Future iPhones could help reduce a long-standing camera issue with new lens technologies.
This year’s iPhone 16 Pro could finally help alleviate a long-standing issue that has plagued iPhone cameras for generations.
April 19 update below—This article was originally posted on April 16.
Apple is developing a new lens coating that will boost iPhone overall photo quality while specifically cutting down on lens flare, according to the leaker yeux11122 citing an unnamed company source on the Korean blogging site Naver. This achievement is expected to come from switching to a new atomic layer deposition (ALD) manufacturing process.
Why ALD Lens Coatings?
Unlike commonly used vapor deposition techniques, the ALD process deposits coatings in layers that are just a single atom thick. This gives more precise control over their creation and increases effectiveness on highly curved surfaces such as iPhone camera lenses. You can read more about the process in this document from the research organization, Fraunhofer IOF.
Lens Flare Is A Problem For The iPhone
Despite excellent overall performance, iPhone cameras are still prone to lens flare—an effect that can reveal itself as bright spots or ghost images visible when shooting toward bright light. It’s a problem that affects all camera lenses to some extent, not just Apple’s devices, but has been a particular source of complaint for iPhone users for many years. These Apple support forum posts show several examples of the issue occurring on a range of iPhone models.
Similarly, test results from Dxomark call out lens flare issues for several iPhone models, including iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro. In each case, lens flare is singled out as a negative quality.
Should the report turn out to be true, switching to ALD-based coatings could significantly improve the overall performance of iPhone cameras by removing one of the device’s most common complaints. While the leaker speculates that the new coating might appear as soon as the iPhone 16 range later this year, they accept that we may have to wait until the iPhone 17 for the feature to arrive.
April 16 Update—Further iPhone 16 Upgrades Reported
A possible new ALD lens coating isn’t the only significant change expected to reach the iPhone 16 range.
As detailed by Forbes contributor Ewan Spence, iPhone enthusiasts can expect this year’s launch to reveal an upgraded main camera sensor with improved light-gathering capability, more powerful optical zoom, and a new focus on AI-powered camera technologies.
Apple has already released an open-source generative AI model, called MGIE, capable of editing images using text-based prompts. This is a strong indication that Apple will soon mount a compelling challenge to competing options such as Google's Magic Editor and Samsung's Photo Assist generative editing tools.
The iPhone 16 Pro is tipped to receive the 5x optical zoom tetraprism lens currently available only on the largest iPhone 15 Pro Max model. This lens will bring Apple’s current most powerful zoom capabilities to the smaller of the two Pro models. However, according to another rumor from last year, the iPhone 16 Pro Max may pull ahead again with an even stronger “ultra-long” telephoto camera.
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