The next iPhone could use a telephoto extender to out-zoom Galaxy phones

The vivo X200 Ultra was the first Android phone to offer the new generation of telephoto extender lenses, and subsequent vivo and OPPO flagships support these add-on lenses too. These accessories attach to the phone’s telephoto camera to improve long-range zoom. Now, Apple could also be testing this tech for the iPhone 18 Pro series.

Weibo leaker Smart Pikachu reported that Apple is evaluating teleconverter lenses, with an accompanying hashtag suggesting that this could land on the iPhone 18 Pro series. Check out the machine-translated post below.

Smart Pikachu didn’t reveal more details about the type of teleconverter lenses Apple is testing, but recent history suggests this could enable higher-quality camera zoom at long range. Vivo’s telephoto extender lens is a 2.35x teleconverter, effectively converting the X200 Ultra and X300 Pro’s 85mm (3.7x) periscope camera into a 200mm (~8.3x) shooter. Meanwhile, the OPPO Find X9 Pro extender lens is a 3.28x teleconverter, basically turning the 70mm (3x) periscope camera into a 230mm (~10x) shooter. Both companies can also use lossless-resolution cropping to offer higher quality ~16x and ~20x photos, respectively. The results speak for themselves, as seen below.

This does make us wonder why Samsung hasn’t jumped on this bandwagon just yet. The Galaxy S7 series actually offered an add-on lens back in 2016 that delivered 2x zoom, but the company hasn’t released a new-generation telephoto extender just yet.

We can think of a few reasons why Samsung hasn’t adopted this tech yet. These lenses are quite cumbersome, so it’s possible the Galaxy maker doesn’t think the added bulk justifies the improved image quality. It’s also worth noting that these lenses aren’t cheap and usually cost a few hundred euros. Furthermore, the attached telephoto extender actually blocks the other rear cameras, so you’re forced to remove the lens (and the adapter ring in OPPO’s case) if you’d like to take 1x and ultrawide snaps.

Nevertheless, we’d love to see both Google and Samsung release optional telephoto extenders on their phones. Better yet, I’d like to see lenses and adapter rings that actually support multiple smartphone makers. This way, you can switch to a phone from another brand without abandoning your old phone’s add-on lens.