The iPhone 18 Pro is almost upon us, with Apple having confirmed an event taking place on Sept. 9. While the company has remained typically tight-lipped about what we’ll be seeing, it’s a safe bet that the new iPhone 18 Pro and larger Pro Max will be unveiled. As with previous generations — including the superb iPhone 17 Pro — the Pro line is where Apple will showcase its latest camera tech. Current rumors for the cameras include wider apertures for the telephoto cameras and possibly a variable aperture on the Pro Max — something I’ve been wishing for for some time, and that I’ll come to later.

The iPhone 17 Pro is already one of the best camera phones around, and it comfortably held its own against the Goliath Galaxy S26 Ultra and fought its corner with aplomb in a video shootout against a professional cinema camera. But there’s more Apple can do to help its phones appeal to pro and amateur photographers alike, and the competition among camera phones has never been fiercer.

I’ve spent 15 years testing iPhones and Android phones from all brands for CNET, and as a professional photographer, I’ve always had an eye toward testing the cameras of top models such as the Xiaomi Leica Leitzphone, which I gave a CNET Editors’ Choice award for being the best camera phone I’ve ever used. Long story short, Apple needs to work hard to keep up with its rivals.

 These are the features I’d love to see Apple incorporate into the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro.

Most of the Xiaomi Leica Leitzphone’s camera

In my review of the Leitzphone — made in collaboration between Xiaomi and iconic camera maker Leica — I called it “the best, most exciting camera phone I have ever used.” And I meant it. This phone has taken some of my favorite images I’ve ever taken on a phone, and Apple would do well to see this as its benchmark for imagery prowess. There are several main elements that I think Apple should steal.

First, the main camera image sensor. It’s physically much larger than the sensors found in most other phones — including the iPhone — which allows it to capture more light and therefore deliver better dynamic range. But it also uses something called LOFIC technology. Standing for lateral overflow integration capacitor, those nonsense words basically mean it can capture a wider dynamic range in a single image, rather than combining multiple exposures into a final image — as Apple currently does with its Deep Fusion software. Xiaomi’s main sensor is excellent, delivering pristine images with beautiful exposures.

DJI used a LOFIC image sensor in its new Osmo Pocket 4P handheld gimbal camera, boasting 17 stops of dynamic range — in line with what you’d expect from high-end cinema cameras. In my own testing, I found it to be superb, with beautiful tones and tons of detail captured in the highlights and shadows. That LOFIC tech really seems to work. Apple has been rumored to be experimenting with LOFIC image sensors, though current rumors suggest the iPhone 18 Pro will be equipped with a Sony IMX905 image sensor — which is not believed to use LOFIC technology. Le sigh.

But that’s not all; the Leitzphone is also among the first camera phones to feature a continuous telephoto zoom that uses actual moving elements, just like a real camera zoom lens. It allows for better quality telephoto images as it relies less on digital cropping to zoom in further. Again, Apple has been rumored to be working on similar tech for at least the last couple of generations, so maybe the iPhone 18 is where we’ll finally see it deployed. 

There’s plenty more I love about the Leitzphone’s camera experience, but the sensor and the zoom are the main points I’d love to see Apple steal. Beyond that, I absolutely adore the built-in Leica color profiles — especially Leica Chrome, which provides a similar look I get to my actual $8,000 Leica camera — and while I’d love to see them built into Apple’s camera, these are Leica-specific presets that won’t be available on anything without a Leica red dot logo nearby. If you want them on your iPhone, you’ll need to pay separately to use the Leica Lux iPhone app.

Samsung’s My Filters color filter clone

Leica’s filters aside, Samsung’s My Filters is a tool hidden inside recent Galaxy camera phones that essentially lets you steal the color tones from one image and apply them to another. Say you found a lovely photo online with dreamy pastel tones and warm highlights. You can save that image to your phone (even a screenshot of it will do), load it into the filter creation tool within the camera app, and it will then create a new filter that aims to replicate the tones of that image. That filter will then be saved to your phone for you to apply to all your images later on. 

While the filters it creates are not always especially accurate to the source image (sometimes the effects can be quite subtle), I do like the results you can get from it. I’ve been able to create some lovely filmic looks that I’ve customized to try to give the impression of old Kodak film stocks. 

Apple’s Photographic Styles is the nearest thing the iPhone has, and while some of the looks are nice enough, there’s not a lot of scope for getting truly creative with colors, film grain and other effects. Google pushed this a bit further with its recent Camera Looks on the Pixel 11 Pro and I had t a great time experimenting with them on my recent photowalk in Paris. I’d love to see Apple expand on its Photographic Styles tool to give the sort of filmic looks Fujifilm has achieved so well with its customizable “recipes” on its ever-popular cameras like the X100VI. 

Nothing Phone 3’s Macro Mode

I wasn’t all that impressed with the Nothing Phone 3 in my full review, and a large part of that was down to the overall disappointing camera performance. But it does have one saving grace in its macro mode. As someone who runs a photography YouTube channel specializing in macro photography, I feel I have a high bar for what looks good when it comes to close-up photos of tiny things like insects or flowers. But even I have to admit that this phone takes superb close-up photos. 

