Source: Apple's next-gen iPhone has video camera

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple this year will finally introduce video recording capabilities on at least one of its upcoming iPhone models, AppleInsider has been told.



An iPhone with a video cam



Details are few and far between, but the information comes from a person who's proven extremely reliable when predicting changes to the Cupertino-based company's hardware offerings.



At this time, there's no information to suggest that video recording support will be available through anything other than a upgraded rear-facing camera that will, of course, also take still photos at a higher resolution.



The addition, however, is reportedly just one of several hardware related tweaks that will surface in iPhone revisions due sometime between late spring and early fall. Another, that same person says, will be a significant boost to gaming hardware (likely via Imagination's new multi-core PowerVR chips).



Video recording support has stood as one of the most glaring omissions from the iPhone since its inception two years ago, but the understanding is that Apple wants to get the feature "right."



Supporting evidence



Possibly supporting these most recent claims is a screenshot from the beta of iPhone Software 3.0 published by Engadget earlier this week. It shows a MobileMe panel for uploading images conspicuously titled "Publish Video."



While the gadget publication speculates that this may be nothing more than an interesting typo, AppleInsider was informed of Apple's plans to include video support on the next-generation iPhone hardware shortly before Tuesday's introduction of the 3.0 software, and therefore believes the reference is significant and further evidence to this end.







Supporting video on 3G networks



Word of Apple's mobile video plans arrives alongside claims that the upcoming iPhone revisions will support faster Internet speeds -- a likely precursor to facilitating transmissions of video files over third-generation mobile networks.



For its part, exclusive U.S. iPhone service provider AT&T confirmed during a communications conference last May that it had a HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) 3G network up and running in the labs at speeds of 7.2 megabits per second, or approximately twice the theoretical throughput of its existing network.



At the same conference, the carrier's mobile chief Ralph de la Vega said AT&T planned to transition to HSPA release 7 sometime in 2009, which would deliver even faster speeds "exceeding 20 megabits per second."



He said the upgrade would require few if any hardware modifications to the company's infrastructure and would instead be a smooth transition achieved largely through a software upgrade to its electronics.



Software support



Should Apple's video plans for the next-gen iPhone remain intact, it's believed the capability would see support through a new "Movies" iPhone app that would provide rudimentary editing support akin to the audio trimming capabilities of the company's upcoming Voice Memos iPhone application.



The same application would presumably allow users to email their movie clips to friends and family members, or send them via MMS messages.



Video as a high end feature



Though largely speculative at best, it's possible that Apple could market video recording capabilities as a premium feature available only through a high-end model.



ArsTechnica on Thursday discovered references to four unknown multi-touch handheld products in resource files included with this week's iPhone Software 3.0 beta, including "iPhone 3,1." The reference joins discoveries earlier this year of an "iPhone 2,1" product in the resources of iPhone Software 2.0.



Neither reference is tied to a shipping product, and both identifiers suggest iPhone models with distinguishing hardware features, meaning two distinct models could be in the cards.



For example, the original iPhone identifies itself as iPhone 1,1, while the current iPhone 3G lists as iPhone 1,2, as the architectural changes between two models were relatively minor.



As with similar practices for Macs, Apple's use of 2,1 and 3,1 imply major and distinct changes. For instance, the second-generation iPod touch is listed as iPod 2,1 and includes faster internal hardware than the first-generation model called iPod 1,1.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 128
    Groan. That'll be three phones in three years........ my wallet hurts.



    (I am kidding: the actual sentiment is, "WOW" and )
  • Reply 2 of 128
    hattighattig Posts: 860member
    I'm hoping for 5mp and decent (for a phone) lenses as they're the main problem. Why 5mp - so I can resize to remove the noise and still have a large image (large enough for the web).



    My Nokia 6500 Slide has a 3.2MP camera with better than average lens, and that's a cheapy phone and a year old.



    As for video, I wouldn't expect 1280x720 recording, but 640x480 should be easy. Maybe the chips are powerful enough for 720p though, who knows. There are plenty of cheap camcorders out there now offering this.



    It'll be nice to see the user-centric iPhone OS improvements, the ones that weren't demonstrated.
  • Reply 3 of 128
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Most people would prefer a camera that's better at taking stills. Video is a marketing thing as far as I'm concerned. Aside from the obvious YouTube benefits.
  • Reply 4 of 128
    gordygordy Posts: 1,004member
    I agree. A better camera trumps video IMO.
  • Reply 5 of 128
    That would be cool if the video camera was facing you so you could video chat with others or do stuff like that!

