The iPhone 11 series saw a major upgrade in the camera department, with the iPhone 11 Pro getting a triple-lens camera and the iPhone 11 stepping things up to a dual-lens camera. Now, however, it looks like the iPhone 12 will get yet another upgrade — a note from the well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo notes that the highest-end 2020 iPhone will have a larger camera sensor with sensor-shift stabilization.
Sensor-shift stabilization essentially replaces the optical image stabilization that’s currently on offer in the iPhone series. Details on the new tech are a little slim right now; however, the tech could bring image stabilization to the Ultra Wide lens on the iPhone.
Current rumors indicate that Apple will launch four iPhone models during its annual fall event: A 5.4-inch phone with a dual-sensor camera, a 6.1-inch phone with a dual-sensor camera, a 6.1-inch phone with a triple-sensor camera, and a 6.7-inch phone with a triple-sensor camera. Both the triple-lens devices are also expected to offer time-of-flight sensors, which would be helpful for augmented reality applications. A 6.7-inch iPhone would be the largest Apple has ever made, and is rumored to be a little taller than the current iPhone 11 Pro Max, which has a 6.5-inch display.
Kuo isn’t the only analyst suggesting that sensor-shift technology will make its way to the iPhone this year. DigiTimes also published a report highlighting the new tech — so considering we now have two respected analysts predicting the use of sensor-shift tech, it’s looking more and more likely that we’ll get it.
The fact that the high-end iPhone, likely to be called the iPhone 12 Pro, has a bigger sensor is interesting too. Larger sensors are better at reducing image noise and can make for increased depth of field in an image.
Kuo is also making predictions for iPhone models in future years. In fact, Kuo has said that he expects at least one 2022 iPhone model to offer a periscope lens, which may allow for 5x, or even 10x optical zoom. This will allow iPhones to capture much more detailed, natural-looking zoomed-in photos. Even next year, we’ll see another upgrade. According to Kuo, the iPhone 13 lineup will offer a better telephoto lens, and more models will support the new sensor-shift technology.
