LG Innotek Will Supply Folded Camera for Future iPhones
According to ETNEWS reports, supplier LG Innotek is developing a folded camera – periscopic zoom lens for Apple, which is expected to be applied to iPhone products in 2022 or 2023 at the earliest.
The folded camera is a telephoto camera module that uses the refraction of light like a periscope. Unlike the existing camera module in which the lens and image sensor are arranged vertically, the focal length is increased by arranging the lens and image sensor horizontally.
Simply put, it is a camera with enhanced optical zoom while minimizing the effect on the thickness of the smartphone. When the lenses and sensors are stacked vertically, the camera module becomes thicker as the zoom is increased to 5 times or 10 times, which interferes with the design of the smartphone.
Apple’s rival Samsung first used a periscopic zoom lens on the Galaxy S20 series released in January last year, but Samsung’s core technology comes from the acquired Israeli company Core Photonics. Of course, including Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and other domestic Android flagships, many have long used the relevant lens.
This year’s iPhone 13 series, despite CMOS upgrades, lens modules have also become larger, but the optical zoom is still only up to 3 times, digital zoom up to 15 times, compared to the Android 100 times, and other considerable gaps. In addition, the addition of the periscope lens will inevitably make the iPhone back shape change adjustment, with the front of the rumors of the perforated screen, it feels like a completely new look.
