A recent patent application by Apple has fed rumors indicating that the iPhone 7 may have dual rear-facing cameras that work in unison to provide a higher level of image clarity.
The cameras’ supposed ability to focus -- especially in low-light conditions -- will mean that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will far outpace the camera capability of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which is respectable in its own right.
The dual camera technology is reminiscent of the intellectual property Apple acquired when it purchased LinX Imaging for around $20 million in April 2015, according to the Wall Street Journal.
An Israeli camera-technology company, LinX had a reputation for being able to squeeze every ounce of performance they could out of a mobile camera before Apple acquired them. Supposedly, LinX’s dual camera system was able to capture SLR-quality pictures, according to MacRumors.
According to the recent patent filed by Apple, the dual cameras could be housed within the same lens. The lens would be split into different sections, one standard and the other telephoto, to allow an iPhone 7 photographer to zoom in without being forced to lose picture quality in the same way as digital zoom does.
Apple described other possible implementations of the dual camera technology in the patent as well, including shooting video in two different resolutions at once and even possibly having slow motion video automatically store itself alongside video that was shot within the standard recording mode.
A definite advantage of a duel camera system for the iPhone 7 would be that any pictures taken while the iPhone is recording a video would no longer be of lesser quality than if the picture had been taken normally. As it is right now, pictures taken while recording video are saved at a much lower resolution than normal.
Interestingly enough, Apple was granted another patent regarding a dual camera system a few weeks ago. This patent described a system where two cameras would work in unison to capture keystrokes on a virtual keyboard that would be projected in front of the user, while also monitoring their eye movements.
