It looks like Apple could add a new camera lens to the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, as a sketch showing exactly that has reportedly been found in a leaked build of iOS 14.
The image, which was spotted by conceptsiphone and corroborated by numerous other sources and leakers, shows a square camera block in the top left corner of the phone, just like the iPhone 11 Pro has, but this time there are four lenses squeezed in rather than three.
While we can’t be certain what any of the lenses are, three of them look broadly the same as the 12MP main, telephoto and ultra-wide ones on the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, while the fourth (the grey one) looks a whole lot like the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scanner that Apple recently debuted on the iPad Pro 2020.
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This scanner can determine distance by measuring how long it takes light to reach an object and reflect back again, and it’s a feature that can power advanced augmented reality features and potentially improve Portrait mode.
We’d say it’s a likely inclusion too, as not only does this leak have a lot of backing, it would also seem odd for Apple to leave one of its tablets with a more advanced camera feature than a newer flagship phone. Plus, a number of previous leaks and rumors had pointed to some form of 3D or depth-sensing scanner being added.
While the addition of a LiDAR scanner is the main takeaway from this leaked image, it does also look as though the other three lenses might be slightly larger than on the iPhone 11 Pro range. So perhaps they will be improved in some way, with larger sensors or more megapixels.
We’d expect they’ll still take on main, telephoto and ultra-wide roles though, as those are the three most common and useful lens types on smartphones.
We probably won’t find out for sure for a long time yet, as the iPhone 12 range isn’t expected to land before September – and it might even land later, due to Covid-19 potentially slowing down development.
But we’d expect plenty more leaks and rumors in the meantime, and TechRadar will cover all the credible ones, so stay tuned for updates.
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Via PhoneArena
