Triple-Lens Rear Cameras Rumored for Next iPad Pro Range, Dual-Lens for New Entry-Level iPad

[Hadron]

A rear camera on a tablet is such a non-feature for me that it never even crosses my mind that any of my tablets have one.

So genuinely, what's the overlap between people who use iPads as the worlds clumsiest cameras and iPad Pro buyers? I know that it might seem unconventional to put a higher-spec camera on a lower-end device, but my guess is that iPad Mini and base iPad buyers include a larger fraction of people who use the camera. If there's an iPad Pro buyer who doesn't have a phone with a decent camera it will be because they don't care about that, so I don't see this selling any extra Pros.

 

[Mactendo]

Another rumor: Apple Watch and Apple TV will get triple-lens camera in 2020, with AirPods and Apple Pen following suit in 2021.

 

[Populus]

...

I think you're exaggerating, and judging me for just politely exposing my opinion, which is in line of most people here. There's no reason to make the camera shape like a square to improve it, just making it pill shaped like the XS is enough, and provided that overall form factor will probably be the same this next generation of iPad Pro (probably just a spec bump), few people here see it reasonable to just make that little change that will refrain many people to sell their current Pro and buy a new one, keeping their current Smart Keyboard (which isn't cheap at 200€).

You prefer to think it's because this square shaped camera will make this new iPad Pro a big deal? Cool, but most of us don't think that trade off is worth it.

And you shouldn't take an internet comment so passionately, because Apple will follow their plans regardless of what you, and me, think about them. I'm not an influencer lol

 

[Steve121178]

Oh god, please no... Please make the rear camera pill-shaped so I can keep my Smart Keyboard Folio for the 2019 iPad Pro.

Why would you even need a 2019 iPad Pro when you have a 2018 iPad Pro?

 

[MikeSmoke]

It would make sense in the context of expanded AR capabilities.

 

[Strigoi]

Oh no.. was hoping they would adapt the design of the iPad for the iPhones.. not the otherway around.

 

[jicon]

I'm conflicted... On one hand, I don't want to see any tourist using one to try and take a photo. Another camera lense to improve quality awkwardly increases that probability. Definitely one of the worst camera options. On the other, I remember being in Playa Del Carmen two and a half years ago, middle of the afternoon with a large mexican group out of their minds dancing to three guys playing traditional song on acoustic guitar by the beach bar. Loud, having one heck of a time at three in the afternoon, dancing and screaming in front of an iPad a woman had, recording video of the shenanigans with everyone screaming 'Viva Donald Trump!!!!' between shots.

That needed to be in HD.

 

[Never mind]

When I saw the three camera iPad Pro, I don’t even use my one camera iPad Pro. What a waste of money that I could save on an iPad Pro without any cameras. I have an iPhone for that

 

[Johnny Steps]

So now the camera is what has to be updated when nothing else can?

 

[PrecisionGem]

This whole camera bump thing is rediculous. Make the camera flush. Use a real camera to take pictures, not an iPad.

 

[gaximus]

That makes perfect sense. My post was mainly directed at those who never take pictures with an iPad. I don’t know how they don’t, unless they rarely ever take pictures period. Sharing instant at-the-moment photos seem socially ingrained anymore.

I use my phone to take pictures. One it's smaller, it fits in my pocket, and I have it with me always. My iPad would be way too cumbersome to try and take out of a bag and take a picture. Also my Phone is almost always the newest generation, where I don't upgrade my iPad nearly as much, so my phone has a better camera. Also I feel like there is no privacy when using an iPad to take a picture, everyone around me can see what I'm taking a picture of. I have about 18,000 pictures on my phone half I've taken with an iPhone, most others are from old point and shoots or scanned family photos. I don't think I've ever taken a picture with my iPad. I personally think the rear camera could be removed, and just make a better front facing camera, for FaceTime.

 

[myapple2019]

Apple's next-generation iPad could gain a dual-lens rear camera while the next iPad Pro range could get a triple-lens array, according to a rumor out of China.

Japanese blog Mac Otakara cited a Chinese supply source over the weekend claiming the fourth-generation 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro devices will get the same multi-sensor array widely rumored to be coming to Apple's next iPhone range this year.

Meanwhile, Apple's rumored new version of its entry-level iPad - a device with a slightly bigger 10.2-inch screen than the existing 9.7-inch model - will inherit the dual lens setup currently seen in the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

The new iPads will launch in October, claims Mac Otakara's source, who also said that diagrams of related accessories are "floating around," but they declined to specify whether they are Apple accessories or third-party ones.

Apple hasn't used dual-lens rear camera modules in any iPad, let alone triple-lens arrays, so bringing the multi-sensor systems to three new models in the same year would be a first for the company.

