Apple granted patent for a breakthrough camera invention – future iPhones may have zoom lens, more efficient OIS

In order to achieve this, Apple's engineers came up with an L-shaped camera module – the sensor does not face directly outwards, as it does in today's smartphones, rather – the light first enters a pyramid-like polyhedron glass piece, which has a reflecting surface at its very bottom. This component will be redirecting the light down the tube of the L-shape where it will be met by the zoom lens. Finally, a light splitter behind the lens will split the incident light from the shot scene into three colors, which will then be picked up by three separate sensors – one for each color.
As for OIS – Apple has noted that the reflector behind the polyhedron could be a folding mirror, which would mean that the reflector itself could be moved around in order to make up for camera shakes, instead of the sensor.
When would we see this tech? It's still too early to say, but if we had to wager, we'd say – not on 2015's iPhones, for sure.
source: PatentlyApple via GSMDome
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