Apple typically makes significant upgrades to its iPhone’s rear cameras with each iteration, but the front camera has been somewhat neglected over the years.
This might change with the upcoming iPhone 14, likely scheduled to launch this year. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has a new report on Apple’s suppliers for the front camera hardware. While the names such as Cowell, Genius, Alps and Luxshare probably don’t mean much to most readers (these are the companies that won tenders to manufacture parts of Apple’s front camera), Kuo also has some info on the new features of the iPhone 14’s selfie camera.
First, the camera will have autofocus, which means sharper photos and overall better image quality. It will also have a 6-element lens instead of a 5-element lens, which will also contribute to image quality. Finally, 9to5Mac says the iPhone 14’s selfie camera will have a larger, f/1.9 aperture, an improvement over the iPhone 13 Pro which has a front camera with f/2.2 aperture. This should help you take better photos in low-light conditions.
The last major upgrade to iPhone’s front camera happened in 2019, when the iPhone 11 Pro was released with a 12-megapixel selfie shooter, compared to its predecessor’s 7-megapixel camera. Since then, the iPhone’s selfie camera specs have largely remained the same.
Visually, the front camera on the iPhone 14 will probably be quite different as well, with a pill-shaped cutout instead of the previous iPhone’s notch on top of the display.
Previous reports indicated that the “Pro” models of the iPhone 14 will be significantly more powerful than the “regular” models, with a 48-megapixel main rear camera module. It’s unclear whether this will apply to the selfie camera as well.
