iPhone 15 Pro Max Periscope Lens

Here are the Telephoto and Main lens specifications for the various iPhone 15 models:

• iPhone 15 – 52mm (2x) Telephoto mode (for the Main camera)
• iPhone 15 Plus – 52mm (2x) Telephoto mode (for the Main camera)
• iPhone 15 Pro – 77mm (3x) Telephoto lens
• iPhone 15 Pro Max – 120mm (5x) Telephoto lens

Apple doesn't say whether they used the "periscope" trick to fold the light path for the Telephoto lens on the 15 Pro Max along the length of the camera's body. But it does have a 5x Telephoto lens – relative to its Main lens, which, with a focal length of 24mm, is a bit wider than the 26mm lenses on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus.

Hi Kurt,

You were right the first time. None of the iPhone 15 models have a periscope lens.

Axel F.

When smartphone vendors talk about "optical zoom", they don't mean the sort of continuous zoom that you get on dedicated cameras (such as film SLRs, digital SLRs, and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras).

If you look at the iPhone 15 Pro Max, for instance, it has three cameras that operate in four modes:

• The Main camera is a 48 megapixel camera with a 24mm f/1.78 lens. By combining data from 2x2 pixel blocks, that camera can also operate as if it were a 12 megapixel camera with a 48mm f/1.78 lens.
• The Ultra Wide camera is a 12 megapixel camera with a 13mm f/2.2 lens.
• The Telephoto camera is a 12 megapixel camera with a 120mm f/2.8 lens.

According to the specifications, the camera has "5x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out, 10x optical zoom range." What this really means is that there are four optical zoom stops:

• 13mm (0.5x)
• 24mm (1x)
• 48mm (2x)
• 120mm (5x)

Any intermediate setting is simulated with digital zoom.

It's not just Apple that does things this way, but Android smartphone makers, as well. It would be kind of difficult to fit a motorized zoom lens, with continuous optical zoom, of the sort you find on a standalone camera, onto a phone. So everyone (or practically everyone) has gone with the "multiple fixed-focal-length cameras" approach.

Sorry, my bad, yes the 15 pro max comes with the periscope lens

No.

I'm confused now, is this article speculation then? They showed something similar as this at the Apple event. Maybe Apple is calling it something else?

https://www.laptopmag.com/news/everyones-talking-about-a-periscope-camera-for-the-iphone-15-but-what-does-that-even-mean