The 2021 iPhones are about three months away if Apple can return to the pre-pandemic iPhone launch schedule. A variety of recent iPhone 13 rumors claim that Apple has been increasing its efforts to ensure it can mass-produce the new handsets on time. Critical parts like the A15 Bionic chip, OLED panels from Samsung, and camera components have already been ordered, with some suppliers starting production earlier than expected. TSMC, the exclusive assembler of A-series and M-series chips for Apple, prioritized production for Apple amidst the chip shortage, according to a new report.
Separately, some analysts have provided a tentative iPhone 13 launch event, which makes the iPhone 13 release date easy to guess. Apple is yet to announce the iPhone 13 keynote date, and we’ll be eagerly waiting for the company’s upcoming earnings report for the June quarter to see whether Apple reveals any news about a potential iPhone 13 event delay. Other analysts continue to release tidbits about the iPhone 13’s specs and features, with a reliable insider providing more details about a significant iPhone 13 Pro camera upgrade.
The iPhone Pro models feature a third camera compared to the regular ones and offer improved camera features. That’s something we expect from all Pro handsets that Apple launches. But we already have a reason to be excited about the regular iPhone 13 versions. If the recent iPhone 13 design leaks are accurate, all iPhone 13 models will get the same sensor-shift optical image stabilization system that was exclusive to the iPhone 12 Pro Max last year. Other reports also claimed that sensor-shift support is coming to all 2021 iPhone versions.
Ming-Chi Kuo has been a reliable source over the years, providing several details about unreleased iPhones that turned out to be accurate. In a new note to customers that 9to5Mac saw, the analyst said that the iPhone 13 Pro phones will get a significantly upgraded ultra-wide lens.
The new camera will come with autofocus support rather than the fixed-focus of the previous ultra-wide lenses. This will allow the user to adjust the focus when taking ultra-wide shots. The wide-angle and telephoto lenses already have auto-focus support.
Furthermore, the ultra-wide camera will feature six elements instead of five, which should further improve the photo and video performance of the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro max.
Kuo also said that the ultra-wide lens coming to the Pro this year would then be added to all iPhone 14 models set to launch in 2022.
This isn’t the first time we hear of Apple’s purported upgrade plans for the iPhone 13’s ultra-wide angle lens. A research note from Barclays said in early February that all iPhone 13 versions will get ultra-wide cameras with a wider aperture. In early November 2020, the same Kuo claimed that only the iPhone 13 Pro models will get the feature. Even then, Kuo said the new ultra-wide cameras on the Pros will have 6P lenses and support autofocus.
