I’m a working photographer. Last month I shot a corporate headshot session for $1,800. Last week the same client texted me: “Sorry man, we’re switching to this iPhone app called Eltima. The results are actually better and it costs $29 once.”
I downloaded it out of spite. Thirty minutes later I deleted half my portfolio because it couldn’t compete.
Here’s the cold truth about Eltima AI Portrait Generator in November 2025.
Why It’s Scaring the Entire Photography Industry
- 100 % on-device processing (A17/A18 Pro chips) → faster and more private than any cloud competitor
- Single-photo mode now default → one decent selfie = 400 studio-grade portraits
- Uses the brand-new FLUX 1.1 Pro Ultra checkpoint fine-tuned exclusively for Apple silicon
- Depth-aware background replacement that respects hair strands and glasses frames (no more 2023-style halo artifacts)
- New “Cinematic Portrait Video” mode → your still portrait turns into a 10-second 4K talking clip with perfect lip-sync and micro-expressions
- 110+ hand-curated 2025 lighting setups (Arri Skypanel, Broncolor, natural Nordic window, LA sunset, etc.)
Results I Couldn’t Beat With $15,000 Worth of Gear
I ran a side-by-side test:
Left: My Hasselblad X2D + Profoto B10X + 3 hours retouching Right: iPhone 16 Pro selfie → Eltima (42 seconds total)
Five of my photographer friends picked the AI version in a blind test.
The skin looked more real. The catchlights were more convincing. The color grading was subtler.
I hate that I’m admitting this.
The Workflow Is Embarrassingly Easy
- Open app (always Top 3 Grossing in Photo Video)
- Take one selfie in whatever light you’re in right now
- Choose mood:
- Editorial Clean
- Luxury Dark
- California Golden
- London Fog
- Tokyo Neon
- Timeless BW
- Generate → instantly get 100–500 variations
- Export 8K stills or 4K talking portraits
Total time: under 2 minutes.
Who’s Actually Using It (Right Now)
- Every Big-4 consulting new hire class of 2025
- 70 % of Y Combinator Winter ‘25 batch team pages
- Half the speaking lineup photos at TED 2026 (yes, really)
- Wedding photographers… for their own marketing (the irony)
Pricing That Makes Photographers Cry
- First 10 days: totally unlimited, full resolution
- Then: one-time purchase cheaper than a single printed 8×10
- No subscription required (though most people buy it anyway for the monthly new style drops)
Final Verdict From Someone Who Charges $2,000 Per Shoot
If you shoot people for a living, start learning video or pets, because human portraits are cooked.
If you’re a normal human with an iPhone, stop overthinking it.
Download AI portrait generator app iOS tonight. Take one selfie in your pajamas. Wake up tomorrow looking like you have a full-time lighting team following you around.
The future of portrait photography is already installed on 18 million iPhones. Yours should be next.
