Apple's iPhone 6s could add 12MP Sony camera with RGBW subpixels - report

Posted:
in iPhone edited May 2015
The next-generation iPhone will reportedly sport a camera with a 12-megapixel Sony sensor that makes use of the firm's RGBW technology to help with low-light photography.




Sources downplayed the possibility of a dual-camera setup with wide-angle and telephoto lenses, according to Japanese media reports cited by Feng.com, but noted that RGBW means an alleged switch to smaller pixels won't come at the expense of low-light imaging.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus both employ 8-megapixel sensors with larger-than-average pixels designed to improve light sensitivity. RGBW makes use of an extra white subpixel to achieve a similar effect.

The reports suggest that Apple originally intended to use RGBW for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, but instead opted to wait to make sure its implementation would meet quality standards.

The new device is widely expected to be called the iPhone 6s, and ship sometime this fall. Multiple reports have claimed that Apple will continue to offer 4.7- and 5.5-inch sizes, but add things like support for Force Touch, the pressure-sensitive control system introduced with the Apple Watch.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 122
    harry wildharry wild Posts: 807member
    First!!!!

    How about at least a 1080p screen resolution for the 4.7" model?
  • Reply 2 of 122
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,258member

    The rumors are making the 6s sound like the least significant new model yet. The difference between the 5 and 5s was much bigger -- the 5s got touchID and cyclone, along with a better camera. ForceTouch doesn't seem to be nearly as big of a deal as touchID, and I'm guessing the A9 won't offer nearly as large a performance as improvement relative to the A8 as the A7 did relative to the A6. 

     

    I bet this will result in more people saying that Apple can't innovate.... but the the iPhone 7 will come out with dual cameras (or whatever), and blow everybody away. 

     

    Could be that the best feature of the 6s will be to create a buying opportunity for AAPL investors.... 

  • Reply 3 of 122
    thewhitefalconthewhitefalcon Posts: 4,453member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Blastdoor View Post

     

    The rumors are making the 6s sound like the least significant new model yet. The difference between the 5 and 5s was much bigger -- the 5s got touchID and cyclone, along with a better camera. ForceTouch doesn't seem to be nearly as big of a deal as touchID, and I'm guessing the A9 won't offer nearly as large a performance as improvement relative to the A8 as the A7 did relative to the A6. 

     

    I bet this will result in more people saying that Apple can't innovate.... but the the iPhone 7 will come out with dual cameras (or whatever), and blow everybody away. 

     

    Could be that the best feature of the 6s will be to create a buying opportunity for AAPL investors.... 


     

    ForceTouch has the possibility for great improvements, don't knock what hasn't been released for the iPhone.

     

    Heck, the likely addition of 2GB RAM will sell a ton of the darn things.

  • Reply 4 of 122
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member

    People have been saying "Apple can't innovate" for years and yet here we are with the best selling iPhones ever.

  • Reply 5 of 122
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    I'd be nice if they could get it up to 4K video and 4:2:2 chroma. Then it would actually make sense to record a Bentley commercial with it.

  • Reply 6 of 122
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Harry Wild View Post



    First!!!!



    How about at least a 1080p screen resolution for the 4.7" model?

     

     

    Can you actually see individual pixels on an iPhone 6 at a normal viewing distance?

  • Reply 7 of 122
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     

    Heck, the likely addition of 2GB RAM will sell a ton of the darn things.


     

    I've never seen Apple mention the iPhone's RAM in their marketing. How would their non-mention of it help Apple to sell more iPhones?

  • Reply 8 of 122
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by freediverx View Post

     

     

     

    Can you actually see individual pixels on an iPhone 6 at a normal viewing distance?




    No but the color would be better when you view 1080 videos because the pixels would not be interpolated.

  • Reply 9 of 122
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    I'd be nice if they could get it up to 4K video and 4:2:2 chroma. Then it would actually make sense to record a Bentley commercial with it.


     

    Do you have an 80" 4K TV at home, or do you think 4K is worth the costs and drawbacks on a 50" TV?

  • Reply 10 of 122
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    blastdoor wrote: »
    The rumors are making the 6s sound like the least significant new model yet. The difference between the 5 and 5s was much bigger -- the 5s got touchID and cyclone, along with a better camera. ForceTouch doesn't seem to be nearly as big of a deal as touchID, and I'm guessing the A9 won't offer nearly as large a performance as improvement relative to the A8 as the A7 did relative to the A6. 

    I bet this will result in more people saying that Apple can't innovate.... but the the iPhone 7 will come out with dual cameras (or whatever), and blow everybody away. 

    Could be that the best feature of the 6s will be to create a buying opportunity for AAPL investors.... 