    I don't have any iphone right now...but will definatly get one if they come out with a new one this year! If not, I think I will anyways...
  • Reply 6 of 128
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    the camera can already do video. all they have to do is change the software. qik proves this. and for such a crappy camera, the video is pretty decent.
  • Reply 7 of 128
    yodamacyodamac Posts: 59member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    groan. That'll be three phones in three years........ My wallet hurts.



    (i am kidding: The actual sentiment is, "wow" and :d)



    ditto!
  • Reply 8 of 128
    treblatrebla Posts: 3member
    Video would be a great addition, especially for those of us who would use this for work- data collection. I use video for gait and motion analysis, the iPhone would make it just so much easier.



    But, I do not think this will happen with just software. The iPhone now uses H264 format for video now and it's a good fit- good image and small file size. It does, however, take a relatively studly amount of computation power to compress the data, so a new hardware upgrade would be mandatory.

    Alternatively, Apple could choose to go with uncompressed files, but that would make storage and transmission problematic, or with lower res video which does not sound like the Apple Way.
  • Reply 9 of 128
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    the camera can already do video. all they have to do is change the software. qik proves this. and for such a crappy camera, the video is pretty decent.



    It's not only about the camera, you need more RAM and a faster proc to compress the video. New hardware is needed.
  • Reply 10 of 128
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    iPhone Pr0n!





    I'll take both a good camera and decent video.

    Make it 720p dammit.
  • Reply 11 of 128
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    iPhone Pr0n!





    I'll take both a good camera and decent video.

    Make it 720p dammit.



    10,000p!
  • Reply 12 of 128
    msnlymsnly Posts: 378member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    10,000p!



    INFINITYp!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Reply 13 of 128
    str1f3str1f3 Posts: 573member
    720p wouldn't be out of the question. but the real question is could it replace the flip mino hd. the flip has some good low light capabilities. i don't know if apple could do it with putting in a quality lens
  • Reply 14 of 128
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MsNly View Post


    INFINITYp!!!!!!!!!!!!!



    INFINITYp +1



    nya nya



    Video encoding wouldn't be that hard with the right supporting chip



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Imagination


    19 November 2008: Imagination Technologies, a leader in system-on-chip Intellectual Property (SoC IP), announced today the availability of two new IP cores in the POWERVR VXE video encoder family. POWERVR VXE251 and VXE280 deliver multi-standard encode at SD and HD resolutions respectively. Both cores are available for licensing immediately.



    POWERVR VXE encodes still image and video sequences to a wide range of compression standards including H.264, MPEG-4 & JPEG. These cores offload the entire video/still encode processing to hardware. This minimises the host CPU processing requirements. Despite having multi-standard capability, POWERVR VXE cores typically take up comparable silicon area to single standard solutions





    "nothing but net..." (ode to March Madness)
  • Reply 15 of 128
    ivladivlad Posts: 742member
    This is time. Google (youtube) will now have a crazy marketing spin from iPhone. Imagine taking a video and instantly sending it to your youtube account. Ahhh cant wait!!!
  • Reply 16 of 128
    Hmmmmm.



    I wonder if they can make a video camera for the iPhone as sh!++y as the still camera that's already in the 3G version. It's a pretty low bar, so they are going to have to make an effort to scour the world for a supplier of equally inferior optics.



    Quote:

    iPhone Pr0n!

    I'll take both a good camera and decent video.

    Make it 720p dammit.



    Be careful what you wish for -- very view Pr0n "actors" and "actresses" can withstand the probing eye of Hi-Def. Standard-def is more friendly to slightly imperfect individuals.
  • Reply 17 of 128
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iVlad View Post


    This is time. Google (youtube) will now have a crazy marketing spin from iPhone. Imagine taking a video and instantly sending it to your youtube account. Ahhh cant wait!!!



    Wow, this is so nothing new.
  • Reply 18 of 128
    alanskyalansky Posts: 235member
    The "Publish Video" button may be a mistake, but it is definitely not a "typo".
  • Reply 19 of 128
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bsubshea17 View Post


    That would be cool if the video camera was facing you so you could video chat with others or do stuff like that!

    I don't have any iphone right now...but will definatly get one if they come out with a new one this year! If not, I think I will anyways...



    Other than recording your self, how can you see what you're recording if the camera and screen are facing the same direction??
  • Reply 20 of 128
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    iChat AV on a phone, so fucking useless. I can see the lawsuits now!
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