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iPhone 7 touted to have 'biggest camera jump ever'

iPhone 6 camera
The iPhone 6 has a good camera, but next year's could be a whole lot better

The camera in the iPhone 6 wasn't a huge jump over the one in the iPhone 5S, but the iPhone 6S's camera could more than make up for that if recent comments from the oft-reliable John Gruber pan out.

In the latest episode of The Talk Show, Daring Fireball's Gruber claimed to have heard from "a birdie of a birdie" that "next year's camera might be the biggest camera jump ever."

Getting more specific he went on to say that "I've heard that it's some kind of weird two-lens system where the back camera uses two lenses and it somehow takes it up into DSLR quality imagery."

That still doesn't tell us much, but Sony, which makes cameras for the iPhone, has just announced a new 21MP stacked CMOS sensor, the highlights of which are 192 point phase detection autofocus, which makes it easier to stay focused on fast moving objects, and HDR for high-resolution images and 4K videos.

Sensor swap

The sensor is set to ship in April 2015, soon enough that it could be a candidate for the iPhone 6S. Another possibility, given the comparison to a DSLR, is interchangeable lenses. That might sound unlikely but back at the beginning of the year an Apple patent for swappable lenses was uncovered, so you never know.

We wouldn't hold our breath on that second one, but the iPhone is overdue a major camera upgrade, so we're hopeful we'll get one in some form on the iPhone 6S/7.

Gruber's been right about a lot of stuff in the past, including the timing of the Apple Watch, so we're inclined to believe his latest claim may have some truth to it.

Via The Tech Block