Apple’s next flagships are tipped to boost selfie detail again, with all iPhone 18 models moving to a 24MP front camera.
That would be a step up from the 18MP unit on the iPhone 17 family and should mean sharper portraits and cleaner crops, with better texture, more accurate skin tones, and nicer low-light selfies across the range.
MacRumors reports the claim comes from a JP Morgan note, adding that the upgrade would arrive on the iPhone 18, 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, the next iPhone Air, and Apple’s first foldable, with budget “e” models sticking to 12MP for now.
There’s also talk of an industry-first 24MP under-screen selfie camera on the foldable’s inner display, plus a possible split launch cadence starting in 2026.
The 24MP move builds on Apple’s recent front camera work. iPhone 17 introduced a square sensor with a wider field of view, so you could grab portrait or landscape selfies while holding the phone vertically.
Pair that with more pixels, and you’ll get finer detail for portrait mode edges, group shots, and 4K front video thumbnails without jagged lines.
As ever, hardware is only half the story, with Apple relying on computational tricks for tone mapping and noise control while the higher-resolution sensor gives the system more data to work with. The difference shows up most in challenging lighting, where hair strands and fabric textures hold up better under heavy processing.
Keeping the wider field of view also helps fit more people in the frame without stretching faces at the edges.
For one more note on timing, Apple could start splitting iPhone launches between fall and spring beginning in 2026, with Pro models and the foldable arriving later in the year and standard models following in spring 2027.
Plans may still shift and of course leaks like this should always be taken with a pinch of salt, but it’s a good heads-up for anyone who plans their upgrades around camera features.
