GoKawiilThe iPhone 17 Pro's camera is among the best around. It held its own admirably against the Goliath Galaxy S26 Ultra and fought its corner with aplomb in a video shootout against a professional cinema camera. The three rear lenses can capture beautiful images in almost any conceibvable condition, and while I do like recent features such as the Photographic Styles and Apple's ProRaw image format, there's more Apple can do to help its phones appeal to pro and amateur photographers alike.
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 awarded an Editors' Choice Award for being the best camera phone I've ever used. The competition remains fierce, and Apple needs to push the boat out more than ever, both in terms of software -- which we could hear about at this year's WWDC keynote -- and in the hardware for its next flagship, which we expect to see in September.
These are the features I'd love to see Apple incorporate into the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
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's able to capture better dynamic range in a single image, rather than combining multiple exposures into one final image -- as Apple currently does with its Deep Fusion software processing. Xiaomi's main sensor is excellent, delivering pristine images with beautiful exposures. Apple is rumored to be experimenting with LOFIC image sensors, though whether we see one on the next model isn't known.
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.
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