If you were expecting a major camera update from Apple this year, maybe you’ll have to wait, because the iPhone maker is said to be sitting out on the megapixel race. However, it will deliver an enhanced image sensor to make better images with the iPhone.
Citing people familiar with the matter, AppleInsider reports that megapixels are less important for Apple now, as it is focusing on image-enhancing components. This doesn’t mean, though, that we can eliminate the thought of a minor camera upgrade, Mikey Campbell speculates.
With the iPhone 5s, Apple decided to enlarge the pixels’ size rather than increase the number of pixels. The competition, however, as KGI Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo highlights, is in the race for 13 MP+ CMOS image sensors (CIS) for handsets.
However, it is worth mentioning that Sony, Apple’s CMOS image-sensor supplier, stands out with its BSI process, which “boasts better sensitivity and colour-saturation quality”, Kuo writes. Sony will lead the 13 MP CIS market as well, according to Kuo, which makes us wonder why Apple would skip this sort of camera upgrade.
And there are other signs that point to camera enhancements instead of increasing the number of pixels. Apple has won multiple camera patents lately, with one enhancing Lytro’s technology. Also, Ming-Chi Kuo’s report is in line with a previous report suggesting that Apple would adopt an 8 MP sensor with the iPhone 6.
