What Is a Periscope Lens, and Does Your iPhone Have One?

The iPhone 15 Pro Max will include a periscope lens, a feature that allows phone cameras to offer high levels of optical zoom. Traditional optical zoom, which requires physical lens movement, is limited by the thin profile of modern smartphones, but the unique configuration of periscope lenses solves that problem.

What Is a Periscope Lens?

A periscope lens is a unique lens configuration that utilizes a prism or mirror to redirect incoming light at a 90-degree angle. That allows the lenses to extend down the length of the phone instead of being constrained by the thin profile of the device.

This configuration is referred to as a periscope lens because the mirror or prism that redirects incoming light works via the same mechanism as a traditional periscope. It doesn’t actually raise the camera up above the phone like a traditional periscope, though, as the vertically-oriented lenses are all contained within the body of the phone.

Since the periscope configuration provides a lot more room for physical lenses, it allows for much higher levels of optical zoom than would be possible with a traditional phone camera. Optical zoom requires physical lens movement to adjust the zoom level by moving one or more lenses in relation to each other, and the vertical alignment made possible by the pericope lens allows for a much greater range of movement.

Which iPhones Have Periscope Lenses?

As of publication, only the iPhone 15 Pro Max includes a periscope lens. We hope this trickles down into other iPhone models; it all depends on the space available inside the iPhone since the mirror that makes this feature possible needs plenty of space.

What Level of Optical Zoom Will iPhone Periscope Lenses Offer?

There are three lenses on the iPhone 15 Pro Max: wide-angle (.5x), standard (1x), and telescope (5x). This zoom is a significant increase from the 3x in the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Why Is Optical Zoom Better Than Digital Zoom?

Optical zoom uses physical lenses that move to adjust the zoom level, while digital zoom mimics the results of that process by cropping part of an image and enlarging it.

Suppose you’re familiar with image editing software. In that case, digital zoom is essentially the same as taking a photo, opening it in editing software, cropping the image, and then enlarging it. Photos taken with high levels of digital zoom typically lack fine details and often include digital artifacts due to the process of cropping and enlarging.

Optical zoom uses physical lenses to magnify an image before it reaches the photosensor, resulting in a much clearer and crisper photo, even if the subject is very far away. The problem is that optical zoom requires physical lenses that move closer and further apart to adjust the zoom level, which limits the amount of optical zoom a phone can offer.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max includes a 5x telephoto lens.

Do Other Phones Have Periscope Lenses?

Periscope lenses aren’t commonly found in smartphones, but the technology is available from several manufacturers. Samsung, Huawei, Google, and others have all included periscope lenses in specific phone models.

The Samsung S23 Ultra includes 10x optical zoom facilitated by periscope lenses, the Pixel 7 Pro has 5x optical zoom that leverages similar technology, and Huawei’s P30 Pro also uses a periscope lens configuration to provide 5x optical zoom.