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iPhone 6s and 6s+ cameras

Andres Cantu

Andres Cantu

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apart from the rumored increase to 12 megapixels and rumored decrease in pixel size, what else do you think Apple has in store for the iPhone 6s's and 6s+'s cameras? Maybe f/2.0 apertures? Would you be disappointed if they do not match the LG G4's f/1.8 aperture? What about the pixel size, do you guys think that a 1.1 micron size that many other phones use is the rumored smaller size or would they just go back to a 1.4 micron size like the iPhone 5? They have talked about smaller pixels several times before, so it would be interesting to hear how they would explain that.

As for the FaceTime HD camera, do either 2 or 5 megapixels and 1080p video recording seem likely? Perhaps they moved it from the top to the side in the iPhone 6 to be able to fit a bigger one in the iPhone 6s without a case redesign?
 
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Andres Cantu said:
Apart from the rumored increase to 12 megapixels and rumored decrease in pixel size, what else do you think Apple has in store for the iPhone 6s's and 6s+'s cameras? Maybe f/2.0 apertures? Would you be disappointed if they do not match the LG G4's f/1.8 aperture? What about the pixel size, do you guys think that a 1.1 micron size that many other phones use is the rumored smaller size or would they just go back to a 1.4 micron size like the iPhone 5? They have talked about smaller pixels several times before, so it would be interesting to hear how they would explain that.

As for the FaceTime HD camera, do either 2 or 5 megapixels and 1080p video recording seem likely? Perhaps they moved it from the top to the side in the iPhone 6 to be able to fit a bigger one in the iPhone 6s without a case redesign?
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Guesses only. Call Apple. They are the only one's that know. We little people do not.
 
Personally, I am HIGHLY skeptical of the 12mp rumors.
Apple has pushed larger pixel sizes to improve low light performance... It seems odd they would shrink this again for the tired old mp war. Apple customers aren't interested in this.

I for one would rather see it grow to 2um at 8mp, than a shrink to 1um at 12mp.
 
Menel said:
Personally, I am HIGHLY skeptical of the 12mp rumors.
Apple has pushed larger pixel sizes to improve low light performance... It seems odd they would shrink this again for the tired old mp war. Apple customers aren't interested in this.

I for one would rather see it grow to 2um at 8mp, than a shrink to 1um at 12mp.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't mind the iPhone 6s having pixels that large, but if they that route, I think they would choose something like 1.75um like the iPhone 4. It's hard to satisfy everyone since some people want better low-light performance while others want higher megapixel counts to be able to crop without losing too much detail. If they do choose to go 12 megapixels, they might say something like "we've increased the size of the aperture to f/x.x to offset the effect of smaller pixels and maintain that low light performance you've come to expect from the iPhone."
 
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/04/14/apple-acquires-linx-imaging/

Lets hope this becomes a thing.

Also, I can't find the link but somewhere on this forum/front page I read a thing that the 6S/6S+ (what a mouthful, why not call it iPhone Air for a change and start all over again with the numbers?) will include a new sensor from Sony that captures in RGBW (red, green, blue, white) for waaaaay better low-light performance while going to something like 1.2 um down from 1.5 um thus allowing for a 12 MP camera.
 
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soupcan said:
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/04/14/apple-acquires-linx-imaging/

Lets hope this becomes a thing.

Also, I can't find the link but somewhere on this forum/front page I read a thing that the 6S/6S+ (what a mouthful, why not call it iPhone Air for a change and start all over again with the numbers?) will include a new sensor from Sony that captures in RGBW (red, green, blue, white) for waaaaay better low-light performance while going to something like 1.7 um down from 1.5 um thus allowing for a 12 MP camera.
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iPhone Air makes more sense for the iPhone 7 which will probably be the first iPhone that's lighter than the previous since the iPhone 5, and they can call the rumored 4" device the iPhone Mini.

Yes, I also remember that post. But I think you meant a lower um than 1.5, since lower is worse.
 
Andres Cantu said:
iPhone Air makes more sense for the iPhone 7 which will probably be the first iPhone that's lighter than the previous since the iPhone 5, and they can call the rumored 4" device the iPhone Mini.

Yes, I also remember that post. But I think you meant a lower um than 1.5, since lower is worse.
Click to expand...

Fixed it. Thanks.

And yeah, I know that makes the most sense.
 
Newtons Apple said:
Apple is not famous for out specing the competition. The 6+S wil be improved but not to just keep up with the others.
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I hope they do this time, since the iPhone 6s will be competing with whatever devices are released in early 2016, and they will not hold anything back.
 
Why not increase the size of the sensor? To go to 12MP while staying at 1.5μm pixels will only require them to increase the sensor size by 22% either way.
 
nj-morris said:
Why not increase the size of the sensor? To go to 12MP while staying at 1.5μm pixels will only require them to increase the sensor size by 22% either way.
Click to expand...
I'm no camera expert, but if that can be done with the current space they have on the iPhone 6, then it would be ideal.
 
Looked at a few comparisons now between the Galaxy s6 / LG G4 and iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 came in last this time around. Hope apple will make improvements next time around.

Sensors on LG G4 is 1.8

Sensors on Samsung s6 is 1.9

Sensors on iPhone 6 is 2.2

Apple, you can do better.....
 
nj-morris said:
Why not increase the size of the sensor? To go to 12MP while staying at 1.5μm pixels will only require them to increase the sensor size by 22% either way.
Click to expand...

The reason they can not do this is simple physics. A larger sensor requires a larger lens and people are already complaining about how the lens sticks out now.
 
ABC5S said:
Looked at a few comparisons now between the Galaxy s6 / LG G4 and iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 came in last this time around. Hope apple will make improvements next time around.

Sensors on LG G4 is 1.8

Sensors on Samsung s6 is 1.9

Sensors on iPhone 6 is 2.2

Apple, you can do better.....
Click to expand...
They certainly can, but I believe you meant aperture size, sensor size is another thing.
 
nj-morris said:
They might well find a way to get around that. Maybe some magnification technology to do that.
Click to expand...
Good point. Part of me thinks that they could have done something similar to make the iPhone 6's camera non-protruding (like they did with the iPhone 4s to iPhone 5 camera, something about decreasing z-size), but they knew that the iPhone 6s camera would protrude because of all the improvements, so they did not want to make that camera look "bad" in that way.
 
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