iPhone 6 Said to Feature Sony's 13-Megapixel Exmor IMX220 Camera Sensor

[LV426]

More is never better.
More RAM? Not needed. Again Apple's control of the hardware and software experience means they can maximise performance, efficiency and experience like no other company in the entire world.

A big NO to that comment. People are always howling on this forum that Safari tabs are always reloading, or when you hit the back button, it reloads a web page - even when the page should be cached in memory.

The rather skimpy amount of RAM that you find in iOS devices mean that Apple do things like ignoring web page cache directives. To the annoyance of many a user.

Which is all rather odd, really, given that modern devices are 64-bit (so no address space concerns) and RAM is cheap as chips.

 

[iOSaddict]

Your argument fails, because if Apple we're not chasing pixels then they would have stuck with 8 and not increased to 13. And 4K recording is in a few camcorders and cameras and is appearing in other make smartphones too, so Apple ARE behind the market with that.
I would expect next years CES to feature a lot more devices with 4K recording.

No your argument fails. Apple never tries to be the most of anything at the same time as the competition. They wait and let the technology mature before they incorporate it in their products. The 13MP camera on the S4 was pathetic compared to other 13MP cameras such as the one on the LG G2 and was even worse compared to the 8MP on the iPhone 5. Same applied for their current S5's camera. It's only better than other Android phones' cameras but only because the standard is not that high.

TLDR the only competition Apple is behind is the specs-touting competition.

 

[apolloa]

In other words, it will not be chasing megapixel counts but will be the most optimised 13MP camera.

Honestly, it's 2014 and there are people who still think more is better

And I'm sure that 4k recording is a must have and is used by everyone who has a samsung plasticky s5.

Just to add I fully realise that 4K recording is where the market is going and Apple doesn't follow the market, I also realise, using it, that 1080p recording is very good and Apple devices and other smartphones give great results

 

[winston1236]

I hope everyone realises this and does not fall into the trap that 13MP is always better than 8MP. There's a lot more to it than that.

Most people won't know the difference.

 

[69Mustang]

More is never better.

People keep asking for more battery capacity. Nope, nobody wants a thicker phone, they want Apple to continue driving the hardware and software experience to deliver the incredible battery performance you only get in an iPhone.

More RAM? Not needed. Again Apple's control of the hardware and software experience means they can maximise performance, efficiency and experience like no other company in the entire world.

More megapixels? Haha. I think competing platforms prove the higher pixel count makes no difference they still can't go against the iPhone and win in terms of raw image quality.

Based on current rumor, most of your comment doesn't make any sense.

The batter capacity is being increased to 1800. The phone doesn't have to be thicker to increase the battery capacity beyond that. It could keep the same dimensional thickness of the 5S. Even you would have to agree that the 5S can in no way be considered thick. Heck, even adding 1mm to the 5S couldn't even be considered thick.

RAM? With games and apps becoming more demanding, increasing RAM is simply future proofing. Adding more RAM doesn't mean Apple will discontinuing optimizing the software/hardware.

If this entire thread was only about increased megapixels then your argument would hold merit. Since the sensor would be an improvement over the current one, that is the important upgrade.

 

[apolloa]

No your argument fails. Apple never tries to be the most of anything at the same time as the competition. They wait and let the technology mature before they incorporate it in their products. The 13MP camera on the S4 was pathetic compared to other 13MP cameras such as the one on the LG G2 and was even worse compared to the 8MP on the iPhone 5. Same applied for their current S5's camera. It's only better than other Android phones' cameras but only because the standard is not that high.

TLDR the only competition Apple is behind is the specs-touting competition.

Let's the technology mature hahaha. Yeah what ever. Apple just buys older tech for peanuts and charges you a fortune for it to maximise profits, and have you tried any of these Android cameras? My guess is you haven't but you feel that as they aren't made by Apple they are pathetic, I'm surprised you haven't claimed that Sony or Nokia phone cameras are pathetic.

Wonder how many other phones use the Sony modules.

 

[Jimmy James]

Can they get the focal length for a larger sensor in a thinner phone?

 

[lowercaseperson]

Well, to be fair, it's a balance. A 13 MP camera with a relatively small sensor is likely going to capture more detail than a 1 MP camera with a large one. In well-lit conditions, 13 MP *IS* better than 8, even at the same sensor size... all other things being equal, anyway. They should increase the size, though, to account for the increase. And I agree, my iPhone 5's low light capabilities haven't impressed me.

Thank you. Clearly this is a balance between MP and sensor size. I may be in the extreme minority here, but I would like to have more MP (*some form of optical zoom would be preferred - but seemingly impossible). I don't want MP for MP sake, but to be able to zoom without dramatically reducing the picture quality seems like a legitimate request.

I don't really have any information on how much zoom/crop capabilities increase with 13 MP over 8 MP, but seems like a logical step forward. Keeping dynamic range and low light performance at the status quo (5S) to improve "zoom." Maybe that's fairy tale thinking but it makes sense to me. Anyone have a better grasp of that concept?

