QUESTION · SATURDAY Q&A

What's the sensor size on iPhone 18 Pro and what's still relying on computational photography?

ASKED BY · Unknown · 19 SEP 2026 · ▶ 00:54:17

THE PANEL'S ANSWER
Unidentified panelist

Sensor measures 1/1.28 inches (71.5 mm²); variable aperture is real but computational photography still does heavy lifting; exceptional pocket camera but can't replace professional full-frame gear.

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IN THEIR OWN WORDS

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53:47make it a camera. What are these phone calls that you speak of, Courtney? I don't know. Well, now we just have ai translate your text into a voice which it phone calls for you yeah so so the new i haven't i did watch the keynote they they do actually provide on the 18 uh pro there is an 8x optical zoom on it uh what's the sense does anyone know the sensor size i don't know if they disclose

54:17the sensor size it shows the aperture i don't see the the other issue with the iphone that people don't always seem to talk about is they go, oh yes, it's got aperture blades now. So we can, but we're just remember a lot of, because the sensor size is so tiny on these things, they're still doing a lot. And I mean, a lot of computational photography. And I don't mean that

54:40to diminish the incredible engineering work that Apple has done on these and continues to impress me year over year with the camera updates. And it's incredible that what they were able to do and put into that tiny package. And I'm definitely going to be due for a new phone this year. So I'd like to try this out. And I think it's cool that you can play with, you know,

55:02more depth of focus, a shallow depth of focus or having, you know, things more in focus in the background. But there's still a lot of computational photography. And it's, the camera on these phones is not meant to replace a professional full frame camera. Like it is like, don't pretend like that's going to somehow be a full frame camera with an expensive lens.

55:28It's not going to be that. It's not ever going to be that. But I think for a device that's in your pocket, it does take truly exceptional photos. And the examples that I've seen of the 18 Pro look pretty impressive. And I'm sure actual experienced photographers have probably tested it already, have some really good things to say about it. But Guy, what do you think?

55:50I just wanted to reply to what Courtney's idea was because there was actually a phone camera. I don't know if anybody remembers it, but it looked like this. And I had one. I still have it. It's somewhere buried in a box. Samsung did it years ago. Yeah. And so I actually took this to NAB one year. And this is the result. You could actually edit on the thing.

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