Apple is leading the charge on square-format sensors, and it’s the most I’ve been excited for a new phone in years!
Publish Date: 2026-01-26 03:52:00
Source Domain: www.digitalcameraworld.com
Not to sound too negative but I‘m somewhat pessimistic of the need for manufacturers to bring out a new smartphone annually. I can’t be the only one that feels we’ve gotten to the point of diminishing returns where we’re seeing rather small tweaks rather than those big upgrades we enjoyed in the 2000’s and early 2010’s like 3G, GPS, gyroscopes, touch screens, app stores and haptic actuators to name but a few.
That being said, there was one feature of Apple’s most recent iPhone 17 in September 2025 that did make me stand upright and gave me the same giddy excitement. Apple has done something rather ground-breaking by making its front-facing camera for selfies a square format. In the world of cameras this is a pretty leftfield move – Apple calls it a ‘frame changer’ and I’m inclined to agree. Here’s why…
The new Apple ‘Center Stage’ front camera has a square 1:1 aspect ratio so for selfies taken at an arms length it no longer matters whether you hold the camera in the awkward landscape, or more comfortable portrait orientation, as you’ll be getting the best photo from either position.
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All three of the new iPhone 17 models make use of the new 18MP Center Stage camera on the front of the iPhone which removes the need to hold your iPhone awkwardly in the landscape position when taking selfies at an arm’s length (Image credit: Apple)
I have wondered for years if we’d ever see a manufacturer with big enough cojones to pull off a circular sensor that would maximise the output from lenses which naturally produce an imaging circle. With the conventional 3:2 and 4:3 digital imaging sensors most of us use in our best DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, we crop off a lot of the data from that imaging circle to meet the common rectangular sensor sizes.
I’m thrilled that Apple has been brave enough to pull off such a move with its square sensor format that is no doubt more cost effective to produce than a circular sensor and…
