Focus will be sharper: iPhone 17 may get a new camera feature

While experts call the upcoming iPhone 16 just another iterative update of the usual smartphone, rumors about the 17th generation of Apple's smartphone hint at radical changes. Thus, according to the latest leaks, the next year's release may feature a variable camera aperture system.

According to Android Authority, citing The Information report, Samsung was the first major manufacturer to introduce this feature in 2018 with the Galaxy S9 series. Since then, the technology has not been used for a long time. At that time, the small size of the camera sensors installed on smartphones made it inefficient. However, in 2023, the technology was brought back to various flagship smartphones from Chinese manufacturers. And it seems that this time the experiment was successful.

The report claims that at least one iPhone 17 model will be equipped with a mechanically controlled variable aperture system. This is expected to solve the problem of most modern smartphone cameras. They have large sensors and wide apertures, but they often lack depth of field and focus, especially when shooting close-ups or group shots.

Xiaomi and HUAWEI have already used adjustable aperture on their smartphones. In particular, the flagship Xiaomi 14 Ultra is equipped with a large one-inch sensor with an adjustable aperture. This allows you to switch between a wide aperture for bright bokeh shots and a narrow aperture for increased depth of field and sharper focus throughout the frame.

Now, to achieve high-quality images, iPhones use a combination of multiple lenses and machine learning software to simulate bokeh settings in portrait mode. If the rumors are true and Apple's smartphone cameras receive this update, they will be able to achieve a more natural bokeh effect even outside of portrait mode. In addition, this will help avoid side effects due to the potentially larger sensor size.

It remains unclear whether the new iPhone camera design will include simple switching between two or more preset apertures, as was the case with the Samsung Galaxy S9, or whether it will feature more advanced step-less aperture control, similar to that used by Xiaomi. If successful, experts expect a wider spread of this technology in the next generation of smartphones.

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