TL; DR
- Leaks suggest Apple is testing a variable aperture system and a teleconverter-style zoom solution for the iPhone 18 Pro.
- Both features already exist in the Android ecosystem, with Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO shipping real-world implementations years earlier.
Recent supply-chain chatter and analyst reports suggest Apple is evaluating a variable aperture camera system for the iPhone 18 Pro, alongside internal testing of a teleconverter-style optical zoom enhancement. These claims have surfaced from Smart Pikachu on Weibo.
While this would mark a shift in Apple’s camera hardware strategy, neither feature would be new to smartphones.
Variable aperture has already been deployed by Xiaomi in shipping products. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra, launched in 2023, introduced a physical dual aperture system (f/1.9 and f/4.0) on its 1-inch main sensor. Xiaomi expanded on this with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, adding stepless, continuous aperture control.
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On the zoom side, Android brands have already experimented with teleconverter-style optics. OPPO has demonstrated a Hasselblad-branded teleconverter that attaches to its Find X9 Pro allowing 10X optical zoom, extending the effective focal length of the periscope camera to roughly 230 mm equivalent.
Similarly, vivo has offered Zeiss-branded teleconverters for its X-series devices, including X200 Ultra and the X300 series. These accessories extend native telephoto ranges from around 85 mm to well over 200 mm equivalent.
Mechanical aperture control and optical zoom extenders are established ideas in mobile photography. Apple’s differentiation, if these features ship, will likely come down to system integration and implementation.
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