The iPhone 17 Pro also has a macro function that uses the ultrawide lens to achieve close-up focusing. And while it certainly succeeds in getting up close and personal with whatever insect you happen to find, images don’t always look great from it. I’ve found colors to look a little drab, though. And while it can focus close to the lens, it results in a wide-angle view. This means you’ll need to get your phone right up close to an insect, likely scaring it off. 

I found Nothing’s macro mode to look much more natural in its image processing, with vibrant colors. As it doesn’t appear to rely on the ultrawide lens, it gives a closer view of your subject without the wide-angle distortion. Fine, macro photography might be a niche use, but it’s also something that anyone with a phone can do (versus having dedicated macro equipment). I’d still love to see Apple work on its close-up skills.

Xiaomi’s 15 Ultra camera grip

I loved Xiaomi’s 14 Ultra and 15 Ultra phones (not to mention the new Leitzphone), finding them capable of taking some of the best photos I’ve ever seen from phone cameras. There are a lot of reasons why these phones are great for photographers, but one of my favorite things about shooting with them is the Xiaomi-made accessories, including the camera grip and filter mount.

The grip in particular is super helpful as it allows you to hold the phone just like a regular compact camera, while the built-in shutter button makes it easier to snap away without having to tap the screen. The filter mount, meanwhile, allows me to use the same professional screw-in filters (like pro-mist, circular polarizers or neutral density filters) that I use with my professional camera kit. While Xiaomi made one for its new 17 Ultra, it’s oddly not natively compatible with the more photography-focused Leitzphone. So I guess Xiaomi needs to learn this lesson too.

Apple doesn’t make a camera grip for the iPhone, and while there are various third-party ones, I haven’t found many I really love to use. The Leica Lux grip is as well-built as you’d expect from the iconic photography brand, but it relies on MagSafe, which feels risky trusting your phone to hold in place only with magnets, and it will only work with the Leica app, not with the default iPhone camera app. (Oh, and it’s a nearly $400 accessory.)

Xiaomi’s kit, being made by the company itself and for the specific phone, works seamlessly, connecting securely to the phone and working as expected with the default camera app. The iPhone is amazing as an everyday-carry camera, but it could be elevated even further if Apple created hardware accessories specifically for photographers.

Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s variable aperture

Yes, I keep coming back to Xiaomi, but the company’s 14 Ultra is definitely worth stealing from and if current rumors are to be believed, Apple agrees. In particular, the variable aperture in the 14 Ultra’s main camera that can go from wide open at f/1.7 and close down to f/4. Most phones have a fixed aperture, and while you’d rarely notice the difference, when it comes to night-time photography, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra was amazing.

By closing down the aperture, I was able to create authentic starburst effects around points of light like streetlights in exactly the same way that you would by using a narrow aperture with a mirrorless camera and lens on a tripod. I loved the images I captured with the phone, as they looked so much more professional than the weird amorphous blobs seen around light sources in night photos from other phones. 

It’s rumored that Apple will be bringing this tech to the 18 Pro Max — although possibly not the smaller 18 Pro, though precisely how this might be deployed isn’t yet known. I’m surprised, as I initially included this feature as a bit of a ‘wildcard’ for my wishlist. After all, even Xiaomi found the tech too costly (or simply unnecessary) to produce and it was nowhere to be seen on the following 15 Ultra or on any of its phones since.

It was a real highlight for me, and it’s something I’d love to see Apple implement in the upcoming iPhone 18’s camera.

Xiaomi and Sony’s external lens cameras

No, I’m still not done talking about Xiaomi. But I’m also talking Sony, so simmer down. At MWC last year, Xiaomi showed off a concept for a camera and lens unit that attaches to your phone but contains its own large image sensor and larger, higher-quality optics. It harnesses the computing power, image processing and larger display of your phone, but offers much better overall image quality than the tiny cameras in your phone are able to achieve. 

Sony actually had a similar idea all the way back in 2013, packing its QX100 and QX10 cameras with a large image sensor and full zoom lens, but no screen. Like the Xiaomi concept, it connected to a phone that then acted as the display. While Sony’s product did go on sale, it never really took off, and the company didn’t return to the format. Xiaomi was launched firmly in “concept” territory, and sadly, I saw no sign of it during this year’s MWC. 

I certainly won’t be alone in having daydreamed about what an actual Apple camera would be like. Pairing the top-end image processing Apple is able to achieve with its iPhones with a significantly larger image sensor and pro-standard lens optics could result in an absolute photography powerhouse for both casual snappers and pros alike. 

And while I don’t ever foresee the company launching a stand-alone camera — despite what some patents might suggest — I’d love to see it create a camera unit like Sony’s and Xiaomi’s that’s designed to work in tandem with an iPhone. Do I expect to see this at the iPhone 18 launch? Absolutely not. Will I dream about it anyway? Damn right.

Andrew Lanxon

Editor at Large; Lead Photographer, Europe

When he’s not testing the latest phones or phone cameras, Andrew can normally be found with his own camera in hand or behind his drums or eating his stash of home-cooked food — sometimes all at once.

See full bio