Apple may use Samsung for iPhone cameras, ending Sony’s long-running run

Apple could start using Samsung camera sensors as early as 2026, marking the end of Sony’s decade-plus as the exclusive supplier of camera sensors for phones.

The phones are expected to use “1/2.6-inch, 48MP ultrawide CMOS image sensors manufactured by Samsung” starting “as early as 2026.” according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The rumor doesn’t suggest whether Samsung will replace Sony for any other iPhone camera sensors.

While Apple typically doesn’t talk about who makes its components, CEO Tim Cook said in 2022 that Sony had been its iPhone camera supplier for more than 10 years. In fact, previous reports suggested that Sony sensors were used in phones like the iPhone 6 It is the iPhone 8.

Given software processing and Apple’s preference for creating “real” images (to quote Jon McCormack, Apple’s vice president of cameras, interview with PetaPixel), the change wouldn’t mean that iPhone photos would suddenly look like they were taken with a Samsung phone.

But if the rumor is true, 48MP is a nice step up from, say, the iPhone 15 Pro’s 12MP ultrawide and could mean more detailed photos. And assuming the lens was for a Pro phone (which isn’t a given considering recent rumors of a single-camera “thin” iPhone 17 phone), that would greatly benefit the Vision Pro’s stereoscopic “spatial” videos, which are created by the ultrawide and prime lenses working together. At the moment, these videos are very blurry even in good lighting and are hardly worth taking in low light.