It's a safe bet that there will be some sort of camera upgrade in the iPhone 13 lineup, but we're getting more and more unsure as to what one of those upgrades will be. Specifically, the ultra-wide camera could have more elements for a larger aperture and better low-light performance. That's according to a research note by Ming-Chi Kuo (an analyst with a good track record for Apple reporting) seen by AppleInsider. According to the note, Sunny Optical (a Chinese lens maker) has completed Apple's validation process on the current iPad Pro camera lens. Uninteresting so far, but supposedly, the company has learned enough from the process to be able to provide a 7P (seven element) lens for the iPhone 13.
Five to seven
This would apparently be for the ultra-wide camera, and it would be a five-element lens in the vein of the iPhone 12. So what do the extra elements do? Well, in that last note, Kuo apparently mentions a performance boost, but previously suggested the ultra-wide camera would have an f/1.8 aperture. On the iPhone 12 range, the aperture is f/2.4, so this change would mean a larger lens aperture, allowing more light for better low-light performance. Barclays analysts also made the same claim, though they believe all four iPhone 13 models will receive the upgraded snapper, while Kuo only mentioned the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Max. So it's unclear exactly which phones will benefit from an improved ultra-wide camera, but with this latest information it seems more likely that at least some will.