AppleInsider Staff
The days of being forced to deal with a bulbous camera bump to enjoy optical zoom in a smartphone may soon be over, as Apple has invented a new variety of compact telephoto lens system.
The patent — rather unimaginatively titled "folded telephoto camera lens system" — describes a method of forming a telephoto lens into a sort of lowercase "r" shape, reminiscent of an old-fashioned periscope. Light is channeled in through the primary lens, bounced off of a mirror, and redirected to the secondary lens which focuses it on the image sensor.
Moving the secondary lens up and down, even by tiny increments that may amount to fractions of a millimeter, would achieve the telephoto results.
Interestingly, Apple discusses one scenario in which the folding telephoto lens would be included as a secondary option. Users would be free to choose between it and a more standard wider-field lens when taking photos.
Rumors that Apple was considering moving future iPhones to a dual-camera setup have persisted for years, but they have really picked up steam with the so-called "iPhone 7." Numerous supply chain reports and even supposedly leaked parts have pointed to such a move, meaning the new telephoto lens system may make its debut sooner than later.
Apple credits Romeo I. Mercado with the invention of U.S. Patent No. 9,316,810.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
21 Comments
I'd love to see them put this into future iPhones.
It seems like a no-brainer that as devices become thinner the camera would move to look up the body of the phone and bounce out. I've blue-skied about this myself a time or two. Once it's environed it's hard to imagine future phones go any other way.
My Panasonic underwater camera has had folded optics for years now.
I feel you all are really ignorant. I like the lens bump. I am a long time (60 years) engineer and user of expensive cameras and phones. The bump is what I like and want, I can easily clean the lens and most important keep the lens clean at all times just like the SLR camera lens. I want a tele in my phone and I really don't care if the bump is a little more significant.