iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera Blurry and Out of Focus

If your iPhone 15 Pro Max photos are out of focus, you need to select a more appropriate focus point manually.

Use iPhone camera tools to set up your shot - Apple Support

As always, look at the information for your photo in Photos to make sure no digital zoom was in use when the photo was taken:

If your photos look like that, make an appointment to have your phone examined as it is not true of other iPhone 15s.

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Maheshmali wrote:

I also facing this problem apple! When i open my camera preview image is really cool but when I click it after clicking image is really blurry , grainy and bad it’s like I clicked in some low end device. lol someone please tell me is it hardware issue or software issue? Because I am very afraid I hardly adjust a money for this phone and this happened with me camera working really bad front and back both same situation please apple help me for this issue

Apple does not read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

If you want actual technical support from Apple, start here:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

JackThr1ll3r wrote:

Unfortunately I bought it a month and half ago…at this point yes, if it’s just one day old you could return it

I wasn't responding to you. I was responding to someone who explicitly said they bought it a day ago.

You will need to work through this under the warranty:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

bruyere12 wrote:

Same issue, shocked and appalled. Anyone know who we take this to, apart from this forum? Support wants me to reset my phone, going to the Genius bar, but doubt that will help because their protocol is to treat it like a single phone issue, not a global issue that needs a fix. Open to ideas, and happy to go big and high to get help!

Product Feedback - Apple

snoltens wrote:

I’m getting AppleCare to protect my investment.

My 90 day warranty expires on the 22nd.

Apple's warranty on hardware is one year, not 90 days. And, you generally only have 60 days from the date of purchase to add Apple Care. So you may already be out of luck if you haven't already purchased it.

AppleCare Products - iPhone - Apple

What is 90 days is the phone support:

Apple Complimentary Support - Official Apple Support

Also, a phone is not, in the generally understood sense, an investment. It will never appreciate in value.

alex_ccab wrote:

Apparently Apple doesn’t read this forum. I’ve been in contact with support who claimed weeks ago they knew about problems. But haven’t heard anything since. And no software update has so far changed anything.

If you look at the terms and conditions you agreed to when you joined this site, it specifically states that.

This forum is for Apple users to help other Apple users solve technical issues.

Apple does not read these forums except to monitor threads for adherence to those same terms and conditions.

If you want Apple to look into something, contact Apple Support directly:

Contact - Official Apple Support

Alternatively, you can leave feedback, which is read by those who decide whether there are issues to address, at the link below:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

As far as third-party sites, DxOMARK considers the iPhone 15 Pro / 15 Pro Max's cameras the best of any device sold for use in the United States, and they got rave reviews from the creators of the Halide photo app.

That's not to dismiss your concerns, but rather to say I have had no issues with mine and if you are concerned about your particular phone, make an appointment to have it examined:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

You can believe whatever you like.

I'm not saying the effect isn't there, I'm saying it's an inevitable consequence of taking a close-up image using a high MP sensor coupled with a relatively small lens with a large aperture.

Similar complaints were lodged against the iPhone 14 Pro/Pro Max, also because of the leap from a 12 MP sensor to a 48 MP sensor.

So yes, it's there.

Can it be fixed? No, it cannot. Not in hardware, not in software.

Since you work with Sony cameras and Zeiss lenses, try the same experiment, you'll see the same blur.

Does that have anything to do with actual photos taken of subjects at a normal distance? Not at all.

Feel free to express your displeasure to Apple if you like:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

But you can't violate rules of optics.

You're ignoring the difference in sensor size and resolution, which is why the iPhone 13 Pro could give a "clearer" image with its lower resolution, smaller sensor than a larger, higher resolution sensor can.

In the end, it's not a bug or misfeature, it's a design compromise due to the way optics and sensor sizes work, the byproduct of the higher resolution and larger sensor revealing the limited focusing ability as you get further from the center of a lens that small with that wide an aperture for that focal length.

In contrast, lenses for smaller sensors are better able to focus uniformly due to their size.

As stated, you can complain to Apple if you wish:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

but if it's a problem for you you'll need to go back to an iPhone 13 - and avoid all other high resolution, large sensor phones as well such as the iPhone 14 Pro / Pro Max, Google Pixel 6, 7 and 8 and the Samsung Galaxy S22 and S23.

If taking photos of text is your thing, the fun workaround for the iPhones as well as the Android devices is to take a few steps back and take the photo with the telephoto lens instead, which will give you the greater edge to edge sharpness you seek.

The iPhone 7 Plus isn't obsolete or vintage, but it can't be upgraded beyond iOS 15, so it's already two major revisions of iOS behind.

I can't speak much for the selfie camera, as I rarely take them, but certainly the rear cameras are the best I've ever had on an iPhone.

MummieYah wrote:

I hope apple will do something to fix this problem with IP 15 PM camera, It’s not satisfying making us feel that we just wasted our money

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/0c1d709d-2610-46bc-bf5e-17f27f872542

I can't really see if you have done this or not but have you tried to take some photos with HDR turned off?

The ironic thing about the "you're holding it wrong" explanation was that Steve was correct.

Tests with Android phones showed that when you held them in the same way, their reception was also impacted.

Nevertheless, all I have done is present the modern reality of what photography has become in the smart phone world. I haven't said you're wrong, I haven't said your technique was bad or that your opinion was wrong, I've just stated what the marketplace is demanding and shown that is what Apple is providing. "No processing required" uploads to social media is by far what most people want.

If you don't like it, I in all sincerity hope you write a detailed criticism to Apple at the link below:

Feedback - Camera - Apple

Apple does read what is sent to that address, as opposed to complaints left here, which are only monitored for compliance with the Apple Support Community rules.

You can detail what you want from a camera, but none of that changes the fact that every review I am aware of has complimented the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max cameras as being the best ever introduced on a smartphone available in the United States.

You certainly may have frightened people away from purchasing an iPhone 15, but any other phone they purchase will process their photos as much, if not more. Certainly the premium offerings from both Google and Samsung do.

As I stated, for those who don't like the processing, ProRAW and RAW modes are available.

If you don't want to have to use third-party apps to reduce the processing, leave feedback at the URL above; as merely fellow Apple users, complaints left here are neither read by Apple Engineering nor acted upon but those left at the feedback URL above are read.

Whether they are acted upon is up to Apple's corporate priorities.

CourtneyID wrote:

I am having the same issue. Apple, please fix this

Apple does not read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

You have described how the iPhone 15 and all smart phones take photos - it's also how the Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy take photos, and is called "computational photography."

How-To Geek: What Is Computational Photography?

It also has absolutely nothing to do with the "High Efficiency" setting.

Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices - Apple Support

bumbklaatt wrote:

Of course, you don't have to use the automatic function with the yellow frames and then you are responsible for the focus yourself, there is no question about that. But if the frame is displayed, I expect the focus to be perfect.

Which isn't true even for a $5000 mirrorless.

It's showing you the faces it detects, but especially in lower light they can't all be in focus, it's an optical impossibility.

If you want the yellow box to only show you the face in perfect focus, let Apple know:

Feedback - Camera - Apple