If you are hunting for Apple iPhones with telephoto lens, I have taken the time to draw up the list for you. In addition, this article explains and shows you how to figure out which future models will have the same feature. This is because Apple has a clear-cut strategy for determining which models get the feature.
How useful is a telephoto lens on a cell phone? Telephoto lens offer one major benefit – the ability to zoom in (Optical zoom) on a scene or a subject without losing any detail. Other phones offer digital zoom, which is the phone using clever software to crop into the subject you want to focus on. Optical zoom is true zoom. As such, iPhones with a telephoto lens enable you to take fantastic, detailed zoom shots.
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Which iPhones have a telephoto lens? Here is a comprehensive list of Apple’s darlings equipped with a telephoto lens in the last four years. If you opt to buy any of these phones listed below, you will be getting a solid camera phone.
2024 iPhones with telephoto lens
- Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
- Apple iPhone 15 Pro (see our hands-on review)
The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are the only models released in 2023 that Apple fitted with a telephoto lens. This means they are the best ones you can buy for much of 2024, until newer models are released in October. In October, the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will arrive to join the list.
Older iPhones with telephoto lens
- Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
- Apple iPhone 14 Pro
- Apple iPhone 13 Pro max
- Apple iPhone 13 Pro
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro
Looking at the above list, you must have noticed a pattern: they comprise of only the iPhone Pro and Pro Max models flagship models. All the iPhones with telephoto lens are are the top two models for each year.
A telephoto lens is an advanced piece of work, and an expensive item, too. The cost of a telephoto lens is part of the reason behind the price differences between the non-Pro models and the Pro models. Outside of Apple’s world, telephoto lenses are a rare occurrence outside of premium flagships.
For example, the iPhone SE series lack a telephoto lens, and those phones’ cameras do not measure up to those of the higher end iPhones. One fairly easy way to tell if a camera phone is top notch is to check whether a telephoto lens is on the list of features and specs. If it is, you are looking at a solid camera phone.
To answer the question, Which Apple iPhones have a telephoto lens? The answer is: the iPhone Pro models. These are models that have a “Pro” in their names e.g. iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. You can use this simple hack to figure out which future models will have telephoto lens. Of course, Apple may change their approach at any time and include telephoto lens in other class of phones. But you can almost be 100% sure that the iPhone Pro models will almost always have it.
The best Apple iPhone with telephoto lens
As at July 2024 when this article was originally written, the best Apple iPhone with a telephoto lens was the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Its amazing periscope telephoto camera allows for up to 5x optical zoom and has produced some of the most fantastic zoom photography ever on a mobile phone.
