iPhone 14’s Front Camera Could Receive Apple’s Biggest Upgrade in Years, Analyst Says

Apple's upcoming iPhone may soon be providing people with one of the world's best selfie cameras.

Popular Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated in a blog post that Apple could be making one of the world's best front smartphone cameras based on the company's suppliers for the camera's components.

The iPhone 14's specifications were previously leaked in early May, but there was no mention of the specifications of its front camera.

iPhone 14 Front Camera Details

Ming-Chi Kuo implied in his blog post that the iPhone 14's front camera would allegedly be receiving Apple's biggest upgrade in years, with the company upgrading the camera from fixed focus to autofocus, which could significantly improve the camera's selfie and video recording performance.

Meanwhile, the camera's critical hardware upgrades include a VCM and an upgraded 6P lens from the existing 5P currently seen in recent iPhone models.

Kuo said that Genius and Cowell would be providing the components for the upgrades to the iPhone 14's front camera. Genius will be the main supplier of the 6P lens, which will have an ASP about 20% higher than the 5P of current iPhone models.

Tom's Guide mentioned that a 6P lens should make for fewer distortions and artifacts in people's selfie images due to them being caused by reflections within cameras with less complex lenses.

Cowell, meanwhile, will supply the iPhone 14's compact camera module (CCM), while Luxshare ICT will supply its voice coil motor (VCM).

Kuo noted that the Cowell could benefit from the "vertical integration" of CCM and VCM under the Luxshare ICT group since the latter is the new VCM supplier for the iPhone 14's front camera.

Largan will also provide lenses for the iPhone 14. However, the Genius' iPhone 14 total lens supply proportion will be higher than Largan's.

If true, this allocation will be Genius' first time to have a larger iPhone lens order allocation than Largan.

Lastly, the iPhone 14's CMOS image sensor will be provided by Sony, one of Apple's long-time suppliers for iPhone camera components.

Other Upgrades to iPhone 14's Front Camera

Aside from better components, Kuo also stated in April 2022 that the iPhone 14 would likely have autofocus and about an f/1.9 camera aperture, which could take pictures in low-light environments better or using FaceTime in portrait mode.

The addition of autofocus and a wider aperture f-number could also provide future iPhone 14 owners with a better shallow depth-of-field effect for selfies, video calls, live streaming, or Facetime on portrait mode.

Apple will allegedly give these upgrades to three other future iPhone models, making the front camera not a selling point for iPhone 14 Pro models.

Unfortunately, these features (and possibly the upgraded components) could make the iPhone 14 more expensive to make, which could be a reason for Apple to increase the device's price accordingly.

The iPhone 14 wasn't mentioned in Apple's WWDC event, but the device would likely hit store shelves by September.