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iPhone 6s Rear Camera Rumored to Retain 8-Megapixel Sensor

thekeyring said:
FFS - I KNOW.

My original comment was: "I know most companies do more pixels = smaller pixels = more noise, but it'd be good to have, say 16mp with no more noise. So, a more 'crop-able' picture, but not lower quality than 8MP."

I know that jamming more pixels into the same sized space isn't good, but can't you keep the pixels the same size, make the camera taller/wider and simply capture more detail? Is this possible? IF it is, it would be a nice feature.
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Why not make it even bigger and juml to 20? Or beat out Microsoft/Nokia and have 43? I'm sure tjere's a reason for not just increasing the lense size and upping the MP count.

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masotime said:
Image

iPhones were in less than 12% of homes last year. There'll probably be more 4k capable TVs in homes than iPhones based on the statistics.
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So?
 
masotime said:
Image

iPhones were in less than 12% of homes last year. There'll probably be more 4k capable TVs in homes than iPhones based on the statistics.
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Maybe in the future but definitely not even close at this point. There are probably less than 20 million 4k TVs in the wild, and Apple sold far more iPhones that that just last quarter alone, let alone year 2014 or the past years since the introduction of the iPhone. That's why looking at marketshare alone doesn't tell the whole story. The phone market is massive in absolute volume.
 
Michael Goff said:
Why not make it even bigger and juml to 20? Or beat out Microsoft/Nokia and have 43? I'm sure tjere's a reason for not just increasing the lense size and upping the MP count.
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Yes, there probably is a reason, which is why I left a comment here. I thought someone might tell me. Not ignore what I said and imply with their replies that I have no idea why more megapixels aren't always a good idea, which is what you did.
 
thekeyring said:
Yes, there probably is a reason, which is why I left a comment here. I thought someone might tell me. Not ignore what I said and imply with their replies that I have no idea why more megapixels aren't always a good idea, which is what you did.
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Sadly, nobody here can tell you why Apple does what they do. Anything you get will be a guess. It could be something as simple as lenses being a big target for breaking or sapphire lenses being made in only certain sizes.
 
To me this is not a problem at all. The iPhone 5 camera still amazes me from time to time, and it's already 2.5 years old. Only the low light performance could be better, but I'm pretty sure the 6S will have an improved camera.
 
People who complain about specs on the iPhone have never used an Android phone because if they did, they'd understand that specs don't mean squat in the real world.

For the psychologically insecure iPhone owners who are experiencing cognitive dissonance/envy due to lower megapixels on their phone, here's something to cheer you up: http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/13/7537011/iphone-6-camera-editorial
 
Jsameds said:
People are so short sighted.

Prior to the invention of the flat panel display, any of today's smartphone spec sheets would have been considered "physics defying" too given the technology at the time.

Things change, new techniques are discovered, technology improves.
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I'm just not buying it. It's just marketing hype.
 
I may be the minority but I feel anything over 8 MP is arguably pointless on a smartphone.

8 MP gives you a nice, sharp photo. You can print a poster with a photo that size. My first serious digital camera was a 6.3 MP Canon Digital Rebel and I have a poster-sized print of Windsor Castle in my hallway taken with that camera in 2005 that looks amazing.

Also keep in mind the lenses are tiny and I suspect going much above 8 MP will cause image quality to quickly bump up against limitations on the lenses.

Before Apple bumps up the resolution (and of course, one day they should), they should first double down on low light sensitivity and look into improvements in the glass. If they can somehow cram in optical zoom, that would be amazing. I'd even be fine if Apple embedded a magnetic ring around the lens and then came out with lens attachment accessories (like Olloclip, but higher quality glass and compatibility with cases).
 
Northgrove said:
A way to compensate is to bump the physical camera sensor size, but with the camera protuding even on the iPhone 6 version, I honestly don't see how pushing the resolution further is something we'll see happen soon. Especially not if users actually disliked the bulge. They'll be hard at work to get rid of it, even with the current sensor size!
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What's funny is that the protrusion on the iPhone 6 is relatively minor/small compared to other smartphones where massive protrusion is commonplace.
 
size of 6 megapixels ...

is more than enough, you can print beautiful A2 photos.
it would be great if apple would create a lens that would allow more light in. If they would add 12 Mpix with lens cca 1.2 that would kill any amateur DSLR. and if they would upgrade iPod touch with such a lens design, I would be hooked. I do not plan upgrade my iPhone 5 as I do not like the size of the 6.
 
peterdevries said:
Apple has been perfectly able to improve its camera performance over the past years to put it consistently in the top smartphone ranks. What is your point?

How is anyone a sheep if they think the current camera performance is enough for them?

And be realistic: complaining here gets you nowhere. Apple is not interested in what Carlanga says on Macrumors. So if you have a legitimate beef then post it on Apple's feedback site. I guess you haven't done that yet right?
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Complaining about my complaining gets you nowhere. This is a forum and people come here to give their opinions, if you don't like mine then give a proper reply, instead of hogwash responses or don't reply at all. BTW is not only a complain of the camera, but of everything else AND you can't send fb for a feature/hardware issue that is not announced 🙄

At the end, if one pays the premium price then you expect more than just meh updates.
 
Michael Goff said:
Better processor, better WiFi, more RAM maybe, improving the sensor of the 8mp camera, better battery life because of another SoC shrink... that's all I've got right now.
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I'm starting to have doubts now about the iPhone 6s getting 2GB RAM. It looks like the main attraction will be the A9 and not much more. I hope the iPad mini 3 doesn't get company when it comes to upgrade disappointment. It sucks when you wait one year for a marginal update.
 