In a February research note, respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple plans to release two new iPad Pro models, a 10.2-inch iPad, and a refreshed iPad mini this year. A month later, Apple released an upgraded iPad mini in March alongside a new 10.5-inch iPad Air.

Apple hasn't updated its third-generation iPad Pro lineup since October 2018 and its 9.7-inch entry-level iPad since March 2018, so we can reliably expect both to get some sort of refresh soon. Whether they will have the sort of multi-sensor cameras that are usually the preserve of smartphones is a different matter.

Rumors suggest Apple's next-generation 6.5-inch and 5.8-inch OLED iPhones will feature triple-lens rear cameras (with wide-angle, super wide-angle, and telephoto lenses), while the successor to the iPhone XR will feature a dual-lens camera with a wide-angle lens and a telephoto lens.

Article Link: Triple-Lens Rear Cameras Rumored for Next iPad Pro Range, Dual-Lens for New Entry-Level iPad

Unless there is a need to have the latest camera to satisfy taking pictures with iPad/other camera related needs, or to upgrade from an iPad which is no longer satisfying a user’s needs, there are absolutely no values to upgrade with the incoming triple camera iPads. Exception will be just to have the latest technology

 

[matthewadams]

They better add the software to enable depth-of-field videos otherwise this doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[Gutwrench]

I use my phone to take pictures. One it's smaller, it fits in my pocket, and I have it with me always. My iPad would be way too cumbersome to try and take out of a bag and take a picture. Also my Phone is almost always the newest generation, where I don't upgrade my iPad nearly as much, so my phone has a better camera. Also I feel like there is no privacy when using an iPad to take a picture, everyone around me can see what I'm taking a picture of. I have about 18,000 pictures on my phone half I've taken with an iPhone, most others are from old point and shoots or scanned family photos. I don't think I've ever taken a picture with my iPad. I personally think the rear camera could be removed, and just make a better front facing camera, for FaceTime.

Understood, especially when you are not at home. However, when home is your iPhone your primary iOS device?

 

[gaximus]

Understood, especially when you are not at home. However, when home is your iPhone your primary iOS device?

yes, I also don't sync my iPad photos to the iCloud, so its even of a hassle to transfer the picture I've taken. Even if I was holding my iPad and my kids were doing something that "required" a picture, I would take my phone out and take a picture using it.

 

[richpjr]

If they only compelling reason to upgrade is for the camera, presumably for AR, than it is not very compelling to me at all. There would have to be more along with it. I'm sure there will be a processor speed bump. Perhaps more memory to take advantage of better multitasking in iPadOS. If there were a new screen, we'd likely have heard rumors about that. I guess we find out. My wife has already let me know she'd love my 12.9 instead of her 10.5 so I kind of have a built in rationalization to get one.

 

[Gutwrench]

yes, I also don't sync my iPad photos to the iCloud, so its even of a hassle to transfer the picture I've taken. Even if I was holding my iPad and my kids were doing something that "required" a picture, I would take my phone out and take a picture using it.

Fair enough.

My initial comment was expressing shock over iPad users claiming to never take photos with the iPad.

While at home, it seems a bigger hassle, at least to me, to go fetch an iPhone just to take a casual photo when the iPad is usually beside me.

The iPhone gets put on the charger the moment I arrive home and goes untouched until I’m headed out the door.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I think you're exaggerating, and judging me for just politely exposing my opinion, which is in line of most people here. There's no reason to make the camera shape like a square to improve it, just making it pill shaped like the XS is enough, and provided that overall form factor will probably be the same this next generation of iPad Pro (probably just a spec bump), few people here see it reasonable to just make that little change that will refrain many people to sell their current Pro and buy a new one, keeping their current Smart Keyboard (which isn't cheap at 200€).

You prefer to think it's because this square shaped camera will make this new iPad Pro a big deal? Cool, but most of us don't think that trade off is worth it.

And you shouldn't take an internet comment so passionately, because Apple will follow their plans regardless of what you, and me, think about them. I'm not an influencer lol

First of all, these are rumors. Second of all, until Apple releases a new iPad Pro with a square camera hump, these are rumors. Third, why would someone who has a perfectly functioning 2018 iPad Pro feel the need to upgrade their setup a year or less from release?

The Smart Keyboard Folio is designed to work with the 2018 iPad Pro and based on the design, I sincerely doubt there is enough room for a second camera lens, a flash and a microphone in that oval cutout. Regardless, Apple usually doesn't do something without a reason, so I think I will take a wait and see attitude before I presume to tell Apple how to engineer their products.

