The iPhone 8 could have a smart camera that knows what it’s looking at

The biggest source of iPhone 8 leaks lately has been Apple itself, and specifically its HomePod software, which is packed full of clues about the upcoming phone, with the most recently unearthed one relating to the camera and a new ‘SmartCam’ feature.

Spotted by Guilherme Rambo, it seems as though the SmartCam allows the camera to automatically recognize specific scenes and adjust the settings accordingly, so that you can get the best shot possible.

Scenes spotted in the code include Baby, Bright Stage, Document, Fireworks, Foliage, Pet, Point Light Sources, QR, Sky, Snow, Sport, Sunset and Sunrise.

This isn’t a new idea, some phones and cameras can already automatically detect a scene, but it could serve to make Apple’s already impressive cameras slightly better, and even easier to use.

Pay with your face and charge wirelessly

There are also mentions of ‘passbook.payment.contactlessinterface’ with ‘pearl.field-detect’ and ‘pearl.pre-arm’, which is thought to refer to the Face ID facial recognition tech which is heavily rumored to be hitting the iPhone 8, and specifically its ability to authenticate Apple Pay payments.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen mention of Face ID in Apple’s HomePod software either.

And this latest deep dive into the software also turned up references to inductive charging – suggesting that wireless charging will feature. At this point we’ve heard so many wireless charging rumors that it’s one of the things we’re most sure Apple will add to the iPhone 8.

Speaking of the iPhone 8, there was also a mention of ‘2017iPhone’ and, oddly, a 6.5-inch Retina display, which is a lot larger than we’re expecting the iPhone 8 to be.

We wouldn’t read too much into that last one, but the presence of a SmartCam feature, Face ID and wireless charging are all looking rather likely.

• We're also expecting an iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus

Via 9to5Mac