Hope for Optical Image Stabilization in iPhone 6 Revived with Supplier Rumors
Late last week, shares of InvenSense rose on rumors that the company had won a contract to supply sensors for Apple's upcoming iPhone 6. InvenSense supplies sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes to major phone manufacturers, but the company has yet to publicly land a deal with Apple. The validity of the rumor seems up for debate, however, as a Needham & Company analyst soon released a note saying that he "did not get the impression" from InvenSense's CEO and CFO that such an agreement was in place. Of course, that information would be under a strict non-disclosure agreement with Apple, severely limiting what InvenSense executives could tell the analyst.
Regardless, The Motley Fool speculates on what InvenSense could bring to Apple. While InvenSense could offer drop-in replacements for the current gyroscope and accelerometer sensors in the iPhone, the company also provides Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) technology for mobile phones:
There's one additional socket that InvenSense could win on the iPhone -- an OIS gyroscope. The burgeoning technology is used to improve smartphone camera's by stabilizing the image using a gyroscope. Samsung neglected to use the technology in the Galaxy S5, but Apple may decide to integrate it into the iPhone 6. If it does, InvenSense is a clear choice.
Optical Image Stabilization remains relatively new in the smartphone market, and uses a motion-tracking system to compensate for device shakiness, allowing for sharper photos and video. This video demonstrates the product:
Apple presently offers software-based image stabilization in its iPhone 5s, but has definitely been researching optical image stabilization for the iPhone. Earlier this year, an
Apple patent application detailing an OIS system was published. The employee who authored that patent was hired by Apple in 2012 from a company working on the same optical image stabilization technology.
Whether or not Apple is actually planning on incorporating Optical Image Stabilization technology in the next iPhone or not, it's clear the company's engineers are working on it. Historically, Apple has made steady improvements to the iPhone camera with each subsequent generation, and the last several generations have focused on image quality improvements rather than simply increasing megapixel counts.
Popular Stories
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
In November, Apple announced that the iPhone would support the cross-platform messaging standard RCS (Rich Communication Services) in the Messages app starting "later" in 2024, and Google has now revealed a more narrow timeframe. In a since-deleted section of the revamped Google Messages web page, spotted by 9to5Google, Google said that Apple would be adopting RCS on the iPhone in the "fall...
Thieves in Montreal, Canada have been using Apple's AirTags to facilitate vehicle theft, according to a report from Vermont news sites WCAX and NBC5 (via 9to5Mac). Police officers in Burlington, Vermont have issued a warning about AirTags for drivers who recently visited Canada. Two Burlington residents found Apple AirTags in their vehicles after returning from trips to Montreal, and these...
Apple's WWDC 2024 dates have been announced, giving us timing for the unveiling of the company's next round of major operating system updates and likely some other announcements. This week also saw some disappointing news on the iPad front, with update timing for the iPad Pro and iPad Air pushed back from previous rumors. We did hear some new tidbits about what might be coming in iOS 18 and...
Photos of the first iPhone 16 cases have been shared online, offering another preview of the rumored new vertical rear camera arrangement on the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. Image credit: Accessory leaker Sonny Dickson Over the last few months, Apple has been experimenting with different camera bump designs for the standard iPhone 16 models, all of which have featured a vertical ...
A $3 third-party app can now record spatial video on iPhone 15 Pro models in a higher resolution than Apple's very own Camera app. Thanks to an update first spotted by UploadVR, Spatialify can now record spatial videos with HDR in 1080p at 60fps or in 4K at 30fps. In comparison, Apple's native Camera app is limited to recording spatial video in 1080p at 30fps. Shortly after Apple's Vision ...
Top Rated Comments
optical has better quality.
software, you are manipulating the image to stabilize it, after the fact. Whether that's averaging across pictures, or cropping the picture and stablizing a crop of the photo.
optical, the lens is physically tracking at the time.
arn
"when"? it already does and is those things. tho near-pro camera is the most difficult as there isnt enough space on a thin phone to have the lens depth needed for pro-grade glass.
----------
different cameras, different sensors, different software.
----------
that is fallacy thinking. you can say the same about the next iterations after the 6....it all depends entirely on where youre at, what you need, and what represents value for you. me, i get immense value out of my 5s, today, and wouldnt want to be running on something older for a year because it would mean losing that value for a year.
This video was recorded on a potato.
An iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator. These are not three separate devices.
I believe this already happened.