 

[69Mustang]

Centuries? You use this word oddly, I think you need to look it up in a dictionary.

I giggled at that too. But this is the interwebs. If you don't go all edge case hyperbolic and use made up statistics about cars, then 97.83% of all the people ever born will choose a Ferrari because Toyota aren't high end enough to be counted in the usage statics which says Lamborghini owners use their brake pedals more than Ford owners so therefore it should be obvious that the most profit Beats (see what I did there?) the marketshare.

 

[Zer0nium]

Ehhhh.... should be better.

Alright fine, it's clear that people don't care about MP. But for me, it's a huge selling point. I'm really tired of the low quality pics, that do not age well (like 3 years - and they're antique) from my i-devices.

Lumia (one of those Window phones... whatever) has a whooping 41 MP camera. I've used one and the images are stellar. You can zoom in far enough to see someone's nose hairs from a mile away. Ok - a bit of exaggeration.

I currently have an iPhone 4 and 4S (work), and an iPad 2. All of which I'm no longer impressed by the camera/pics of. My girlfriend has an LG G2 and the pics look waaaay better than Apples. Mind you - it too, is a 13 MP camera. It will be nice to be 'standard' or the 'norm' - but why not go beyond? Is it overkill? Maybe. Why not though?

For me, the iPhone 6 has to have a great camera, extended space (at least 64GB), and whatever other features they'll wow me with. However, Camera is a huge one on my list. If it's not up to par - or rather, better than the norm - I might just wait for the 6S or whatever incremental upgrade they come up with.

Point is - where did the Apple that sets the standards go? Now you're just some fruit that I used to know...

 

[tylersdad]

5.5" IS the best iPhone. Can't wait for it.

And if the 5.5 is delayed 6+ months due to yield issues like some rumors suggest?

 

[Nevaborn]

Pixels do matter

all those saying how pixels don't matter, well they do matter but like everything it depends what your doing. For your average photo people are right, a larger censor and the amount of light that reaches it will give you a far better result, though increased pixel sizes can benefit macro photography and post cropping.

This could be a phenomenal camera, and I can not wait to try it out.

 

[pedromcm.pm]

So in other words, worse than the S5 camera. Less MP, no 4K recording....they may as well just stay with the tried and true 8MP they've been using for centuries then.

How is that possible that someone that says stuff like this has the money to buy a galaxy s5, iPad, macs, etc.? I find extremely frustrating.

----------

Alright fine, it's clear that people don't care about MP. But for me, it's a huge selling point. I'm really tired of the low quality pics, that do not age well (like 3 years - and they're antique) from my i-devices.

Lumia (one of those Window phones... whatever) has a whooping 41 MP camera. I've used one and the images are stellar. You can zoom in far enough to see someone's nose hairs from a mile away. Ok - a bit of exaggeration.

I currently have an iPhone 4 and 4S (work), and an iPad 2. All of which I'm no longer impressed by the camera/pics of. My girlfriend has an LG G2 and the pics look waaaay better than Apples. Mind you - it too, is a 13 MP camera. It will be nice to be 'standard' or the 'norm' - but why not go beyond? Is it overkill? Maybe. Why not though?

For me, the iPhone 6 has to have a great camera, extended space (at least 64GB), and whatever other features they'll wow me with. However, Camera is a huge one on my list. If it's not up to par - or rather, better than the norm - I might just wait for the 6S or whatever incremental upgrade they come up with.

Point is - where did the Apple that sets the standards go? Now you're just some fruit that I used to know...

Cameras on phones advanced with tremendous pace. The camera on the "old" iPhone 5s most slaps (all things considered) the camera of every smartphone there is, be it small or bigger margins.. The camera of that Lumia takes ages to take and process a nice picture, and the phone itself is worse than garbage.

Besides, the simple fact that you could the iPhone's camera "mediocre" invalidates everything you said. You could said that the camera on the iPhone 4 is mediocre compared with the lumia 1020, but you shouldn't generalize to "iPhone".

The iPhone has the best overall camera. People that are impressed with MP numbers and over saturated (and wrong) colors think otherwise.

 

[apolloa]

I take it back about Nokia, seen in the news Microsoft is laying off 18,000 staff, around 12k of which are Nokia staff members. It is also going to cancel all Android Nokia handsets and only make Windows handsets.

So they have basically killed Nokia, and I would imagine that means all the brilliant camera engineers they had too, Apple should get hiring me thinks.

 

[gnasher729]

8 Megapixels is plenty. They should focus exclusively in sensor size, auto focus and low light performance.

The rumoured sensor is significantly bigger (1/2.3") than the iPhone 5 (1/3.2") or iPhone 5s (1/3") sensor. Pixels would be just slightly bigger than 5s. If the rumour is true.

----------

Just to add I fully realise that 4K recording is where the market is going and Apple doesn't follow the market, I also realise, using it, that 1080p recording is very good and Apple devices and other smartphones give great results

Very few people have the hardware that can distinguish even between 720p and 4K. And by hardware I mean the bio-receptors that are installed at the front of your head, above the nose.

