How to Fix iPhone 16 Pro Max Camera Focus Issue

There is no focus, it’s blurry period that’s the point thousands of people are making.

you can take a photo in any zoom capacity, the outcome is the same, blurry regardless of locking the fixed focus.

zero sharpness and an embarrassing camera on an iPhone 16 model.

we shouldn’t be fiddling with macros adjustments or changing setting to try & take a decent photo.

Samsung is wiping the floor with apples camera capabilities!

Sorry, your car comparison is lacking in a lot of ways. If your new Lexus was slower and consumed more fuel than the old one you would not accept that.

And my iPhone 13 Pro was able to produce edge to edge sharp pictures of a A4 Page (about 20x30 cm) and my 16 Pro is not.

I understand and accept that the 16 Pro’s 1x lens has a different minimal focus distances than the 13 Pro (likely due to a larger sensor) but then the 16 Pro just does not switch to the 0.5x lens/macro mode at the necessary distance to photograph a A4 page and I can’t do it manually (of course I can switch to 0.5x but this is much wider angle). And this results in blurry pictures no matter what you do. If this is the result of a design change than it is just a bad design.

That’s what a lot of people are explaining over and over again.

I really don’t get what point you are trying to make.

I confirm the problem.

Tests done on 8 iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max + my iPhone 16 Pro, as well as on 3 iPhone 16 (non Pro), in iOS 18.2.1. And on an iPhone 14 and an iPhone 13 :

• 7 iPhone 16 Pro/Pro max have exactly the same problem of blurry images at relatively short distances at about 0.8-1.5m (1x, non macro mode), as soon as you go far from center. When you are at a distance that allows both macro and non macro modes, the problem disappears when you switch to Macro mode (still in 1x mode)
• 1 iPhone 16 Pro has it, but to a lesser extent
• 1 iPhone 16 Pro hardly has it at all, though it's there
• No iPhone 16 (non-pro), 14 or 13 has this problem

My conclusions on the origin of the problem :

•  it COULD BE a sensor size problem
  • But this requires more in-depth tests, with similar hardware (note that a DSLR Nikon D7200 that has a way bigger sensor does not have the problem, as far as this can be taken as a comparison)

• it's NOT a depth-of-field (DOF) problem
  • All photos taken with an iPhone 16 Pro (Max or not) from a distance of about one meter or less have this problem on the main sensor. Photos of a flat sheet of paper taken with the camera parallel to the sheet (so DOF non-existent).
  • The examples illustrated before in this post are very representative of what I've also seen.

• it's NOT a software processing problem
  • The problem is present in ProRAW mode, which corresponds to what the sensor recorded without any software processing over it.
  • The problem does not occur on iPhone 14 or 13 series (non-professionals). Same apps, same iOS, etc...

• it's NOT a viewing software problem
  • see comment on ProRAW above the problem does not manifest itself on the iPhone 14 or 13 series (non-professionals).
  • Same apps, same iOS, etc...

• it's NOT a problem of motion blur, or dirty lens.
  • see tests carried out, with meticulously cleaned lenses, and no camera shake. 100% reproducible problem.
  • Note that the "trails" do a star-like shape blur coming from the center, when a motion blur make "trails" in the same direction.

• it's NOT a night mode problem
  • Same results obtained with or without night mode

The problem disappears as soon as you switch to wide-angle macro mode, typically in the short range of distances where the camera offers the option of switching to macro mode or not. So, for the same photo and distance, the lens used behaves differently: one produces blurred photos as soon as you move away from the center, while the other produces very sharp photos over the whole field.

This is not diffraction, as the “trails” observed are monochromatic, including in ProRaw, and therefore taken as such by the sensor without any software processing.

My conclusion: it's obviously a hardware problem. With a one-in-10 chance of finding an acceptable (albeit imperfect) model. Which is... unacceptable considering the price of the device, and the fact that the non-pro model clearly doesn't have the problem.

@Jeff Donald, you're stuck on focus distance, macro and wide angle, but if you really understand photography that does not seems the case, there is nothing there related to focusing distance, nor macro, nor wide angle.

We are talking about the main camera lens, at a distance that is not a macro distance for such a lens, and as far as you consider the focus "plane" to be a plane or a sphere, this would result in such "blur" results. Compared with many other smartphones, including middle and high-end DSLR with very poor and high quality lenses of the same range, the iPhone 16 Pro lineup is out of the game.

And you don't answer the main points and loose yourself in theoretical and out of scope explanations. So instead of talking in the air, can you argue on these points with concrete arguments and examples :

• Why the iPhone 13 lineup does not have this issue ?
• Why the iPhone 16 non Pro does not have this issue ?
• Why some samples of the iPhone 16 Pro/Pro max do not have this issue (1 out of 8 as far as I've tested) ?
• Why does this problem increases year after year since the iPhone 14 lineup ?
• Why other smartphones of the same and lower level do not have this issue ?

