iOS 17 is getting two big new photography upgrades

iPHONE 15: What you need to know

Two of Apple’s new photography options are coming to more than just the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, thanks to an iOS 17 update that will be available very soon.

Announced at the iPhone event this week, Apple now boasts two new photography options. There’s a new 12MP ProRAW option and a new HEIF Max 48MP option for taking photos.

The former lets you access the added editing power of RAW images without the massive size of those big 48MP images. RAW files have greater bit depth, allowing for more colors, which in turn leads to better variation in color and smoother gradients. Basically, the photos look better. The latter will let users take HEIF (high-efficiency image file format) photos in 48MP format, allowing users to capture larger and more detailed images without the huge storage drain. You’re average 48MP ProRAW image takes up 75MB of storage, a HEIF file only uses 5MB.

More flexibility

These are two welcome new additions to iOS 17 that will benefit users beyond iPhone 15. Notably, the HEIF Max photos (48MP) will let iPhone 14 Pro users show off that larger sensor without draining all of their storage. Meanwhile, ProRAW 12MP files will let budding photographers on older iPhones create even greater edits of their shots. iOS 17 is coming on September 18.

There were also a couple of big hardware upgrades to iPhone photography announced this week. iPhone 15 will get the stunning 48MP camera from the iPhone 14 Pro, a really welcome addition. Meanwhile the iPhone 15 Pro Max benefits from 5x optical zoom and some pretty wild image stabilization too. You can pre-order the iPhone 15 from Friday, and the release date is September 22.

We’re covering all the Apple iPhone 15 event news and reactions now that Wonderlust is over. Don’t miss all our iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, iOS 17and watchOS 10 coverage so far.