Leaked photos of iPhone 16 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro show Apple and Google need Huawei camera technology

In case you didn't know, Huawei hasn't given up making phones.

With or without Google services, Huawei is now China's fastest-growing phone maker, meaning the company has a lot to lose/gain, depending on how you look at it.

Part of Huawei's plan to dominate the oversaturated Chinese market is to remind the competition who the real camera king is/was. And the most intriguing new camera feature on the new Huawei Pura 70 Ultra (which we just reviewed) is a retractable camera.

To be honest, I was intrigued when I first saw this new trick. I thought Huawei had developed an innovative zoom technology, or maybe something else entirely.

In reality, however, the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra's pop-up camera doesn't do much. In fact, it doesn't do anything to improve image quality, which is disappointing.

Then why does it exist?! Well, it turns out there's a good reason for it, and I think Google and Apple's upcoming new flagship phones might want to take that to heart!

Leaked photos of Pixel 9 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max show massive camera bumps: Has Huawei found the solution to this design challenge?

iPhone 16 Pro Max dummy unit next to iPhone 15 Pro Max (left), Pixel 9 Pro next to iPhone 15 Pro (middle), Xiaomi 14 Ultra (right).

What you see are leaked photos of the upcoming iPhone 16 Pro Max and Pixel 9 Pro.

The iPhone is a dummy device designed to replicate the actual size of Apple's premium flagship for 2024 as accurately as possible.

On the other hand Pixels 9 Pro (pictured next to the iPhone 15 Pro) is said to be an actual working phone – which is 100% possible since we're talking about Google here.

Anyway… I don’t know about you, but the first thing that catches my eye are the new, larger camera bulges seen in the leaked images.

It's not like the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Pixel 8 Pro have small camera bumps, but the new ones certainly look noticeably thicker. Just FYI… they won't break any records. Just look at the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

Still, I think Apple and Google's new flagships could take a leaf out of the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra's book, which uses a 1-inch primary camera sensor but has a 2mm thinner camera island than the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which also has a 1-inch camera.

I know that retractable camera technology may not seem like a necessity right now, but as smartphone camera sensors continue to grow (and they certainly will), this could be a way to keep their size in check.

Apple declares war on thick phones with the “iPhone Slim” of 2025. But will the camera bumps remain?

The 2024 iPad Pro (right) is now the thinnest product Apple has ever made. Can the rumored “iPhone Slim” reach or exceed the 5.1mm mark?

With that in mind, you might be surprised by what Apple (reportedly) has in store for next year’s iPhone 17 series.

Apparently, Apple is working on a “slim” model of the iPhone 17, which could be the most expensive iPhone ever and the first completely new iPhone design since the iPhone X. Apple's main goal? To make the iPhone Slim significantly slimmer than current iPhones.

Keep in mind that these are very early rumors, but I have to say that they are consistent with Cupertino's ambition to make the new iPad Pro super thin. The iPad Pro 2024 is only 5.1 inches thick (compared to 8.3 inches for the iPhone 15 Pro Max).

The thicker camera bumps of the new iPhone 16 Pro Max and Pixel 9 Pro have more to offer than meets the eye

Sharp's flagship for Japan has a single camera on the back. I love how clean it looks, but that's not the best marketing move, Sharp. They need at least four extra holes.

Ultimately, nobody wants their phone to have a huge bump on the back. It makes it harder to hold the device and it often leads to phones being top-heavy, meaning they're easier to drop.

However, phones with a huge camera bump also have an intangible advantage: They are effective at marketing a camera-centric flagship phone—or, in other words, any new flagship phone.

In case you're wondering why affordable $200 phones come with 3-4-5 “cameras” on the back, they look like they mean business/have better cameras than they actually are, when in reality 9/10 of the extra “cameras” are nearly useless 2-5MP macro/ToF sensors.

Also, users expect every new $1,000 phone to have an impressive camera that is visually bigger/better than before. If I showed you a $1,000 flagship phone with only one camera (like Sharp's latest flagship for Japan), you might think I'm trying to sell you a phone from 2015.

Therefore, I believe that large, intimidating camera bumps are here to stay for a while. However, influential phone makers like Apple have the power to change that. Could the rumored iPhone Slim be that change?