Mikey Campbell
According to a fresh report out of the Far East, Apple's next-generation "iPhone 5S" could employ a rear-facing camera with an improved 12MP sensor capable of producing high dynamic range images and better nighttime photos.
The rumor, from Vietnamese blog Tinhte.vn (via MacRumors), claims the new information originated from an inside source at iPhone camera module maker Wonderful Saigon Electrics.
A higher quality imager has been a much-rumored feature for the forthcoming iPhone, dubbed "iPhone 5S" by many, as the current iPhone 5 carried over the 8-megapixel unit from the iPhone 4S. That package boasted a large f/2.4 aperture and a backside illuminated sensor, and offered performance improvements over previous models when taking pictures in dark environments.
The camera module in the iPhone 5 went largely unchanged besides the addition of sapphire glass to the lens assembly, which served to protect against scratches.
With the upcoming iPhone 5S said to be launching later this year, a new camera module could likely be one of the handset's major spec bumps as a redesign is not expected. Apple may also institute a revamped optics/sensor system to minimize "purple fringing" seen in some instances with the current module, a byproduct of compact camera systems with short focal lengths.
Tinhte has been accurate in previous reports, and was the first to leak a video of Apple's EarPods design.
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Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
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53 Comments
Keep it 8 MP and update the rest.
1) I can't say I care too much about this but I do think that a 12Mpx camera would likely mean we'll be getting a Flash bump over the current offerings. I actually hope it's [U]not[/U] a doubling but just 50% more with the NAND chips they are using being halved in capacity with a new node, then a 3rd NAND chip added then built into a package with a special NAND controller and memory that is like a hybrid-SSD PoP so we can get over 2x the performance of the current NAND. It's really a performance bottleneck like HDD have been in PCs for years now. 2) I had completely forgotten about the purple fringes when photographing light. It's almost like that was blown out of proportion.
I'm still finding the purple tinge a real problem, it was not blown out of proportion. As for 12mp, Apple is playing catch up still, I hope they exceed expectations with screen size and features.
Why 12 and not 8?
Please, let's not try to use samsung strategy. Make a 440 ppi screen (lie about the fact that it is oversaturated pentile screen (330ppi), so crap, much inferior to iphone 5 ) to fool costumers, a 13mp camera that is just as crappy as they get (to fool costumers), etc.
More pixels = more noise and colour fringing. A bigger sensor would be nice.