iPhone 16 Pro camera may be less prone to glare and ghosting

By Tim Hardwick

Apple is testing a new anti-reflective optical coating technology for future iPhone cameras that could improve photo quality by reducing artifacts such as flare and ghosting, according to a rumor out of Korea.

According to news aggregator account “yeux1122” on the Naver blog, citing a company source in the Apple supply chain, Apple is considering introducing new hardware for atomic layer deposition (ALD) in the manufacturing process of iPhone camera lenses.

ALD involves depositing materials onto a substrate one atomic layer at a time, allowing for extremely precise control of thickness and composition. Its use allows manufacturers to apply very thin layers of materials to semiconductor devices, including camera components.

For camera lenses, ALD can be used to apply anti-reflective coatings that can help reduce photographic artifacts. such as light streaks and halos that can appear in the final image when a bright light source, such as the sun, shines directly into the lens.

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ALD can also reduce ghosting, a type of image distortion in which faint background images appear in a photo, usually opposite a bright light source. This occurs when light is reflected back and forth between the surfaces of the lens elements and the camera sensor.

In addition, materials deposited with ALD can protect the camera lens system from environmental influences without affecting the sensor's ability to effectively capture the light.

The Naver blog claims that the production process will be applied to the “Pro model” in Apple's “next generation” iPhone lineup, which sounds like a reference to one or both of the premium iPhone 16 series models, although Given the timing of the rumors, we shouldn't discount the possibility that this method is being tested on next year's iPhone 17 Pro models.

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      Expected that both upcoming iPhone 16 Pro models will feature a tetraprism lens with 5x optical zoom, a feature that is currently exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max in Apple's smartphone lineup. Apple typically releases the next generation iPhone around mid-September.

      Related review: iPhone 16 ProTag: Naver[ 38 comments ]