It looks like Apple smartphones will get a feature that Samsung users have taken for granted for some time now.
Of course, if you ask Samsung devotees, that’s usually how the story goes.
But it isn’t like any of this is a surprise, especially when most people have predicted that periscope lenses are “on the way” but not quite here yet.
From the patent’s abstract:
“A folded camera that includes two light folding elements such as prisms and an independent lens system, located between the two prisms, which includes an aperture stop and a lens stack. The lens system may be moved on one or more axes independently of the prisms to provide autofocus and/or optical image stabilization for the camera. The shapes, materials, and arrangements of the refractive lens elements in the lens stack may be selected to capture high resolution, high quality images while providing a sufficiently long back focal length to accommodate the second prism.”
One interesting note about the patent that has become a point of consternation for some Apple watchers is that it describes a 3x zoom whereas the current top-of-the-line iPhone 12 has a 2.5x optical zoom and Samsung’s flagship Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is at 10x. It is also important to note that, whatever the final numbers are, Apple is still a couple of years off from putting this feature in their smartphones so things could change between now and then.
What do you think of periscope lenses in smartphones? Let us know your thoughts on the future of smartphone cameras in the comments below.
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[DPReview]
