Apple has commissioned two award-winning photographers, Jake Michaels and Jason Nocito, to shoot promotional photos with the iPhone Duo, GSMArena reports. The move puts the phone’s cameras in front of professional eyes ahead of its October 16 on-sale date and October 23 shipping date, and it tests whether a device that is not a camera-focused flagship can produce images good enough to carry an Apple marketing campaign.
The iPhone Duo carries a 48MP 1/1.56-inch 26mm f/1.6 wide-angle camera and a 48MP 1/2.55-inch 13mm f/2.2 ultrawide camera. Both sensors support multi-frame processing and HDR. Those are the only imaging specifications GSMArena lists for the device, and the outlet describes the hardware as respectable rather than class-leading.
Michaels and Nocito have photographed celebrities including Woody Harrelson, Keith Richards, Future, ASAP Rocky, Ariana Grande and George Clooney. GSMArena notes that both are award-winning photographers. Apple shared the resulting images through its Instagram account, which the outlet cites as the venue for the campaign.
GSMArena frames the effort as a familiar Apple tactic: give a professional a tool and get professional results. The outlet writes that a true pro in his field will always get amazing results, even with a phone, and that the two photographers did a fine job with the iPhone Duo’s cameras. It also argues that photography has always been more about the photographer, the composition and the lighting than the hardware taking the photo.
That framing cuts both ways. The same outlet states plainly that the iPhone Duo is anything but a camera-focused flagship, which means the campaign is selling the phone’s imaging on the strength of the people holding it as much as on the sensors inside it. The photos demonstrate what the hardware can do in expert hands, not what a typical buyer should expect.
What remains unproven is how the iPhone Duo’s cameras perform outside a commissioned shoot. GSMArena offers no independent image-quality testing, no low-light samples and no comparison against other phones. The outlet also reports that the iPhone Duo could be very hard to buy this year, according to an analyst, adding a supply question to the launch. Apple has not said how many units it will make available.
The phone goes on sale October 16 and ships October 23. Until independent testing appears, the strongest evidence for the iPhone Duo’s cameras is a set of photographs taken by two professionals Apple chose and paid to shoot with it.
