iPhone 6S Release Date Rumors: How Apple Can Continually Improve the Handset's Camera
ByApple has managed to keep the iPhone's camera as arguably the best on the smartphone market despite not upping its megapixel count, and they could go further.
According to a patent obtained by Apple Insider, the company will include a sensor for image stabilization on future handsets. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus already introduced users to optical image stabilization (OIS), but the "Mirror Tilt Actuation" appears to take that technology further.
The new OIS works by cancelling out any movement the user might make while taking a photo that could cause the image to come out blurry. As Forbes reported in Jan., Apple hopes to achieve this with a dual-lens camera.
"An additional benefit of dual-lens setups is improved low light performance - perhaps the one area iPhone rivals like the Note 4 and Nexus 6 have started to outperform Apple - and faster HDR photography," Gordon Kelly wrote for Forbes. "That said perhaps the biggest benefit optical zoom would make in an iPhone 6s / iPhone 6s Plus would be the elimination of digital zoom, a horribly outdated technology which merely zooms into the screen."
Kelly was commenting on a report from Apple Insider that indicated the company was planning on bringing optical zoom to the next iPhone.
Apple has apparently taken the stance that megapixels do not make a smartphone's camera great. Combined with OIS, the iPhone 6 Plus' improved autofocus has made its camera one of the best.
Apple Insider also noted that the company could use the Force Touch technology of the Apple Watch on future iPhones, improving the camera further.