Why square photos are only 4284 and not 5712

Gar Benedick wrote: All camera lenses are round.

You might consider taking a nice course in Physics!

The shape of the lens has nothing to do with the shape of the image. It's round, in part, so you can use the camera in any rotational orientation.

When I take a landscape photo it is 5712 x 4284 pixels

That's the size of the sensor, 24.7 MB. The sensor is rectangular, 5712 pixels across by 4284 pixels wide.

my Square photos is only 4284 pixels x 4284 pixels

That's right-- to make a square picture, you cut off 714 pixels from each side, so what's left is 4284 x 4284.

why isn’t my Square photo 5712 x 5712?

Because there are only 4284 pixels top to bottom of the sensor. You can't just attach an extra 714 pixels to the top and bottom--with tape?

Plus, the landscape and portrait photos are 24 MP, but the square photos are only 18 MP. 

Right again-- to turn a rectangle into a square, you have to cut off some pixels.

BTW, it doesn’t matter if the square photo is taken while holding the iPhone vertically or horizontally.

Can anyone explain this? Please?!? 

Square, pretty much by definition, is the same if you turn it 90°.

The square photos have to have the minimum dimension of the sensor. You can add area, i.e. 5712 x 5712 when you only have 5712 x 4284 available. To make a square photo the width dimension has to be cropped to the 4284 height.

It is strange, but the tech specs for the iPhone 16 do not even mention the aspect ratio of the sensor, whether it is square or 4 to 3. iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max - Technical Specifications - Apple

It does only describe the resolution as 48MP for the Pro camera system.

Assuming a 4:3 aspect ratio of the sensor it would mean 8000 x 6000 pixel.

Have you tried to enable Pro Raw in the Settings > Camera to be able to use the full 48 MP resolution? And at least 6000x6000 square photos?

As you probably know, HEIF is using a lossy compression, like JPEG, only with a higher compression rate at the same quality. It is fine, if we do not need to make advanced edits.

I am using HEIF Max for landscape photos and it suffices for me.

Gar Benedick wrote: … However, I don’t appreciate being talked to like an idiot.  Just because you have over 12,00 points doesn’t mean you have the right to be unkind to anyone here.

Sorry.

“The round shape of camera lenses is a direct consequence of optical engineering.

In fact, lenses can be any shape. It's not unusual for lenses to be rectangular. Magnifiers often use a rectangular shape, since they are almost always used in the same orientation.

So the shape is a consequence of engineering choices.

Lenses, by their very nature, focus light in a circular pattern,

A lens, by its very nature, focuses the light from a tree in a tree pattern.