Dual CameraWhich iPhones Can Record the Front and Back Camera at Once?
A model-by-model table of which iPhones can record both cameras at once, which ones get Apple's Dual Capture, and why iPhone X and older never will.
Updated
Two things have to be true before an iPhone can film both lenses at the same time. Most confusion about compatibility comes from mixing them up.
One: the chip. Simultaneous multi-camera capture arrived with the A12 Bionic in 2018. Every iPhone from the XR and XS onwards has it; nothing older does, and no update will change that.
Two: the software. The Dual Camera app requires iOS 18.6 or later. That happens to exclude exactly the same devices the chip requirement does, so in practice there is one clean dividing line: iPhone XR and newer, yes. iPhone X and older, no.
Apple’s own built-in Dual Capture mode is a separate, much narrower question: it exists only on the iPhone 17 lineup.
Every iPhone, checked
| iPhone | Year | Chip | Record both cameras | Apple Dual Capture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 17e | 2026 | A19 | Yes | No |
| iPhone 17 Pro / Pro Max | 2025 | A19 Pro | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone Air | 2025 | A19 Pro | Yes (one rear lens) | Yes |
| iPhone 17 | 2025 | A19 | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone 16e | 2025 | A18 | Yes | No |
| iPhone 16 / Plus / Pro / Pro Max | 2024 | A18 | Yes | No |
| iPhone 15 / Plus / Pro / Pro Max | 2023 | A16, A17 Pro | Yes | No |
| iPhone 14 / Plus / Pro / Pro Max | 2022 | A15, A16 | Yes | No |
| iPhone SE (3rd gen) | 2022 | A15 | Yes (one rear lens) | No |
| iPhone 13 / mini / Pro / Pro Max | 2021 | A15 | Yes | No |
| iPhone 12 / mini / Pro / Pro Max | 2020 | A14 | Yes | No |
| iPhone SE (2nd gen) | 2020 | A13 | Yes (one rear lens) | No |
| iPhone 11 / Pro / Pro Max | 2019 | A13 | Yes | No |
| iPhone XR, XS, XS Max | 2018 | A12 | Yes | No |
| iPhone X, 8, 8 Plus | 2017 | A11 | No | No |
| iPhone 7 and older | ≤2016 | A10 and older | No | No |
Two rows deserve a footnote.
The SE models and the iPhone Air have a capable chip and record the front lens alongside the rear one, but they carry a single rear camera, so you get front plus one rear view, without a choice of rear lenses.
The iPhone 17e is the odd one out. It is a 2026 phone in the iPhone 17 family, but Apple left the new front-camera features out of it, Dual Capture included. If you bought a 17e expecting the built-in mode, it is not there. An app is the only route.
iPads
| iPad | Record both cameras |
|---|---|
| iPad Pro (2020 and later) | Yes |
| iPad Pro (2018) | Chip is capable, not officially supported |
| iPad Air, iPad, iPad mini | Not officially supported |
Why iPhone X and earlier can never do this
It is a genuine hardware ceiling, not Apple withholding a feature. Running two camera sensors simultaneously means two image signal processing pipelines active at once, then compositing both into a single encoded stream in real time. The A11 chip in the iPhone X does not have the processing paths to do it, which is why Apple’s multi-camera capture API simply does not exist on those devices.
No app can work around this, and no version of iOS will add it. If you are on an iPhone X or older and you need both angles, you need a second device.
“But my iPhone 16 does not have Dual Capture”
This trips a lot of people up. Apple’s Dual Capture is a feature of the iPhone 17 generation, not a general iOS feature. Updating an iPhone 16 to the latest iOS will not add it, because it launched alongside the iPhone 17’s new front camera hardware.
Your iPhone 16 is entirely capable of recording both cameras at once. The capability has been there since 2018. It is Apple’s Camera app that will not expose it. A dual camera app does, and gives you layouts the built-in mode does not have anyway.
If the option is missing on a phone that should have it, see Dual Capture not working.
What each route gets you
| Apple Dual Capture | Dual Camera app | |
|---|---|---|
| Models | iPhone 17, Air, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max | iPhone XR and later |
| Layouts | Picture-in-picture, fixed | Split, PiP, side by side, single |
| Swap the large view | No | Yes |
| Max resolution | 4K | 4K |
| Dual-camera stills | Video only | Yes |
| Cost | Built in | Free, optional unlock |
Check your model in ten seconds
Go to Settings → General → About. The Model Name row tells you exactly which iPhone you have. Match it against the table above.
If it is an iPhone XR or newer, you can record both cameras today: Dual Camera is free on the App Store, and the step-by-step walkthrough takes about a minute to follow.