Apple Acquires Israeli Camera Technology Firm LinX Imaging

Israeli camera technology firm LinX Computational Imaging Ltd. is now part of the Apple family, reports the Wall Street Journal. The exact amount is yet unknown, but the sources say talks were for around $20 million.

Apple logo

Apple confirmed the deal with the standard statement we read when it acquires a new company: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” said an Apple spokesman.

What makes LinX Imaging so special is that the industry veterans who founded it developed small camera modules, which offer single-lens-reflex (SLR) camera image quality, paving the way to DSLR performance in mobile photography. The cameras developed by the Israeli firm can capture accurate depth information of the complete scene, according to their website.

That’s another step toward a new wave of improved cameras — hopefully for the next-generation iPhone. The news comes atop rumours of Apple adopting 10 MP sensors for the rear camera. While we’ve seen Apple skip the megapixel race, a 10 MP rear-facing camera could make sense. Now if we add the rumours of a dual-lens camera heading to the forthcoming iPhone, this acquisition suggests that Apple is preparing a neat camera upgrade to boost the already-popular iPhoneography.

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