It’s by no means a guarantee, but there’s a very strong possibility that Apple’s next-generation iPhone will ship with an innovative dual-camera setup in place of the current module. The technology embedded within the iPhone 7 would likely be provided by camera technology firm LinX, the Israeli company that Apple acquired back in April of last year. A new video has emerged that shows a twin-camera system in operation from a competing company that outlines exactly how the system could potentially work on the iPhone 7, as well as the benefits of Apple utilizing such a system.
The company in question, Corephotonics, claims to have had a dual-camera system up and running back in 2014. The problem being that the firm wasn’t able to get the relevant supply chains in place to deliver the volumes that would be needed to provide manufacturers with the confidence required to build devices with this system. However, Corephotonics clearly demos how a dual-camera setup increases the sharpness when taking photographs zoomed in thanks to the presence of optical zoom, hence pegging it as the future of smartphone zoom.
With that said, it also seems that the market has matured a lot since then, and that the relevant requirements are potentially in place now:
I am happy to report that today, all three components demand, development and the supply chain maturity are in place. That goes for the camera manufacturing and also for the application processor framework.
It seems that a number of the big players in the camera market have all been on the same wave length when it comes to developing the required technology and hitting the market at the same time. Sony’s CFO has recently gone on record as stating that 2017 could be the year that we start to see these type of camera systems really make it into main stream mobile devices. Given the fact that Sony currently makes the sensors for the iPhone camera, it makes sense that the Japanese company would have an opinion on the subject.
There are a number of unknowns surrounding the potential iPhone 7 dual-camera integration at the moment, but an Apple filed patent application has tipped Apple’s hand a little bit by outlining that the company is looking to offer a sophisticated solution that could extend beyond what would generally be accepted as a reasonable solution for the beginnings of a technology.
Check out the video for yourself and see what you think, but remember, it’s likely that it will only be the larger iPhone 7 Plus that ships with this functionality, if at all.
(Source: CNET)
You may also like to check out:
You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the Web.