Carlanga said:
Complaining about my complaining gets you nowhere. This is a forum and people come here to give their opinions, if you don't like mine then give a proper reply, instead of hogwash responses or don't reply at all. BTW is not only a complain of the camera, but of everything else AND you can't send fb for a feature/hardware issue that is not announced 🙄

At the end, if one pays the premium price then you expect more than just meh updates.
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So...you want Apple to defy the laws of physics and increase the megapixels without reducing the quality of the photos? Or, do you want them to simply continue improving image quality, as they have in almost every generation?

Quality is not the same as size (megapixels). Sometimes bigger = worse quality. This is one of those cases. If you want DSLR size (huge pictures) along with good quality, you need a phone the size of a DSLR camera. Even high-megapixel point and shoot cameras have crappy, noisy picture quality because they're not big enough.
 
Jsameds said:
People are so short sighted.

Prior to the invention of the flat panel display, any of today's smartphone spec sheets would have been considered "physics defying" too given the technology at the time.

Things change, new techniques are discovered, technology improves.
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If there was a breakthrough in the number of pixels that could be crammed onto a tiny image sensor without increasing noise and degrading picture quality, you would have heard about it. There are thousands of crappy high-MP point and shoot cameras cluttering up Best Buy display shelves.
 
cocky jeremy said:
Megapixels don't matter. Period.
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Do you want to go back to the 2mp camera in the 1st iPhone?

To say Megapixels don't matter is ludicrous; however they aren't the only measure of a great camera.

For the past FOUR phones Apple hasn't up'd the megapixels and their logic was sound for most of it as they made other improvements. However, as technology gets better the same quality of photos can be taken at higher megapixels, which is an improvement for sharpness and cropping which many people want. It's time to increase the count.

Side note: Apple has also held this back since they still sell 16gb phones to most people. And Apple users clearly take lots of pics, and the 16gb phones fill up quickly enough as it is because of photos. Increasing megapixels will likely force Apple to start the phone at 32gb, something they have been clearly avoiding for years at this point. Also the thinness of the phones is another reason.
 
thekeyring said:
Yes, there probably is a reason, which is why I left a comment here. I thought someone might tell me. Not ignore what I said and imply with their replies that I have no idea why more megapixels aren't always a good idea, which is what you did.
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There has been several thousands comments on this in last year alone on this subject; so fatigue at answering is understandable. The reason for 8MP is basically OPTICS vs sensor size vs thickness of the phone. The current bump in the phone is not just for kicks, they had to do for the camera's sake with their current sensor.

Searching previous threads on the subject (dozens) or you Googling will get your answer.

Have you ever wondered why the best compact cameras are not the thickness of phones ? That should tell you something.

Canon just switched their High end phones to 20MP+ recently and they are still selling the G16, a very good camera I own with fantastic low light performance, with a 12MP sensor. So, that $400 dedicated compact has less MP than most Android cameras yet they can't compete at all.
 
Killing the DSLR

Apple needs to keep improving the camera. Time doesn't standstill, and what was impossible yesterday could be doable today.

If Apple keeps pushing the envelope some of the DSLR makers could be in BIG(ger) trouble. The split now is about 94% smart-phones vs about 6% real cameras.

If some young Fashion Photographer shoots a Paris or Italia Vogue cover using an iPhone 6s (or 7), the age of the DSLR will be on the way to being over.

BTW I think that thinness is over-rated. For my tastes the 6/6+ are too thin.
 
Keep your eye on the new sensor-shift technology appearing in some Micro Four Thirds (MFT) format cameras. Some new cameras allow you to take a 40 megapixel image using a very small sensor. Currently this technology only works when the camera is used with a tripod. But perhaps Apple's new photography "breakthrough" is related to this.
 
zedsdead said:
Do you want to go back to the 2mp camera in the 1st iPhone?

To say Megapixels don't matter is ludicrous; however they aren't the only measure of a great camera.

For the past FOUR phones Apple hasn't up'd the megapixels and their logic was sound for most of it as they made other improvements. However, as technology gets better the same quality of photos can be taken at higher megapixels, which is an improvement for sharpness and cropping which many people want. It's time to increase the count.

Side note: Apple has also held this back since they still sell 16gb phones to most people. And Apple users clearly take lots of pics, and the 16gb phones fill up quickly enough as it is because of photos. Increasing megapixels will likely force Apple to start the phone at 32gb, something they have been clearly avoiding for years at this point. Also the thinness of the phones is another reason.
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Considering Apple's camera actually beats the other cameras with twice the MP, your comments are funny.

If you collect 16MP of garbage (because of noises or limits in the lenses), are you actually getting a better picture : not at all.

Thickness of the phone versus the size of the sensor and the quality of the lense all limit the practical resolution you can get. Are you telling me you want a thicker phone just to get a better camera? Disregarding all the other reasons for wanting a thinner phone. If that's the case, well they probably won't be able to serve your particular needs.

Also, 16MP of the same scene at the same JPG setting with a sensor of the same sensitivity (and same amount of noise) and similar lense won't give a much bigger jpg file unless there is much added details revealed in the scene itself as resolved by the lense in the current lighting.

Considering the optics of existing phones, your not getting much added details at all, thus the file if it gets bigger with more MP, it would be from resolving the noise coming from the sensor itself! Often, post-processing just smooths these pixels out and your left with a 8MP sensor file the same size as the 16MP sensor file. Why? Same amount of detail.

The key is getting a good picture, not having the most pixels. If you are able to get both higher MP and the best overall photo, that's fine. But, one should not be compromised for the other.
 
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