Kuo says that one feature will make the iPhone 15 Pro Max the most popular new iPhone this year

TF International's reliable analyst, Ming-Chi-Kuo, said on Medium that the periscope lens will be the "biggest selling point" of the iPhone 15 Pro Max. This lens is folded up inside the body of the phone and uses prisms to take the light from the lens and direct it to the image sensor. The result is an extension in focal length even with the limitations of the small smartphone body and this leads to a hike in optical zoom capabilities.

It is rumored that the optical zoom on the iPhone 15 Pro Max will be raised from the 3x currently available with the iPhone 14 Pro Max to 6x with this year's model. The iPhone 15 Pro Max will be the only iPhone model to have a periscope lens this year although the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max both might have it in 2024. Kuo says that adding the Pro model next year will lead to a 70% increase in shipments of iPhone periscope lenses during the second half of 2024 on a year-over-year basis.

Kuo goes on to forecast that the top-of-the-line 2023 iPhone, regardless of whether it is called the iPhone 15 Pro Max or the iPhone 15 Ultra as recent rumors suggest, will have a leading 35%-40% share of iPhone 15 shipments in the second half of this year (which Kuo accidentally labels the second half of 2024). That would mean that the iPhone 15 Pro Max will ship 10% to 20% more phones during that period than the iPhone 14 Pro Max shipped during the same time last year, good news for Apple.

The analyst says that Largan is the sole supplier of the iPhone 15 Pro Max's periscope lens and is also responsible for 60% of such parts for Huawei. The unit price of each periscope lens is about three to four times the cost of your typical high-end 7P lens. Remember, Kuo is an analyst for a securities firm and this is a roundabout way of recommending the purchase of Largan's shares which trade in Taiwan and are currently valued at $63.57 each, up 2.8% after Kuo's comments were released.

Kuo also points out that Huawei is the "fastest growing" and "most active adopter of the periscope among China's smartphone brands." Shipments of Huawei phones equipped with a periscope lens are expected to reach 15-20 million units this year and rise to about 30 million in 2024 for an annual growth rate of 70% to 80%.