iPhone 7 Camera Could See Major Improvements

While the iPhone 6 is still hot off the presses, rumors about the next iPhone are just beginning. It’s said that the iPhone 7 (or whatever it’ll be called) will include not only the obvious camera improvements that users can expect, but also some major improvements that could put all point-and-shoot cameras to shame, as well as maybe even some entry-level DSLRs.

According to Daring Fireball‘s John Gruber, Apple is working on major camera improvements for the next iPhone. “A birdie of a birdie” told him that the iPhone 7 (we’ll call it that for now) camera “might be the biggest camera jump ever” for the iPhone, and it could come with a “two-lens system where the back camera uses two lenses.”

Gruber also says that he was told the camera improvements would move the image quality into DSLR territory, which we’d have to take with a giant grain of salt, as no camera will be able to match the image quality of a decent DSLR. Entry-level DSLRs, maybe.

Two-lens camera systems in smartphones are nothing new by any means, as the HTC One M8 includes two lenses, but it’s certainly something that isn’t common, and if it’s a system that will drastically increase image quality, we wouldn’t doubt if Apple was at least checking it out and testing it as we speak.

Of course, there’s no doubt that the next iPhone will be able to take much better photos than the iPhone 6, and that’s something we expect, but we’ll have to wait until next year to really find out what Apple has in store for the iPhone 7’s camera.

Other iPhone 7 rumors have begun trickling in recently, including a report about the possible display technology that the next iPhone could include. It’s said that the iPhone 7 could come with a glasses-free 3D display.

The report says that the technology would not be able to use the same display technology that’s currently on the iPhone 6, meaning a completely new display would be in order for the iPhone 7.

Something like this is certainly possible, but from what we’ve already seen from the Amazon Fire Phone, consumers aren’t that excited about such a technology, as the Fire Phone has experienced poor sales from the very beginning.

While we would take this rumor with a huge grain of salt, Apple has already dabbled in 3D display technology of sorts, in the form of iOS 7’s and iOS 8’s Parallax Effect feature that provides the illusion that the screen is in 3D.

The parallax effect was first introduced in iOS 7 and is a feature that also made its way to iOS 8. Essentially, it gives your iPhone or iPad’s home screen a neat 3D look, so when you move your device around in your hand while keeping your head still, it looks like you’re looking “around” the app icons onto the wallpaper, almost like you’re looking through a window out onto the iOS 8 world.

However, the feature is really nothing more than the gyroscope and accelerometer working together to create the illusion that you’re looking through a 3D window, and while it can be impressive for some users, most users will lose the wow factor in just a few days, hence the possible reason why 3D displays simply aren’t wanted on smartphones.

It does seems a bit odd that Apple would want to put a 3D display on its next iPhone, especially if consumers don’t really want that type of technology on their phones, but the Cupertino-based company is popular for taking previous mediocre technologies and improving them on their own devices to make them useful or unique. With that said, it doesn’t too crazy for the iPhone 7 to come with some type of 3D display.

Furthermore, renders and concepts are already being drawn up on future iPhones, with concepts of the iPhone 8 already out there for your viewing pleasure. We’re still a long way off from an iPhone 8, but we won’t blame those who like to think far into the future.