Featured »

February 6, 2012 – 5:07 am | 13 Comments

Instagram is one of the most insanely popular photo apps for iPhone. Here are ten tips to help you get more out of Instagram.

Read the full story »
News
Reviews
App Sales
Hipstamatic
Instagram
Home » iPhone 5, News

Rumor: Is there a new camera in the upcoming iPhone 5?

Submitted by on June 21, 2012 – 1:20 am2 Comments

iPhone 5 back plate - is this the new iPhone?

 

I read all of the iPhone rumors I can find across the internets. Most of the time, I think they’re amusing works of Apple fanboy fiction.

The latest rumor being reported by TechCrunch and picked up all over the web shows what appears to be the back case of a new iPhone. The case shows, among other things, a new camera configuration. I have a hunch that this rumor is the real deal. More pics, rumor and speculation after the jump. >>>

Again, this is just a rumor. Apple is known for extreme secrecy and keeping details of new products under wraps. Remember last year’s iPhone rumors and that hideous wedge-shaped “iPhone 5″? This could be a plant by Apple to weed out suppliers who leak rumors. We won’t know for certain until the next iPhone is introduced.

Here’s a link to the video on YouTube from eTrade Supply where I got these screen captures. Watch it now in case the video gets pulled quickly.

The back case part in this video looks genuine and fits with most of the credible rumors we’ve been hearing about the iPhone 5. It looks like a leaked part from one of Apple’s suppliers.

Overall, the case looks like a next-generation iPhone case. The shape of the case, the grooves separating the antennae, the holes for buttons and other hardware are mostly where they should be.

The back case unit is metal, not Gorilla Glass. Both the back of the case and device’s frame are one unit. In comparison, the iPhone 4 and 4S have a separate frame, middle plate, and back cover. The case is a little bit thinner that the current iPhone 4S. That seems to be due to the lack of glass on the back of the device.

The size of the case is just a little bit longer, which supports the rumor that the new iPhone will have a larger 4″ screen.

posible iPhone 5 compared to the iPhone 4S

The rumored new iPhone case compared to the iPhone 4.

Reconfigured Camera

In addition to the new size, slot and port configuration, what caught my eye about this case is a slightly reconfigured camera on the back. While still in the same overall position, the flash is now further away from the lens — it looks like by almost 1/4″.

If all else remains the same, this is still an improvement over the current set-up, although not by much. Moving the flash further away from the lens would help reduce the flat lighting of most smartphone cameras, even minutely.

Does this mean that the iPhone 5 will have a significantly better camera than the great one in the 4S? Maybe. I have a hunch that we’ll get an improved camera of some sort. That’s a no-brainer. Every iPhone since the 3G has received a camera upgrade. Sony is already shipping a slightly refreshed version camera found in the iPhone 4S (according to iFixit, it’s the same 8MP rear camera type found in the new Samsung Galaxy S III).

Again, this is just a rumor. Or this could be a discarded prototype part. We won’t know for sure until later this year. Until then, it’s amusing to sort out the facts from the fiction.

=M=

..

iPhone 5 and iPhone 4 charging ports

Rumored iPhone 5 case, an iPhone 4, and the middle plate of an iPhone 4

~~~~

Marty Yawnick

Marty is a self-employed graphic designer in the Fort Worth/Dallas Metroplex. He is an avid Rangers baseball, Chicago Cubs, Packers and Highbury Arsenal fan. In addition to capturing random moments with whatever camera is close by (usually his iPhone), his other interests include coffee, film, music, and traveling in seats 5E and 5F with his fiancé.


2 Comments »

  • Kevin says:

    It could be great if the camera in the new iPhone got improved :)

  • There's been very little talk about a camera upgrade, but there's some really cool technology available now and on the horizon. I couldn't really talk about it in my post — not even a rumor post. I really think we'll get at least the slightly improved 8MP Sony sensor, I haven't read anything about the 11MP sensors that lead me to believe they've made it small enough to fit one into the iPhone without sacrificing image quality.

    By the way, Sony has a patent on a really cool optical zoom lens for smartphone-type cameras. I'd like to see these optics in an iPhone if the quality were good enough.
    http://lifeinlofi.com/2011/04/27/cool-link-the-ne

    =M=

2 Pingbacks »

Leave a comment!

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also Comments Feed via RSS.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.

You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

This is a Gravatar-enabled weblog. To get your own globally-recognized-avatar, please register at Gravatar.