According to the latest news on Weibo from the well-known leaking account "Digital Chat Station", Apple is evaluating a 200-megapixel telephoto camera sensor. This configuration is expected to appear on the new iPhone as soon as next year. The sensor is said to be 1/1.2-inch in size, and the overall idea is similar to the solution that was previously rumored to be installed on OPPO’s upcoming Find X9 Ultra model.
According to reports, Apple is currently actively testing this 200-megapixel 1/1.2-inch telephoto sensor internally. On the already-released Find X9 Pro, OPPO uses a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto lens for the first time and is equipped with a 1/1.56-inch outsole sensor, which far exceeds the photosensitive area of a traditional zoom camera. The same account also revealed earlier that the Find X9 Ultra plans to further enlarge the telephoto sensor to 1/1.28 inches to continue to raise the upper limit of image quality in high-magnification zoom scenarios.
This latest statement echoes and escalates related rumors in January this year. At that time, it was reported that the 200-megapixel camera solution had been discussed within Apple’s supply chain, but it had not yet entered the engineering prototype testing stage, and the research and development focus was still on polishing the existing 48-megapixel camera system. In January this year, Morgan Stanley also mentioned in a report that Apple planned to introduce a 200-megapixel camera configuration for the iPhone as early as 2028.
Judging from the pace of the industry, the Android camp has taken the lead in completing the commercial layout of 200 million pixels. Samsung equipped the Galaxy S23 Ultra with a 200-megapixel rear main camera as early as 2023, and subsequent models will continue to follow this high-pixel route. For Apple, once the iPhone adopts a 200-megapixel camera, it will achieve higher resolution in imaging details, provide more space for post-production cropping and large-size printing, and improve composition flexibility without significantly sacrificing image quality.
In addition to the pace of camera upgrades, Apple’s iPhone release plans in the next few years are also worthy of attention. According to existing news, Apple is expected to launch the regular iPhone 18 in 2027 and introduce a new segmented release cycle. At that time, the next generation Pro series will still be launched according to the previous September time window. There are rumors that next year may also usher in an iPhone model with a "20th anniversary" commemorative significance. Its positioning may be equivalent to the Pro, or it may open up a higher-end product level on top of it, similar to the iPhone X of that year.
Currently, Apple has not disclosed any official information on which generation and which iPhone model this 200-megapixel sensor will be used on, and the relevant revelations are still at the level of supply chain testing and time window prediction. But judging from the signal that Apple has entered the actual testing phase, the upgrade of the iPhone in the direction of medium-to-telephoto shooting and high-pixel imaging has obviously been put on the hardware roadmap for the next few years. Reporters will continue to pay attention to subsequent news on more specifications and mass production pace.