iPhone fans should be excited that Apple might add a 'periscope' camera lens to iPhones in 2022 - check out these photos taken with another phone's periscope lens

Antonio Villas-Boas

Mar 23, 2020, 21:36 IST

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

The iPhone that Apple is expected to release in 2022 is rumored to come with a "periscope"-style camera that could dramatically boost the quality of zoom photos compared to today's iPhones with standard zoom cameras.
Samsung added a periscope-zoom lens to its $1,400 Galaxy S20 Ultra in 2020, which should give you an idea of what to expect if Apple's 2022 iPhone comes with a periscope-zoom lens.
I took some photos from the tallest buildings in New York City (before the coronavirus pandemic) with the Galaxy S20 Ultra and iPhone 11 Pro Max, and it clearly shows how much of a difference a periscope-zoom lens makes.
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At least one of Apple's iPhones in 2022 is expected to have a "periscope"-style zoom lens, according to a TF International Securities report by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has reliably predicted Apple's product moves in the past. The report was obtained by MacRumors.

Periscope-style zoom cameras use a variety of prisms and mirrors, just like a periscope, to increase the range for optical zooming.

In a sentence, periscope-zoom lenses can zoom in further before losing clarity and detail. They also allow a smartphone user to zoom in further before their camera switches to artificial "digital" zooming, which leads to a huge loss in detail and clarity.

Samsung introduced its first smartphone with a periscope zoom lens in 2020 - the Galaxy S20 Ultra - with an optical zoom range of up to 10x, whereas the iPhone 11 series has an optical zoom of up to 2x.

The difference is significant, to say the least, and iPhone users should be pleased when iPhones start getting periscope lenses. Check it out:

Here's a photo taken with the iPhone 11 Pro Max at 10x zoom, which uses the iPhone's 2x optical zoom lens, as well as digital zoom.

Now here's a 10x optical zoom photo taken with the Galaxy S20 Ultra's periscope lens. It's significantly sharper, and there's way more detail. Future iPhones could really benefit from a periscope lens.

Here's the photo taken without zoom with the Galaxy S20 Ultra to show you how far 10x zoom is, which should give some perspective.

Here's another example. This is the iPhone 11 Pro Max's camera at 10x zoom.

Now here's the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra's photo at 10x zoom. There's no fair comparison to be made here.

Here's the perspective shot without zoom.

The Galaxy S20's Ultra's periscope lens affords it some incredible zoom ranges when combined with artificial digital zooming. It can go all the way up to 100x zoom, but the results are bad.

Here's the photo at 30x zoom, which still isn't great. But it's still something the iPhone 11 phones can't achieve at all.

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