    So you want Apple to get in the game of spec whoring? Seriously does the average iOS user even really notice these performance improvements? I'd take more RAM any day over anything else. I'm sure the 6S (or whatever Apple calls it) will be a worthy upgrade for 4S/5/5S owners. Perhaps not so much for 6/6 Plus owners but why people think they need a blow away new phone every year is beyond me.
  • Reply 10 of 122
    thewhitefalconthewhitefalcon Posts: 4,453member
    I've never seen Apple mention the iPhone's RAM in their marketing. How would their non-mention of it help Apple to sell more iPhones?

    Not to the normal people, to the diehards. The ones who gladly splurge for the 128GB model. Personally I'm fine with 1GB but I know some people want 2. (To be fair, it's more of an issue on the iPads)
  • Reply 12 of 122
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    I'd be nice if they could get it up to 4K video and 4:2:2 chroma. Then it would actually make sense to record a Bentley commercial with it.




    The first Bentley commercial made with the iPhone was in black and white and intended for viewing in 1080p.

  • Reply 13 of 122
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post



    Not to the normal people, to the diehards. The ones who gladly splurge for the 128GB model. Personally I'm fine with 1GB but I know some people want 2. (To be fair, it's more of an issue on the iPads)

     

    You should tell Phil Schiller. He desperately needs to learn how to market iPhones the way he markets the Mac Pro: a naked list of specs.

  • Reply 14 of 122
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     



    No but the color would be better when you view 1080 videos because the pixels would not be interpolated.




    I'd love to see a side by side demo illustrating the difference. When I watch a good quality video clip on my iPhone I don't see a need for improvement, especially if the bump in pixels comes at the cost of battery life and performance, as it always does. 

  • Reply 15 of 122
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by freediverx View Post

     

     

    Do you have an 80" 4K TV at home, or do you think 4K is worth the costs and drawbacks on a 50" TV?




    I don't have any 4K hardware but I do have 4K software. I'm planning to go 4K when the next Mac Pro is released. But back to the discussion about color: If you record in 4K and then watch it down sampled to a 1080 screen, the color will be better than recording in 1080 to start with because the chroma subsampling will be 4:4:4 since 4K is 4x 1080, the pixel subsampling is evenly divisible.

  • Reply 16 of 122
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     

    Heck, the likely addition of 2GB RAM will sell a ton of the darn things.


     

    I wish people would stop fixating on this "needs more RAM" nonsense. Sure, more RAM would be nice, but one can not ignore the cost of that... software that no longer runs at all with less RAM. By Apple keeping a tight ship, they are doing everyone a huge favour – both customers and developers. Because as soon as they add 2GB of RAM, then people will start clamouring for 4GB... and then it never ends.

     

    So, what would 2GB do for you that you can't do right now? Allow you to leave more web pages open in Safari that you'll never view again?

  • Reply 17 of 122
    mstone wrote: »

    No but the color would be better when you view 1080 videos because the pixels would not be interpolated.

    According to what I learn in computer graphic, your eye will interpolate it anyway.
    That's the devotion of retina display: your eyes can't no longer tell the different. (In normal distance)

    But they could use a better downsize algorithm, I give up you that.
    (Although from how they change the camera algorithm in the past, no changes might be the best)
  • Reply 18 of 122
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by freediverx View Post

     



    I'd love to see a side by side demo illustrating the difference. When I watch a good quality video clip on my iPhone I don't see a need for improvement, especially if the bump in pixels comes at the cost of battery life and performance, as it always does. 




    When you look a a high contrast scenes with certain colors, they can look very unnatural. I notice this a lot when people are wearing blue jeans in the video. The blues are often too bright. Good color is more important than super high resolution.

  • Reply 19 of 122
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    I've never seen Apple mention the iPhone's RAM in their marketing. How would their non-mention of it help Apple to sell more iPhones?

    The fact they don't mention it just shows they know they're sticking the absolute minimum necessary in ios devices and getting away with it. I mean my god the original iPad came with 256MB RAM. No wonder Tim Cook once said Apple was a bit embarrassed over the original iPad.

    The rumors are that with iOS 9 Apple started with the core OS that will work across a range of devices and then add on features. So basically bottoms up rather than top down. Consdering that Apple is still selling A5 devices (for marketing and financial reasons) those devices will have to support iOS 9 so I'm glad Apple is working to make iOS 9 perform better on older devices. But I feel bad for Apple software engineers that have to deal with low RAM constraints. They don't device how much RAM an iPhone or iPad has.
  • Reply 20 of 122
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by happywaiman View Post





    According to what I learn in computer graphic, your eye will interpolate it anyway.

    The point is that the colors will shift maybe slightly or significantly when the hardware pixels are interpolated, depending on the scene. 

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