Apple has always paid special attention to elements related to the quality and shooting capabilities of the iPhone. Another patent, obtained by Apple, indicates that the work on improving the main camera of smartphones is in full swing. The main feature of this improvement is that this time the dimensions of the device will not be increased.
Some of the recent patents for inventions obtained by the company point to the likely new features of its devices. For example, the optical stabilization system, patented by Apple, helps to take pictures with superresolution, improved color reproduction and an extremely sensitive matrix.
In the US patent office two more new applications from Apple are registered. This is a digital camera with a light splitter and a miniature super-resolution camera with a multi-sensor system.
The first patent concerns the camera of a smartphone, which uses the same principle of lenses as in some compact cameras. This is a mirror that reflects light at a right angle. Due to this CMOS-sensor can be located not parallel, but perpendicular to the screen. Due to this, you can significantly increase the length of the lens, use a lens with a variable focal length, or an optical zoom. This design will allow the mirror to take part in image stabilization, thereby increasing the compactness and efficiency of the camera.
In addition to the above, in the Apple patent there is another innovation that improves the quality of photos. The company plans to use color separation, similar to 3CCD.
The standard CMOS matrices use an array of sensors coated with blue, green, and red light filters. These filters cut off the rest of the information carried by the luminous flux. Special information conversion algorithms allow to obtain a color image as a result. The described approach degrades color accuracy, reduces sensitivity. Each sensor is able to perceive only 30 to 50% of the information.
Apple also intends to use a prism and three different matrices, just as it is done in 3CCD cameras. The incoming light is divided into three streams (blue, red, green) and the sensitivity increases at the same time. Color transfer is pixel-by-pixel.
Another Apple-registered patent makes it clear that the new devices from this company will be able to create high-definition pictures. At the same time, it is not necessary to increase the resolution of the matrix. The documentation contains an improved stabilization mechanism.
Using this technology allows you to create a series of shots in which each frame is taken at a different angle, with an offset from the previous one.
Frames obtained in this way can be processed using a special technology and combined into one single snapshot. In the new camera, the former resolution of the matrix can be saved, and the possibility of creating super-precise photos will be added.
It is believed that the next Apple smartphone will get all the latest developments. Most likely it will be iPhone 8.
