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The upcoming iPhone 7 Plus is rumored to feature a dual-lens rear camera. While we've gotten some hints of what Apple might look to do with the technology given its acquisition of LinX Imaging last year, we're still not entirely clear on Apple's plans and so we can look to other vendors to get a taste of what we might expect.

The Huawei P9 is the latest flagship from the Chinese company, and on the rear of the device Huawei in partnership with Leica implemented two 12-megapixel cameras. These function by taking a photo from both cameras simultaneously and combining them in software. One camera captures a normal color image, while the second takes a monochrome image that allows for more focus on the lighting of a scene. The advantage, Huawei claims, is a better overall image with higher clarity and professional camera-like quality.


In this video featured on the MacRumors YouTube channel, we go hands-on to test how Huawei's dual-camera works, and to see whether this setup is worth the complexity and expense of implementing it. If you'd like to check out the full-resolution photos from the P9 compared to similar ones shot on an iPhone 6s, we've also shared galleries from both devices.

Huawei is not the first to use a dual-camera setup, and other vendors have used somewhat different combinations of cameras to achieve varying goals. The LG G5 uses two cameras to achieve different focal lengths, while the 2014 HTC One M8 used two cameras to allow for better depth perception.

We still have roughly two months before the expected announcement of the rumored iPhone 7, and we have yet to hear how Apple plans to use this system, but other rumored features include a slightly thinner build, faster Apple A10 processor, repositioned antenna bands, and the removal of the headphone jack.

Article Link: Huawei's Dual-Camera P9 Hints at What Apple Might Have in Store for iPhone 7 Plus
 
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MH01

Suspended
Feb 11, 2008
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One thing im confident of, a new iPhone will have a better camera .
[doublepost=1468963042][/doublepost]
You'll have to wait for the iPhone 9 to see.
I'm hoping Nikon do something similar. I can't wait to start carrying 2 X 70-200mm f 2.8'swith me! I better join a gym!

Wimp. Canon with 2x600mm f4.0, old version :p gonna get some awesome birding shorts!
 

smacrumon

macrumors 68030
Jan 15, 2016
2,683
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Looking forward to the next all new iPhone. But, have to say, these iPhone copy cats are becoming better at refining their design and they're catching up incredibly fast now since Apple hasn't done much to their design. iPhone won't even be a competitor soon. Apple is in desperate need of lifting its game. 2017's phone will need to be astonishingly lovely, no pokey cameras or joiny-join antennas. And the software will need to be smooth and even more beautiful than it is. Excessive pricing will also need to be addressed. Customers will be too savvy for overpriced hardware especially when the profit margin is entirely an expression of corporate excess.
 

keysofanxiety

macrumors G3
Nov 23, 2011
9,539
25,302
If two cameras can produce a better image. I wonder if 3 cameras will do even better.

Or six!

Honestly, I don't fully appreciate the idea or see a lot of the benefits. After all, you don't see many professional cameras with... well, more than one camera.

I remember when the leaks for the iPhone 6 with the protruding camera came out and a lot of posters here were stipulating that the edge may be magnetic (or something similar), to allow attachments for aftermarket lenses to get a better quality picture. That didn't prove true, though.

Conversely, if you're trying to vastly improve camera technology in a thin handheld device, then maybe two cameras may have to be the way forward, unless lens technology and such gets much thinner and more efficient. Who knows; only time will tell!
 

FasterQuieter

macrumors 6502a
Feb 21, 2008
783
1,791
Anything they can do to lower the theshold at which the images become blown out would be greatly appreciated. Oh and of course any improvements on low light performage too. An F1.0 lens for light gathering and an F2.4 for detail would be nice.
 
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now i see it

macrumors G4
Jan 2, 2002
10,638
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DSLR quality? Hmmmm
Look how big this camera "bump" is.
Phones will have Point n Shoot quality forever (which is fine).

image.jpeg
 

neilw

macrumors 6502
Aug 4, 2003
440
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Honestly, I don't fully appreciate the idea or see a lot of the benefits. After all, you don't see many professional cameras with... well, more than one camera.

Apples/Oranges, as you well know:
Conversely, if you're trying to adapt camera technology in a thin handheld device, then maybe two cameras much just have to be the way forward, unless lens technology and such gets much thinner and more efficient. Who knows; only time will tell!

Professional cameras have sensors and lenses that are absurdly large compared to what you could ever fit into a phone. So the trick is to extract the best possible image out of a sensor with very tight space constraints. Right now it sure seems like using multiple small camera modules is emerging as the favored approach, although how best to team them up still seems to be an area for invention and innovation. Let's see what Apple does with its implementation.

I only wish it were to be available on the 4.7" model, because I'm not interested in a Plus.
 

smacrumon

macrumors 68030
Jan 15, 2016
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iPhone at one point in time was described as “It’s like a beautiful old Leica camera” by Steve Jobs. Now, Huawei apparently is co engineering with Leica.

VQ7EmCv.png

Phone times they are a changin' it appears. This is the same kind of stuff that was happening with the Mac years ago -- Little innovation. High pricing. Poor design principles. And then the near death experience saved at one minute to midnight.

Get it together Apple, please! And that doesn't mean partnering with other brands, it means improving your brand back to stellar heights well and above other brands. We don't want to be anywhere near midnight ever again and prefer the clock set at 9:41am instead.
 
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Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,255
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Behind the Lens, UK
Apples/Oranges, as you well know:


Professional cameras have sensors and lenses that are absurdly large compared to what you could ever fit into a phone. So the trick is to extract the best possible image out of a sensor with very tight space constraints. Right now it sure seems like using multiple small camera modules is emerging as the favored approach, although how best to team them up still seems to be an area for invention and innovation. Let's see what Apple does with its implementation.

I only wish it were to be available on the 4.7" model, because I'm not interested in a Plus.
But in the same space they have two small cameras, couldn't they just fit a decent sensor and bit of glass?
As I've read many times, I'd rather a slightly thicker iPhone 7 with better battery and camera fitting into the available space.
 

smacrumon

macrumors 68030
Jan 15, 2016
2,683
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Huawei wasn't even on the radar a few years ago. This has changed.
 
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burntsienna

macrumors newbie
Jul 23, 2015
6
1
If two cameras can produce a better image. I wonder if 3 cameras will do even better.

There's a camera startup called Light that'll soon launch a 16 camera... camera. Camera camera?

Anyways, yeah, it's called the L16 for obvious reasons and is suppose to be 52MP.

edit- beaten by a minute...
 
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jtuk

macrumors regular
Jun 26, 2014
133
65
Man, that Huawei Phone has some design in it. The gentle pin stripes, the separate colored areas, antennas behind plastic that does look nice actually... Man, what was Ive doing the last 12 Months???
And Apple really missed out on having the best lenses....Huawei made a deal with Leica! Leica is hard to beat. The iPhone will have to make up for the poorer quality lenses with some software which will top this. And why is it easy for a Chinese company to design antenna lines which are almost invicible and we will have to endure more of the ugly same with iPhone 7?!
 
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