I have a First gen 12.9-inch iPad Pro with an Apple Smart Keyboard and a first gen Pencil, so I quite understand where users are coming from as far as the possibility of having to re-buy peripherals. This is one of the reasons that I am still using a First gen 12.9-inch iPad Pro. It still works great and I have very few complaints. It would stand to reason that if a user can afford to replace their iPad Pro every time Apple comes out with a new version, that replacing the Smart Keyboard Folio and/or Pencil is not that great a stretch either. Again, if the iPad Pro 2019 is indeed a reality and it's just a spec bump, as you say, why would any user need to update?

It really seems like the spec chasers on these forums only want innovation and updates when they decide they want it, and only just so much until they reach a pain point in their pursuit of it, upon which they revert to complaining about pricing and how Apple is taking advantage of them. I've listened to it every time a rumor or an article about the MacBook Pro surfaces and people seemingly flush enough to buy a $3000 laptop crow about having to shell out $50 for a few USB-C cables.

A more disciplined approach to upgrades might be worth examining. Just my 2¢.

 

[Infinite Vortex]

Are you sure you haven't used it for FaceTime?

Not the rear camera but this is not to say that others don't… hence the posing my post mostly as a question. My tablet has always been a 95% media consumption device and as such even the front camera doesn't get a lot of use for me. I have so many other and better options the tablet is never a go to for this type of thing. While many have a similar usage there are meany that don't. No the rear camera usage has not been zero, but for me, it's near enough to zero that I'd be happier that the price were cheaper and the rear camera weren't there and there was no wobble on a flat surface. But that's me.

 

[kreasonos]

But will it bend? I won't buy until they fix the bending issue.

 

[pika2000]

Eh, I'll use my phone or an actual camera. Thanks.

Sure, do what’s best for yourself. Doesn’t mean one has to ridicule how others do things.

 

[Infinite Vortex]

But will it bend? I won't buy until they fix the bending issue.

Everything will bend given sufficient force and/or certain conditions. The question is you tolerance of this forces you expect to subject your device to. For instance, I don't try to to drop my devices but each have hit the floor at least the once. Another way to look at it… if its easier to bend its easier to bend back to flat.

 

[Zdigital2015]

To those seemingly confused about why Apple might want to include a triple lens setup in an iPad Pro, here are a few reasons.

- Filmmakers - If Steve Soderbergh can release a movie shot off an iPhone, there are plenty of those who are content and capable of shooting a movie directly to their iPad Pro. Remember a nifty little gadget called the Padcaster? Yes, it still exists.

- Hobbyists - Perhaps, as another user here wrote - three cameras helps those using 3-D printers.

- Vertical markets and tradespeople - Inspectors, claims adjusters, construction people, civil engineers and repair personnel might benefit from the three lens array to give them the most accurate measurements and clearer, closer pictures that allow to stay at a safer distance than the current iPhone or iPad allow.

- Augmented Reality - As another user posited, maybe this push is to help new AR efforts, applications, etc.

For some, the 11-inch iPad Pro is their ideal device in terms of size, weight and capability. I can see many who use their cameras for photography also wanting their iPad to be equally capable and removing another friction point in the iPad's quest to replace desktops and laptops and augment the iPhone as an equal. It will interesting to see how this shakes out.

If you happen to be one of those who simply pooh poohs the idea because you don't use the iPad camera or are complaining about the possibility of buying another Smart Keyboard Folio, all I can say is, thank God you don't work at Apple.

 

[groove-agent]

Hopefully it looks different. That camera array looks beyond ugly.

 

[Infinite Vortex]

To those seemingly confused about why Apple might want to include a triple lens setup in an iPad Pro, here are a few reasons.

- Filmmakers - If Steve Soderbergh can release a movie shot off an iPhone, there are plenty of those who are content and capable of shooting a movie directly to their iPad Pro. Remember a nifty little gadget called the Padcaster? Yes, it still exists.

- Hobbyists - Perhaps, as another user here wrote - three cameras helps those using 3-D printers.

- Vertical markets and tradespeople - Inspectors, claims adjusters, construction people, civil engineers and repair personnel might benefit from the three lens array to give them the most accurate measurements and clearer, closer pictures that allow to stay at a safer distance than the current iPhone or iPad allow.

- Augmented Reality - As another user posited, maybe this push is to help new AR efforts, applications, etc.

So I have to pay more so that Steven Soderbergh, who can afford whatever the hell he wants, can maybe do something he probably wouldn't do?!

 

[PrecisionGem]

I would think that if there were two iPad options, one with the giant bump and 3 or 4 camera's and one with a simple flush single lens camera with a reduced price of $100, the single lens iPad would outsell the multi lens one 100 to 1.

I have never taken a photo with my iPad, and certainly don't want to spend the money one a higher camera that I'll never use.