Despite its incredible success over the years and some very convincing advertising campaigns, the iPhone is now well and truly outgunned when it comes to core camera specs. Perhaps not for long. Since the launch of the iPhone 6, Apple has been continually filing patents detailing all manner of advanced technologies, and now a report in Business Weekly Taiwan claims that the Cupertino giant has spent considerable time working very hard on its next iPhone camera breakthrough - and it could be the biggest one to-date.
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The report says that Xiaru Wen, CEO of Altek Corp, has gone on record to state that Apple has been experimenting with dual-camera technology for the last three years. Altek Corp is the company behind the dual-camera systems we’ve seen already in phones from
A dual-lens camera built to Apple’s exacting standards is sure to be a very exciting proposition, but don’t expect it to be a unique one. Chances are, most of the major flagship smartphones will begin to implement dual-camera technology. It’s going to be a huge game changer for mobile photography, forcing makers of enthusiast compact cameras to take notice. It will bring more than just an improvement in sharpness and low-light performance. We’re going to see smartphone cameras producing images unlike anything they’ve been able to create before.
Where most digital cameras are simply digital versions of the old film camera concept, the multi-sensor, multi-lens camera presents an entirely different way of seeing which, I believe, has the potential to rewrite the rule book as far as consumer-level photography is concerned.
When Apple bought LinX Computational Imaging earlier this year, it was taken as an indication that the company would be making a foray into dual-camera technology. But according to the report, LinX was purchased in order to resolve some technical issues which had come up during the development of cameras Apple has already been working on for years.
The report goes on to state that component supply issues are another factor contributing to the long delay in Apple’s dual-camera implementation, but that demand is now ready to be met by Largan Precision Co., Ltd.
This would suggest that Apple is closer to completing a viable dual-camera design than was first suspected, although it’s unlikely that such a device would be ready in time for the anticipated launch of the iPhone 6S this September. However, we should expect it to bring at least an increase in sensor resolution, with the addition of Force Touch sufficing as the big new feature for this impending generation. But next year the gloves are off.
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