You also complain about those who didn't test the features they feel are most important before buying. Are you kidding ?

We are talking about a flagship. That is supposed to do the same and better than the previous one.

Do you expect the phone having year after year a lower speaker quality ? A lower signal reception ? How do you test this in an Apple Store (assuming you have one near your home) ?

And we also talk here about photography, that is one if not the the main aspect of the companies communication about their smartphones. We don't expect this one to degrade year after year.

More iPhone Comparison photos below of the blurriness issue

I am facing the same issue with iphone 16pro lens may be it is a software problem because it is happening in every lens in iphone 16pro and pro max .

One more comparison of the above shots that i have posted earlier , the one on the left is the iPhone 13 PRO with clear texts and the one on the right is the iPhone 16 Pro Max with the blurry / smudgy texts:

I have taken many shots these days, many comparison tests. The only solution, if you want to photograph an A4 sheet, you can't do it with an iPhone 16 Pro, you have to use a "normal" iPhone 16 or iPhone 15. Many people here will tell you that you are taking the photo wrong, but none of these people are able to upload a comparison test that can deny this fact: if you want to shoot an A4 sheet you can't do it with the "Pro". If they prove otherwise I will be very happy because they will have to replace my brand new iPhone 16 Pro, under warranty, I also have AppleCare +. However, unfortunately these are the normal optical performance of the main camera of the iPhone 16 Pro, since I tested various models in different stores, even in the Apple store, they say that everything is ok.

.

This is really frustrating for me too.

Some people are asking if its the telephot lens or 5x or whatever. For god sake, thats the real problem that even if at 1x you take a normal photo of two persons, one sitting close to you and the other one sitting a little behind him, the person at the behind goes blur and the one who is sitting closer to you becomes razor sharp. The problem is that it is not the photo that you took in portrait mode and you cannot even change the focus in the edit mode since you wanted both of such persons to be in focus like any 'normal' camera phone would do. Duh! I hope apple brings some software update to rectify it.

No I don’t have ProRaw, as all my photos sizes are between 5-6MBs, instead of 25MB.

yeah I’m just going to wait till I can install IOS 18.2 and see if that fixes anything before I investigate further, but definitely the 24mm is the issue here at this point in time!

The closeup images the I’ve been posting are at 48 MP and 1X lens. iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max automatically switch to macro mode, which requires the .5X 13mm ultra wide lens. The 13mm is not as sharp as the 24mm, in my experience.

The iPhone 16 Pros automatically switch to the 13mm lens and drop resolution at specific a specific distance.

On an iPhone 16, macro mode automatically activates when you get very close to a subject, causing the camera to switch to the Ultra Wide lens to capture extreme close-up details; this is indicated by a flower icon in the camera viewfinder, and you can essentially take close-up photos by simply getting near your subject without needing to manually adjust settings, although you can turn off macro mode if needed by tapping the flower icon

Take macro photos and videos with your iPhone camera - Apple Support

Control automatic macro switching

You can control when Camera automatically switches to the Ultra Wide camera for capturing macro photos and videos.

1. Open Camera  on your iPhone.
2. Get close to your subject.
3. When you get within macro distance of your subject,  appears on the screen.
4. Tap  to turn off automatic macro switching.
5. Tip: If the photo or video becomes blurry, you can back up or tap .5x to switch to the Ultra Wide camera.
6. Tap  to turn automatic macro switching back on.

Decentering is easy to determine. Shot a photo and determine which side is presenting the issue. Flip the iPhone 180° and shoot the same subject. The defect should be present on the opposite side as the first shot.

If you want to post a couple of images I’m happy to review them.

You already have tons of examples of blurred photos in this thread. Seems you have read nothing before posting this and assuming yours takes excellent photos... And, as some tests I've done and shared, there are some samples that almost don't have the problem. Maybe you have one of these.

I understand the optical aspects to a certain degree.

But you are still missing the point:

iPhones (my 13 pro for sure) used to take perfectly sharp pictures at close (not macro) focus distances (i.e. a whole sheet of paper 20x30 cm).

Now we have the latest and greatest iPhone in our hands and expect to do at least the same (or even better). But it just doesn’t. And even if we understand the relevant optical and physical aspects of photography and try to take them into account when using our iPhone camera (what we are not willing to do because we are not using a manual medium format camera and everything’s supposed to be easy) we don’t get a picture as good as before (as seen in numerous examples in this thread).

This is no technical progress, it’s a flaw.

Do you understand the concept of progress? It is a change that is supposed to be an improvement, not the opposite.

I know how to photograph (even with an analog medium format camera and a manual meter) and I also understand how the 16 Pros macro mode works.

So here’s the simple challenge that lead most of us to this discussion:

Take a sharp photograph of a flat A4 with text that is sharp from edge to edge (like it uses to be with the 13 Pros).