Skip to main content

Here’s how much the iPhone camera has changed in 10 years

A close-up of the iPhone 16 Pro camera.
Joe Maring / Digital Trends

The iPhone has always had a pretty decent camera. While Google prides itself on the photo capabilities of the Pixel, the iPhone has steadily improved with each iteration. Today, a user on Threads posted a side-by-side comparison showing just how far the iPhone camera has come in the last 10 years. We have to admit: it’s pretty darn impressive, but perhaps even more impressive is how clear the iPhone camera’s pictures were even 10 years ago.

Threads user @yantastic shared two pictures of the same location. One was taken with an iPhone 6 camera, while the other was taken with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Recommended Videos

The differences between the two photos are less stark than you might expect. The iPhone 6 is on the left, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max is on the right. The iPhone 6 picture is darker, with less crisp details and a slightly lower-resolution look, but it’s still far more than I remember the iPhone 6 being capable of.

On the other hand, the iPhone 16 Pro Max packs a lot more detail into the shot. The image is much more colorful and has a better dynamic range, allowing you to see detail in light and dark areas. The increased resolution pays off most when you look at the car in the picture. Where the white car in the iPhone 6 photo almost looks like it’s in motion, the iPhone 16 Pro Max picture has much cleaner edges.

The camera specs have come a long way in that time, too. The iPhone 6 camera had only 8 megapixels, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max camera has a whopping 48MP paired with a 12MP telephoto lens and a 48MP ultrawide camera. Although the iPhone 6 did have automatic HDR, the technology is clearly more advanced in the second shot.

Adding a second (or even third) camera to the back of the phone obviously improves any subsequent photographs, but the iPhone 6 did a satisfying job with only a single lens.

Patrick Hearn
Patrick has written about tech for more than 15 years and isn't slowing down anytime soon. With previous clients ranging from…
This one iPadOS 26 feature has me excited for the iPhone Fold
Semi-open state of a foldable iPhone concept

Samsung is set to launch the seventh generation of its Galaxy Z Fold book-style folding phone this Summer, but its biggest rival is yet to show its folding phone hand. Apple has long been expected to unveil an iPhone Fold, and the latest rumors suggest that it will launch next year.

I’ve used almost every folding phone released globally, with some exceptions for extremely obscure ones. While I've always been curious what an iPhone Fold would look like, I was fairly certain that Apple shouldn't build it, as I wasn’t sure they could deliver on one necessary feature.

Read more
These three iOS 26 beta features are my favorite so far
The Liquid Design lock screen on the iOS 26 developer beta 1 running on the iPhone 16 Pro

For fans of the Apple ecosystem, it’s been an incredible week. Apple’s annual WWDC 2025 keynote revealed a whole new Liquid Glass design that’s unified across all its platforms. Also unified across all platforms is the numbering scheme, with iOS 26 designed to represent the year of release… plus one. 

The new platform doesn’t deliver one of the key things I asked for — multitasking, which is available on iPadOS 26 — but it does bring several new features that make the iPhone far more usable. 

Read more
Will my iPhone get iOS 26? Here’s every supported model
We've got the full list of iOS 26 supported devices - find out if you're getting the new iPhone update
iOS 26 features on a series of iPhone screens

Apple announced iOS 26 at WWDC 2025, and the new iPhone update comes with a fresh new 'Liquid Glass' look and plenty of features - and there are loads of iOS 26 supported devices, which is great news.

And no, you haven't missed a volley of updates since iOS 18 in 2024. Apple has skipped a bunch of numbers, so instead of giving us iOS 19 in 2025, we got iOS 26 alongside iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26 and tvOS 26. In short, Apple's brought its operating system numbering into line. Nice.

Read more