iPhone 16 Pro rumored to get hugely better ultra-wide sensor & optical zoom

hmlongco said:
Should note note that the "zoom" isn't really an optical zoom from my perspective. It's either at one end of the range or the other. There's no optical in-between.

I don't know why AppleInsider--which knows better--and many others in the tech press keep referring to iPhone Pro lenses as "optical zoom." They are not. Each iPhone Pro model contains three FIXED FOCAL LENGTH LENSES. Their focal lengths, as full-frame equivalents, are 13mm for the ultrawide, 24mm for the main/wide and 77mm for the telephoto on the iPhone Pro and 120mm for the tetraprism telephoto on the 15 Pro Max. Each lens covers a range of focal lengths through sensor cropping and computational photography--there is no optical zoom capability in any iPhone lens. The ultrawide lens covers the 13mm-23mm range. The main lens kicks in at 24mm and then covers up to 76mm on the Pro and 119mm on the Pro Max. The telephoto lens covers 77mm and up on the Pro and 120mm and up on the Pro Max. 

Optical zoom lenses, as the name clearly states, change their focal lengths and achieve zoom capability through optics -- i.e., a variety of precise optical elements within the lens that move with great precision to provide the "equivalent" of many fixed focal length lenses in a single lens. In actual practice, an optical zoom lens will not achieve the same quality as a fixed focal length "prime" lens because optical zoom requires optical compromises, but the convenience of zoom sure beats toting a trunk full of prime lenses.