The upcoming Apple 18 Pro Max's camera is likely to cost 50% more than its predecessor the iPhone 17 Pro, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Apple's upcoming offering in its flagship iPhone series is expected to include a feature that it has long been rumoured to have been developing — a camera with a variable aperture.
The iPhone's cameras have thus far used a fixed aperture, which does not give the user the ability to adjust the size of its lens opening.
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With the iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple is likely to implement a variable aperture, which users can utilise to tailor their camera settings to better shoot their environments based on lighting. The variable aperture operates in a similar fashion to the iris in the human eye, with a wider opening ideal for low light photography and a narrower opening helping increase the depth of field in the media being captured.
A wider aperture facilitates an increase of light entering the sensor, ideal for dimly lit environments, while a narrow aperture reduces the volume of oncoming light rays hitting the camera, improving the focus on the scene it is capturing. These features help users optimise exposure and background blur depending on their surroundings.
Kuo stated that many supply chain reports were indicating that the variable aperture will be entering production.
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Reasons For The Cost Hike
As the variable aperture camera consists of a more complex design and moving parts, its cost is 50% more than the iPhone's existing seven-element plastic lens module used for its main cameras.
Sunny Optical, a major player in the optical lens component segment, is expected to make up 40-50% of Apple's orders for the variable aperture camera, as per Kuo. The firm has become the tech giant's new camera module supplier after having manufactured camera modules for its MacBook Neo product.
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