The computational elements of Apple's photo processing has become a contentious topic over the last few years. While the best iPhones for photography might have a million megapixels, but it's what's going on on the software side that's been troubling fans. As far back as 2022, The New Yorker asked if iPhone photos have become too smart.
And now, in perhaps the boldest (and weirdest) illustration of the issue, iPhone users are genuinely arguing that photos taken on 2007's original 2MP iPhone camera look better than those taken on iPhones released over fifteen years later.
X user Canoopsy recently shared a series of photos taken at Apple Park in Cupertino, and they've led to an outpouring not just of nostalgia (although there's plenty of that), but also a claims that without the intrusive brightness and contrast edits imposed by later iPhones, these snaps look... better?
Apple Park shot on iPhone 1 pic.twitter.com/kV5qUD6Sa5June 10, 2026
"These photos makes my iPhone 13 camera look like s**t," one user comments, while another adds, "Kind of chic actually and shows, again, how terrible modern mobile photography has become." Another sums up, "So much better than the crispness these days. I legit feel like they are photographs."
Of course, the claim that these shots look 'better' than those taken on modern phones is entirely subjective, and I'd wager that nostalgia is behind some of the positivity here. Indeed, what seems to be driving the love for these 2MP photos is that they look closer to 35mm film shots thanks to the grain and imperfections.
But the response does perhaps speak to the same discontent that's driving the iPod revival. Today's tech has made life (and capturing it) so smooth, slick and frictionless that it's arguably taken some magic away. No wonder Gen Z can't get enough of Y2K digital cameras.
