Apple is currently developing a new iPhone model that has an integrated dual main 3D camera, the American company trying to bring new functions to it. We are talking about a main camera for the iPhone that would offer the functionality that the 3D TrueDepth front camera currently has, minus Face ID, which would remain exclusive to it.
The Apple company wants to use a different 3D sensor for this new main camera compared to the one in the TrueDepth camera, everything being thought for augmented reality. Unlike the TrueDepth camera, the new one would not project tens of thousands of points in nature, but would calculate the time required for the laser wave to meet the objects it encounters.
Using this technique, Apple will also create 3D maps of the iPhone's surroundings, and users will be able to see everything in augmented reality applications. A similar technology is used for a multitude of electronic devices, including the radar ones that measure the speed of cars, so Apple wants to bring the latest technology to a mobile phone camera.
Apple is developing new iPhone models with dual 3D cameras
This new iPhone model that is scheduled for release in 2019 is said to include two 3D cameras, so it could be much more expensive than it is iPhone X at the moment. Apple is already talking with its partners to create such very advanced cameras and of course, thanks to them, detailed information about the plans that the Apple company has reached the press.
"Apple is evaluating a different technology from the one it currently uses in the TrueDepth sensor system on the front of the iPhone X, the people said. The existing system relies on a structured-light technique that projects a pattern of 30,000 laser dots onto a user's face and measures the distortion to generate an accurate 3D image for authentication. The planned rear-facing sensor would instead use a time-of-flight approach that calculates the time it takes for a laser to bounce off surrounding objects to create a three-dimensional picture of the environment."
Infineon, Sony, STMicroelectronics and Pansonic are the companies with which Apple is in discussions and they have already started to fabricate some products, but for now it is far from choosing any of them. Apple wants to have even more suppliers for this camera, to be sure that it does not run into the problems it had with the iPhone X, the stocks for this model being so small that the demand in Romania is 5 times higher than the offer.
I told you yesterday that three new iPhone models will be launched in 2018 by Apple, but none of them will have a main 3D camera like the one described here. Apple will continue to use the new TrueDepth camera in those models as well, but for more advanced technologies we will have to wait until 2019, as the Americans have completely different plans for everyone.
