LG wins the contract to make the periscope lenses for the iPhones of the future
Apple might present iPhones with a camera upgrade touted to improve optical zoom in the upcoming flagship mobile devices in the next few years. The Cupertino giant is now projected to do so once it applies a patent for its take on the periscope zoom lens.
This new technology (well, new to Apple, at least) is based on an arrangement of lenses packed into a single module that can be placed at right angles relative to a camera hump in order to fit it seamlessly into a slim smartphone form-factor.
This is often facilitated through the inclusion of a prism at one end of the periscope-zoom component. In Apple's case, there may be dual prisms, currently rated for 3x optical zoom (even though the new 13 series also has this feature). According to ETNews, Samsung and LG's Innotek group were in contention to supply this new type of camera to Apple.
However, it now seems the former has stepped aside as it would prefer to focus on its own devices. Accordingly, Apple is now projected to start production of iPhones augmented with LG Innotek-developed periscope lenses from 2022 to 2023. This matches up with earlier rumors suggesting the "iPhone 15" line is the one most likely to introduce such an upgrade.
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