Apple has stepped up its game in the selfie department with the latest flagship iPhone models going into 2026 by upgrading the front camera from 12MP (megapixels) to 18MP on iPhone 17, iPhone Air, and iPhone 17 Pro. iPhone models have had 12MP front cameras since the iPhone 11 series, so this is more than a welcome upgrade for those who love to take selfies. Now, Apple is looking to raise the bar again with next year’s flagship iPhone models by upgrading the resolution again to 24MP, according to a JP Morgan report. Previous rumors leading up to the iPhone 17 lineup indicated that Apple would bring the 24MP front camera to the iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air, but we already know that rumor never came to fruition.
If we take a look at the latest flagship iPhone models, the updates go beyond the resolution. For the first time, the front camera uses a square center, which allows for a wider field of view to fit even more people, hence the name “Center Stage”. How Apple implemented this was very smart: previously, if you ever wanted to take landscape selfies, you would have to orient your iPhone horizontally, but at the same time, you’d be looking at the screen instead of looking straight at the camera. So landscape selfies would appear as if you were looking off camera. Now with any of the latest iPhone models, since the natural way you hold your iPhone would be vertically, you can take both portrait and landscape selfies while holding your iPhone vertically to allow more natural-looking selfies, especially for landscape ones.
Since JP Morgan report indicated that the upgraded 24MP front camera would be coming to next year’s flagship iPhone models, this would include the iPhone 18, iPhone Air 2, iPhone 18 Pro, and “iPhone Fold.” This further means that both the budget-oriented iPhone 17e and iPhone 18e will retain the 12MP front camera. The report also claimed that the “iPhone Fold” would receive a 24MP under-the-screen camera.
Starting in fall 2026, Apple is rumored to split the releases of the non-Pro and Pro iPhone models. Therefore, it’s likely that we’ll see the iPhone 18 Pro models and “iPhone Fold” in fall 2026, and in spring 2027, we’ll see the base iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, and possibly the iPhone Air 2, given a recent report that Apple has delayed the release of the iPhone Air 2.
