iPhone 15 Pro tipped for 'niche' 4K video recording feature

(Image credit: iMore)

Buyers of Apple's best iPhone of 2023 can expect to be able to make use of a new 4K live video feature. However, it isn't clear how many people actually will.

A new report claims that the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will support a feature that takes live 4K video recorded by its cameras and then sends it to an attached display via Thunderbolt.

However, the report does note that the feature is as "niche" as it already sounds, with few people likely to need to use it outside of a professional setting.

A nice niche feature

The report comes via Twitter leaker @analyst941 who previously correctly shared details about the iPhone 14 Pro's Dynamic Island before it was released. According to them, Apple's iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will display all the camera's controls on the iPhone while pushing live footage to a connected display.

That connected display will see only the live footage that is being recorded with none of the Camera app's user interface included. The display will also be presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio as well.

For example, a new cinematography feature that will allow live 4K Thunderbolt outputs to monitors while recording.Essentially, you’ll have the phone with all the camera controls, connected to a monitor displaying live 4K camera footage without any controls; in 16:9.It’s NicheApril 27, 2023

It's clear that the feature is aimed at those who use iPhones to film feature-length movies and is unlikely to be used by the majority of people, but it does speak to Apple trying to make its Pro iPhones more pro-oriented than was previously the case. The feature doesn't appear to be coming to the iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Plus, for example, and they won't ship with a Thunderbolt connector but rather a standard USB-C port instead.

The iPhone 15 lineup is expected to be announced during an event in September, with the phones set to go on sale shortly afterward. All four models will ditch the Lightning connector if the reports are accurate.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.