Apple files patent application for a smaller, high-resolution iPhone camera

6. darkkjedii (Posts: 24909; Member since: 05 Feb 2011)

Just take a second, and do the math.

3. Jimrod (Posts: 1447; Member since: 22 Sep 2014)

Another pointless "i" comment. iHope you don't read the Samsung one they just posted and get disappointed. iDon't know what's wrong with people clicking on stories they know they won't like...

18. Brewski (Posts: 425; Member since: 05 Jun 2012)

"The Apple iPhone is usually considered to have one of the best smartphone cameras year-in, year-out."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Since when has this ever been the case? I have a few friends who are Apple exclusives but whenever I hang out with them they always say "Man, I wish my phone took pictures as good as yours. They always turn out so good!!"

23. BradyCrack (Posts: 835; Member since: 29 Dec 2015)

Yes, because your personal experiences are the same as most people's.

26. AlikMalix (unregistered)

That's funny, because my android using friends say that about my iPhone. Hmmmm...

27. NoToFanboys (Posts: 2976; Member since: 03 Oct 2015)

Oh sure, all of your friends must be professional photographers.

28. AlikMalix (unregistered)

I wasn't serious. Just stating that what he said was anecdotal.

25. AlikMalix (unregistered)

Eventually they will create a digital mimick of the human eye.

7. hadilev (Posts: 5; Member since: 26 Jan 2016)

Sony has patent for FF sensor, but Apple's patent is more important since compact lenses will have huge advantage in the mobile world, for FF cameras not so much.

9. Macready (Posts: 1493; Member since: 08 Dec 2014)

No, Sony holds patents for all sensor sizes. In fact, they have a camera in production with a small curved sensor.

12. ibend (Posts: 6675; Member since: 30 Sep 2014)

well... its USPTO that we talk here, they just accept everything even if its already patented (as long as you add some tiny change over it), or some imaginary stuff, u can even patent some common stuff that already applied by other manufacturer, as long as you have the money of course

14. Genza (Posts: 576; Member since: 12 Mar 2014)

The patent that Sony filled in 2011.2.28 is talking a manufacturing method to make curved image sensor (not only FF sensor).
In 2013 Sony also awarded a patent for a number of lens designs 4 lens for FF sensor and 1 lens for 1" sensor the patent was also filled in 2011.

In 2014 at the VLSI symposium in Hawaii, Sony device manager Kazuichiro Itonaga showed a curved full frame sensor and a smaller, curved 11mm diagonal sensor (which would be classed as 2/3"-type).

Also in 2014 Sony released Cyber-shot DSC-KW11 a selfie camera with 1/2.3" Curved sensor and a bright 21mm f/2 wide-angle lens.

So i don't think Apple patent is more important and i'm also not agree with you about FF cameras because it will be great to have FF compact cameras like RX1 series with compact 35mm F1.8 lens

11. Genza (Posts: 576; Member since: 12 Mar 2014)

The idea of the curved sensor itself isn't new - the image sensor array at the Kepler space observatory is curved to match the field curvature of the telescope, and John A Roger's group at the University of Illinois showed a prototype hemispherical electronic eye camera back in 2008.
But Sony is the first to show working curved image sensors integrated in an imaging system.

15. oozz009 (Posts: 520; Member since: 22 Jun 2015)

I'm no expert but that's probably because smaller and thinner makes them a more "green peace" friendly company and that gives them a good image to the public. Plus it helps them to keep costs down. Same is true for other companies.

19. AlikMalix (unregistered)

Is it possible that apples goal is paper thin foldable screen devices. The only way to make the tech work in real world is force it and hope it works. So far so good.

10. BradyCrack (Posts: 835; Member since: 29 Dec 2015)

Agreed. But maybe the extra room could be used for a better a battery?

16. JumpinJackROMFlash (Posts: 461; Member since: 10 Dec 2014)

A battery won't help with taking low light pictures.

24. BradyCrack (Posts: 835; Member since: 29 Dec 2015)

I know that

22. AlikMalix (unregistered)

"Can't make" or "will not make" are completely different things. Make the little guys do all the work - basically if you think about it, Apple buys manufacturing from others in a way they find R&D for Samsung, LG and so on. Think about it.

20. Iodine (Posts: 1395; Member since: 19 Jun 2014)

How do you know that they aren't working on such a design ?

How could they make some huge fully-custom-tech rollouts, like 64-bit processors, in a matter of months, if they weren't planning it years ahead and only use off-shelf components ?

21. talon95 (Posts: 753; Member since: 31 Jul 2012)

It's just highly unlikely, but i certainly don't know for sure. Their chips come from an external fab that they have simply specified the layout of. The capabilities are predefined by their supplier, just like with the machining on the chassis. Apple simply buys most of the technology they need, either by outsourcing or buying a company that does what they needed. That's why their R&D budget is ranked #20 when their profits are #1.

If they're looking at a curved sensor the safe bet is because someone else is providing it to them and they are making a few custom modifications within the allowable design parameters. I'm no expert, just pointing out the 10 year trend.

Samsung might be vertically integrated, but Apple certainly is not.