iPhone 16 Pro’s camera could solve one of its biggest problems

The iPhone 16 Pro’s camera could see a small improvement, which could solve one of the biggest problems with current and recent models: internal reflections.

iPhone cameras have improved with each generation, and are so good that many people now use them as their primary cameras, but images can degrade significantly when taken in sunlight. There’s one problem.

Lens flare and internal reflections

This is an issue first discovered on the iPhone 11 Pro.

One weakness I noticed is that if there is light in the shot, there will be a lot of internal reflections. For example, when you pan in a bookstore, the rainbow-shaped crescent of light is a reflection of the balcony light bouncing within the lens array. You can see many similar reflections in other clips.

This is most noticeable in video, as reflections move within the image as the camera or subject moves. The example above is a frame taken from a video, and you can see how distracting it is as the camera pans up (the clip should start automatically at 5:52).

This has been an issue for generations, including my iPhone 15 Pro Max. It’s a relatively minor thing and may seem unimportant for a holiday video like this, but honestly, it’s the biggest reason I’ve given up shooting more serious videos on my iPhone. is.

iPhone 16 Pro’s camera could solve this

Report by leaker You1122 Apple says it is currently testing new lens coating technology planned for iPhone 16 Pro models.

Apple is said to be testing camera lenses with new coating technology for application to the next iPhone Pro model.

Added new ALD atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment. This results in improvements in shooting quality such as reduced flare.

Although the report only mentions lens flare, both flare and internal reflections have exactly the same cause (the reflection and scattering of light on the surfaces of multiple lens elements), and ALD works to minimize this. It is designed to.

Existing anti-reflective coatings attempt to solve this problem, but their relative thickness compared to ALD limits their effectiveness as the coating can be non-uniform. As the name suggests, atomic layer deposition is a method of applying coatings in layers of atoms.

We’ve mentioned Yeux1122’s mixed track record before, but this kind of detailed supply chain report is likely more reliable than speculative posts.