{"id":259099,"date":"2026-05-29T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T21:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/kuo-apples-iphone-camera-roadmap-includes-a-costly-upgrade\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T17:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T21:25:10","slug":"kuo-apples-iphone-camera-roadmap-includes-a-costly-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/kuo-apples-iphone-camera-roadmap-includes-a-costly-upgrade\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuo: Apple\u2019s iPhone camera roadmap includes a costly upgrade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kuo: Apple\u2019s iPhone camera roadmap includes a costly upgrade<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/05\/29\/kuo-apples-iphone-camera-roadmap-includes-a-costly-upgrade\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-29 17:05:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: 9to5mac.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out with a new look at Apple\u2019s upcoming iPhone camera plans, including an under-the-hood ultra-wide module change and a surprisingly steep cost increase. Here are the details.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

iPhone 18 Pro\u2019s variable aperture lens to get pricier<\/h2>\n

It has been widely reported that later this year, one of the biggest changes to the iPhone 18 Pro\u2019s camera system will be the debut of a variable-aperture Main camera, in contrast to the current fixed-aperture design.<\/p>\n

However, that might come at a steep cost. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new variable aperture lens will carry a 50% higher average selling price than Apple\u2019s current high-end 7P lens system.<\/p>\n

He says that Apple will source 40-50% of these components from Sunny Optical, which has also been supplying the MacBook Neo\u2019s compact camera module (CCM), with Largan remaining the company\u2019s main supplier.<\/p>\n

This alone shouldn\u2019t mean that Apple will increase the price of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, but the component cost increase couldn\u2019t come at a worse time, as Apple is already dealing with rising memory costs that are putting pressure on its margins.<\/p>\n

A new ultra-wide module for 2028 iPhones<\/h2>\n

Beyond the iPhone 18 Pro, Kuo also shared an interesting tidbit about the camera modules expected for 2028 iPhones.<\/p>\n

According to the analyst, the \u201c2028 iPhone\u2019s ultra-wide CCM is expected to drop flip-chip in favor of an improved COB version.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, Apple is planning to move away from the current flip-chip packaging method, where the image sensor is mounted face-down and connected to the module substrate through tiny solder bumps, adopting an improved chip-on-board design for the ultra-wide camera module instead.<\/p>\n

Kuo doesn\u2019t explain what improvements to the chip-on-board design made Apple decide to move away from flip-chip packaging, mentioning only that Sunny Optical is also \u201dwell positioned to become a…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kuo: Apple\u2019s iPhone camera roadmap includes a costly upgrade https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/05\/29\/kuo-apples-iphone-camera-roadmap-includes-a-costly-upgrade\/ Publish Date: 2026-05-29 17:05:00 Source…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":259100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/9to5mac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/04\/iPhone-18-Pro-variable-aperture-lens-manufacturing-reportedly-underway.jpg?resize=1200%2C628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[80,81],"class_list":["post-259099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iphone","tag-iphone-17","tag-iphone-18"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259101,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259099\/revisions\/259101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}