The dual-camera system in the two basic iPhone models is an unnecessary complication. The iPhone’s secondary Ultra Wide camera simply doesn’t get used enough to justify building it into a handset.

Apple should focus entirely on the primary camera — the only one most people ever use. The iPhone’s Ultra Wide camera just adds unnecessary bulk and expense.

iPhone Ultra Wide camera is pointless

A feature shouldn’t be included in a product just because it can be. No one builds a bathtub into a car, even though it’s physically possible. Well, the Ultra Wide camera in the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus is like a bathtub in your backseat. Or umbrellas for your shoes. Or perhaps GPS for your underwear.

The iPhone’s 48-megapixel main camera works great. I use it almost every day, and I’m sure other iPhone users depend on it equally as much. But the 12MP Ultra Wide? I can’t recall the last time I took a picture with it.

Experience shows it’s not needed

I started thinking about this when recent rumors suggested the mysterious iPhone 17 Slim might lack a second camera. Would anyone notice? Or care?

Looking back, I remember my excitement when I got my first iPhone with a 12MP Ultra Wide camera. As I said in my review of the iPhone 11:

“That new ultra-wide-angle lens is something people don’t realize they want until they see it. Remember all those times you’ve had to keep backing up to get your entire group into a picture? Never again. And beautiful pictures of wide-open spaces that used to require a panorama picture can now be taken with the press of the shutter.”

Five years later, my excitement is long gone. Unless it’s the holidays, I don’t take group shots. And if I want a panoramic photo, I take an actual panoramic photo.

To confirm this, I did a test on myself. I taped paper over the 12MP Ultra Wide camera on my iPhone 15 Plus, making it unusable. I then waited to see how long it would be before I needed to remove the obstruction to take a picture I wanted. Two weeks later, the paper remains in place.

Just not enough interest in the iPhone Ultra Wide camera
Here’s the 0.5x button, if you need a reminder.Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

If you use a basic iPhone 15, iPhone 14, etc., is this true for you, too? How often do you use the little button in the Camera app labeled 0.5x? If you had to go check the app to see where that button is, then the answer is probably, “Not very often.”

I asked all the iPhone users I know how often they take pictures with the wide-angle camera. Based on the many times I then needed to explain to people that their iPhone actually includes an Ultra Wide camera, the feature doesn’t get much use.

Still, I’m sure some basic iPhone owners use it — just as some people would love a bathtub in their car. But I’m arguing that the iPhone’s second camera doesn’t get enough use to justify it. I’d much rather reduce the size of the huge camera hump in my iPhone, and hopefully lower the cost of the device. Or, if Apple insists on two iPhone cameras, I prefer one that offers better telephoto images rather than wide-angle ones.

Basic vs. Pro cameras

I did speak to a couple of people who use the Ultra Wide camera frequently, but they use an iPhone Pro. That’s why, if you own a Pro or Pro Max, my suggestion that Apple drop the Ultra Wide camera doesn’t apply to you.

Apple pitches the two Pro models as boasting premium features that the two basic models don’t enjoy. I suggest Apple make the Wide Angle camera one of those. Then, if you need the feature, you could get a Pro. Based on the last two weeks, I doubt most of us with the more basic non-Pro models would miss the second camera at all.

So if someday you read that the iPhone 17 or other future models lack an Ultra Wide camera, just shrug your shoulders. Meh.