The iPhone 7 may not have a dual-lens camera after all

iPhone 6S

Single-lens or dual-lens? That's one of the big questions we still have about the iPhone 7 – and a new leak points strongly towards a single-lens camera.

The leak in question is an image of a batch of camera modules from @the_malignant via playfuldroid, which appear to just be single-lens units.

Other than adding further evidence that the iPhone 7 will have a single-lens camera they don't tell us much, though the source also claims that mass production of the phone has started at Foxconn, which doesn't come as much of a surprise, with the likely launch just months away.

iPhone 7 camera leak

There are a couple of things to note though. First off, the image doesn't look obviously doctored, although it could be of cameras for any device. An accompanying image which appears to show a Foxconn cafeteria is meant to be evidence that they were taken there, but as it's a completely separate photo it's only really evidence that some Foxconn employees are messy eaters.

There's still hope for a dual-lens snapper

Second, even if we take the image as being authentic that still doesn't mean we won't see a dual-lens version. In fact, while it's looking ever more likely that the standard iPhone 7 will have a single-lens camera it seems Apple might be reserving a dual-lens one for the iPhone 7 Plus or iPhone 7 Pro.

So, if you were hoping for twice the lenses you might still get them, just as long as you're happy with a bigger screen too.

But even a single-lens camera could be better than the camera on the iPhone 6S, as various earlier leaks have shown a larger lens than previous handsets.

In fact, whichever model you opt for the camera could be one of the biggest updates, with the iPhone 7 as a whole rumored to be quite similar to the iPhone 6S, as Apple is apparently saving the big changes for the 10-year anniversary of the iPhone in 2017.

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.