back to article Next-gen iPhone to sport 3.2Mp camera?

The next iPhone could have a 3.2Mp camera on board if leaked details concerning an alleged Apple camera contract are to be believed. Unnamed moles have told website Digitimes that digital imaging firm OmniVision has won an order from Apple to supply it with 3.2Mp CMOS image sensors - specifically for use on the next-generation …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So much for being hi-tech

    There are already several phones with 8mp cameras on the market; even 5mp phones have been out for a couple of years. Seems like Apple has fallen behind the curve, still I doubt it will stop the idrones from going on about how great the next overpriced underspecced iphone is

  2. Ke
    Thumb Down

    At least 5MP please...

    2MP was dated when the iPhone launched almost 2 years ago - I barely bother to use the camera because of it. If they really want to make the camera a selling point then it needs to be at least a high quality 5MP with a low noise factor.

  3. Ry
    Stop

    oh it must be for iphone...

    Maybe the image sensors are going in the mac books.... I hate the way you include iPhone in every article to try and pull in extra traffic,

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Megapixels are overrated!

    To those asking for an ever increasing pixel count: You are making the mistake of thinking that more megapixels = better camera. Not so. Too many megapixels for a given size sensor means more image noise and lousy low light performance. I'd rather see a 2-3MP sensor with improved color rendition and better performance in low light.

    see http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm

  5. Jerome
    Thumb Up

    Let's hope...

    Let's also hope that the devices can pull off the amazingly advanced tricks of flashing a big light at the same time as taking a picture, and recording multiple pictures in a row to stitch together into a thing I like to call "video". Then I might finally be able to get my hands on some of that lovely Apple interface goodness, without stepping back in time 5 years hardware-wise.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm so in love with the iPhone!

    Exciting new technology from the Apple guys. Can't wait to see the look on my mates' face when they hear my new iPhone would have 3.2MPix camera! Oh, wait... they've had 5MPix cameraphones for over a year... Seriously, this is getting ridiculous....

  7. Steve Ives
    Paris Hilton

    MP bragging rights...

    To AC,

    If you and your mates get into 'my phone camera has more MP than yours" arguments, then you have absolutely no appreciation of the role MP plays in image quality.

    All phone camera, irrespective of resolution, are of average quality.

    Paris, 'cos she likes to see how much of something she can stuff in...

    Steve

  8. Law
    Thumb Up

    can we also get

    ... a decent auto-focus and possibly some sort of optical zoom in there too please... doubtful though, as they wouldn't want to make the phone any fatter or take up anymore room than needed.... just a tick in the camera-phone box is enough apparently...

    My N95 most used function was the camera, my iPhone's most used function (aside from downloaded app's) is the music... next I would like an in-between that has decent images, and decent music player... here's hoping!! :)

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Size matters

    If you want better pictures, the phone will need to be a little thicker to accommodate a better lens. Then get a better sensor and perhaps a flash. Simple. A sensor alone is not much use. 3.2MP should be fine with a slightly better lens.

    Apple are getting there like British Rail. OK, so they had the ability to launch a product with a simple camera, no 3G and it sold well. Then they improved it and it sold well again. This 3rd iteration will sell well again even in a recession unless Apple go mad with their pricing (viz iMac and MacBook).

  10. Richard Cartledge
    Thumb Up

    Good

    Good, I hope they back it up with a lens capable of making use of the added pixels unlike most mobile phone and cheap digital camera makers do and just use x Megapixels to look good in the specs table but really just be a drain on resources due to crap lenses.

  11. slack
    Paris Hilton

    Came to make a lens comment..

    .. nice to see you guys have it covered.

    /Paris coz I love her with all my heart and soul. Also because of the reasons that Steve Ives mentioned

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    @Steve Ives

    "All phone camera, irrespective of resolution, are of average quality"

    Rubbish. They range from unusably shockingly bad at the cheap end to perfectly acceptable for most users/uses at the top end. They're never going to have great low light performance or compete with a decent SLR (or even a quality compact camera), but something like an N95 is perfectly usable for everyday photography.

  13. Ascylto

    Trollery

    But it won't stop the trolls from their going on about "the next overpriced underspecced iphone".

    Grow up FGS!

    I have several cameras which I use for photography. I have an iPhone which I use for calls and pissing about. If you want to use a Nokisson whatever ... fine.

    Now fuck off!

  14. Scott Mckenzie

    Shock..

    ...it might even be for one of their desktop or laptop computers, rather than the the iPhone....

    But hey... i'm not in the least bit bothered, my 2Mp camera on my iPhone takes perfectly adequate pictures, and video for the use i ever plan to make from a mobile phone... i have a camera for taking pictures and unlike any camera on a phone my actual camera takes very good pictures.

  15. J
    IT Angle

    I'd like to see

    I'd like to see real world pictures from these "8 MPix" camera phones...

    What I do know is that the 1.3 Mpix camera on my Samsung takes noisy, blandly colored and soft, not quite sharp (that's usually the noise reduction's fault in real cameras) pictures. They are "acceptable", in the sense that I can see what's in the picture and all that. Usable in an emergency maybe, but only that. I'd like to see expensive camera phone pictures to know if they can be any good.

    Re: the MPix count war, that is ridiculous, and not just for the reasons given above. First of all, if you're printing 10x15cm (4x6in) then 2 MPix is more than enough in a real camera -- I've done that with a little Canon some 5 or 6 years ago, and you can see artifacts when printing 15x20cm (8x6in) if you pay quite some attention. For posting to the web, even 2Mpix is overkill -- if the picture is well taken. More pixels are good if the photo is to be cropped, but I wonder how many people go to that trouble with their drunk party pictures. And if you crop, you'd better have a good quality image or you will have an ugly, noisy crop. Like the ones from my camera phone, which I've used only a little to see how it performed and haven't bothered ever since (carry a real, point-and-shoot(ish) camera in my backpack anyway).

  16. Alex

    @J

    Suggest getting your eyes tested... a 4x6 print from a 2m pixel camera isn't particularly "more than enough". Seems you've read "Which?" magazine too much, who still to this day say that there is not point to a camera with more than 3m pixels...

    More to the point, the iPhone's camera isn't a camera replacement - never has. It's for viewing and sharing on an iPhone. What bugs me is that I would prefer a decent(ish) camera on my phone so that I can take those "spur of the moment pics", with the option of printing them 10x12.

    Sorry, but the low resolution "for" argument isn't working. Latest and greatest please, this is market place for innovation..

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