A "folded telephoto camera lens system" patent for the iPhone 7 Pro recently surfaced via AppleInsider, giving us a closer look at hardware that Apple has been working on lately. Previous rumors suggested that the iPhone 7 Pro will be thinner than the 6 yet offer near DSLR quality photography. What's more, the little bump around the camera will reportedly go away as well. How exactly is Apple making this possible?
According to the patent, the camera is designed with a folded "r" design, similar to an old submarine's periscope. This enables light to bounce off a mirror to secondary lens elements. The movement of the lens elements will create enough of a telescopic effect for optical zoom.
Furthermore, the patent also indicates that the user will have an option to choose whether to use the telephoto lens or a standard wide-angle camera for photo and video assignments. This offers substance to earlier rumors via renowned Apple Ming-Chi Kuo that the iPhone 7 Pro will feature a dual lens setup.
A dual camera setup isn't breaking any new ground per se, as the LG G5 and Huawei P9 flagships already offer this features. That said, a telephoto lens definitely sounds like a game-changer to us. As always, the engineers at Apple are obsessed with delivering better performing hardware for the iPhone while managing to make it thinner and thinner.
Stay tuned as we expect to learn more about the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Pro in the months ahead.
