writes. Tom’s Guide writes that the foldable will sport “a main wide lens and an ultrawide.” Practically speaking, this means you’ll still have the wide shot of the field, and the ultrawide angle with a row of close-up spectators in the above video.
Depending on the sensor in the foldable iPhone, some zoomed-in shots might still look pretty nice, but you’ll be cropping, not optically zooming, which will never look as crisp and professional as a true optical zoom, particularly for still photos. And if you want to see some guy finding his seat way over on the other side of a stadium? Just forget it. Maybe if you wait, next year there’ll be a $3,000 foldable model with a telephoto lens.
Or, if photography really matters to you, maybe skip the foldable entirely and get the iPhone 18 Pro Max Model. Rumors circulated by 9 to 5 Mac and Tom’s Guide (admittedly not as reliable as the artisanal rumors peddled by Bloomberg’s Gurman) say the Pro Max could offer an incredible 6x optical zoom, and possibly even variable aperture photography, which is associated with prosumer and professional cameras. This hints at what may be the most dynamic array of iPhone photography options ever—but you’ll be saddled with a rigid, un-foldable slab, instead of embracing the glorious, foldable future.
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