Why are my photos blurry with my iPhone 15 Pro main camera?

A slightly larger sensor has nothing to do with the issue.

You’re at the limits of the minimum focus distance of the 1X lens. If the Macro Mode indicator is present (yellow flower near bottom left of screen) you’re using Deep Fusion. How many megapixels is the original image, 48 MP, 24MP or 12MP?

When photographing flat, 2 dimensional objects it’s imperative the camera is held parallel to the subject. Notice the trapezoidal shape caused by camera not being parallel to subject. This will result in edges on one side being less sharp than the other. This is a contributing factor, but not the main cause of the issue.

Your brother’s iPhone 11 has a different lens design and may perform better at the distance you are from the subject.

How far are you from the subject, exactly? How well lit is the scene/room you’re photographing in?

Yes, and that 20 to 30cm distance is right at the near focus limit of the lens. Optically, all lenses focus to infinity, think beyond the moon and not the street light down the road.

All lenses have a minimum focus distance, or a near limit, if moved closer the lens cannot bring the light reflected off the subject into sharp focus. The minimum focus distance of the 1X 24mm lens is about 25cm as I recall.

Lenses are never at their sharpest when focusing at their near focus limit. Lens can be designed to focus sharply at minimum focus, but beyond 20 meters or so, they aren’t very sharp. These lenses are especially designed to be nearly as sharply focused in the corners as they are in the center. These lenses are call flat field lenses. They are used for flat, 2D copy or reproduction work, which is essentially what you’re trying to do.

When the camera module was designed for iPhone 15 Pro series, compromises were made to accommodate the largest percentage of users. Unfortunately, near focus copy work is a niche market or use. Apple engineers were satisfied with the performance and didn’t feel it was necessary to optimize the performance of their cameras for that particular purpose.

iPhone 15 Pro models take great pictures. Unfortunately, given the exact specifications of your requirements, the lenses are not performing at their best. It’s not defective, it’s operating within its design standards.

The iPhone 11 had different design requirements and different lenses that were designed to perform differently. In other words, better for your specific requirements. The lens focuses closer than the lens in the 15 Pro. It’s optically different in design and capable of sharper images, at closeup distances. But for the average photographer, the iPhone 15 will produce sharper images.

Yes, that’s typical of the design of ultra wide angle lenses (.5X 13mm lens). If you want to post a few photos, I’ll be happy to review and let you know if it’s normal or not.

The 16 is no better in my experience. I’m thinking of downgrading back to a 14 or going Android after all these years. Very disappointing in my experience