 

[jonnysods]

I want the best censor, MP is secondary to me.

 

[Jsameds]

For those who think megapixels are everything, here's a iPhone 4S vs 5 vs 5S camera comparison.

All three are 8MP but the picture quality is worlds apart.

http://www.slrlounge.com/iphone-4s-5-5s-camera-test-comparison/

 

[D.T.]

And by hardware I mean the bio-receptors that are installed at the front of your head, above the nose.

I seem to be experiencing some degradation in the acuity of those components, I wonder who I need to contact about warranty work.

 

[iAshley]

I know nothing about any of this but would someone with understanding be able to answer this...

Is it possible to have 2 sensors, one that focuses on the dark areas of a picture and one that focuses on the brighter areas and then combine those pictures, rather than the current method of taking 2 seperate pictures splits seconds apart at different exposures and then combining those.

Is that possible and what do you think the result would be?

I'm interested in hearing from those that have knowledge in this area not just guesses, thanks.



----------------------------
On a separate note, I wonder if apple is working on a feature similar to Adobe's unblur, where the software detects the motion of the camera during the shot and can 'undo' the movement making a blurred picture focused...

 

[MacSince1990]

Thank you. Clearly this is a balance between MP and sensor size. I may be in the extreme minority here, but I would like to have more MP (*some form of optical zoom would be preferred - but seemingly impossible). I don't want MP for MP sake, but to be able to zoom without dramatically reducing the picture quality seems like a legitimate request.

I don't really have any information on how much zoom/crop capabilities increase with 13 MP over 8 MP, but seems like a logical step forward. Keeping dynamic range and low light performance at the status quo (5S) to improve "zoom." Maybe that's fairy tale thinking but it makes sense to me. Anyone have a better grasp of that concept?

Agreed.

 

[SpyderBite]

The only advantage that 13 megapixels offer is another sale point for Radio Shack and Best Buy cellular reps to add to their arsenal for the average walk in consumer. Majority of their smartphone sales.

 

[KPJLK]

Can they get the focal length for a larger sensor in a thinner phone?

The module pictured is 6.8mm in depth. I'm really hoping they choose one that fits entirely within the phone casing.

 

[MacSince1990]

A big NO to that comment. People are always howling on this forum that Safari tabs are always reloading, or when you hit the back button, it reloads a web page - even when the page should be cached in memory.

The rather skimpy amount of RAM that you find in iOS devices mean that Apple do things like ignoring web page cache directives. To the annoyance of many a user.

Which is all rather odd, really, given that modern devices are 64-bit (so no address space concerns) and RAM is cheap as chips.

This doesn't necessarily mean there isn't enough RAM; it could also mean arbitrarily flushing items from memory when there's little need, or poor optimization. Personally I do find the lack of web caching irritating... especially since I usually have upwards of 20 Safari tabs open.

Sometimes quitting other programs I'm not using helps, though. 1 GB should honestly be enough for a mobile device with a stripped-down version of OS X. 512 MB should be enough. 768 MB was enough for Tiger, a fully-fledged OS.

Bloatware sucks.

 

[Truthfulie]

I tried sony z1, z1compact, and ultra. The photo results noise and it's really bad. Why the praise for sony's camera everywhere? I dont get it.

They make some of the best sensors in the industry, but not necessarily best mobile cameras or mobile phones for that matter.

 

[macduke]

According to this Wikipedia page that lists sensor area in mm, the iPhone 5S sensor is about 61% the size of this rumored 1/2.3" sensor. Furthermore, 8mp is about 62% of the size of the rumored 13mp. If this sensor was, say, something like 13.1mp in effective pixels (but just listed as 13 for clarity), then the scale would be pretty much exactly the same. Furthermore, you also have to take into account increases in sensor quality and noise reduction from one generation to the next, as well as the hires Apple has been making in relation to camera software to give the best result possible from the latest sensors. Many people don't realize how much processing an image goes through before you see it on your screen.

Here is a comparison of sensor sizes. So in this chart, Apple would be moving up from the smallest square to the second smallest.

This is why smartphone cameras will always play second fiddle to the big boys. Sure the quality is getting pretty good, but they can never get sensors this big in a phone. A professional camera like the 5D MkIII I use at work is the biggest rectangle, my 7D is the fourth biggest (light orange), and my casual shooter, the Sony RX100, is the sixth biggest (light green). Most of the popular point and shoots fall somewhere below that, but above the tiny smartphone sensors. Even still, the best camera is the one you have on you—so I still end up shooting a lot of photos on my iPhone. So I would welcome the new sensor and increased resolution—especially for cropping.

I also know that Apple used 2x2 binning on the iPhone 5 in low light, but didn't on the 5S because of the bigger sensor. With the increase in resolution, I wonder if they would bring that feature back to give a super boost to very low-light images, especially given that an increase in resolution would help offset the biggest drawback to 2x2 binning, which is loss of resolution.