iPhone 5 Camera: Sony Or Lytro?

Lytro on iPhone 5iPhone 5 enthusiasts are hearing more about Lytro camera technology. Will Apple equip the iPhone 5 with Lytro, or go with the new Sony camera sensor?

Steve Jobs played a critical role in evolving smartphone design to include high-quality digital cameras. He had a passion for photography, which is why early on he envisioned the iPhone becoming a serious camera — not just for taking snapshots — but also for taking amazing photos. It is for this reason that, when the story surfaced that Jobs met with the CEO of Lytro just months before his death, it may have been a hint that the iPhone 5 could somehow include Lytro camera technology.

So, what’s Lytro, you ask?

As you know, I’m not a very good geek, so I’ll give you the layman’s perspective on it: it is a camera sensor that takes in a great deal more visual data and light than even the most advanced camera sensors. By doing so, Lytro would empower iPhone users to make even their casual snapshots look like works of art. For example, if you take a picture with Lytro, it can give you the option of toggling focus in both the foreground and background objects.

With this kind of technology, it’s no wonder that analysts have imagined it being included on the iPhone 5. While Apple and Lytro never forged any kind of partnership or licensing agreement, Steve Jobs reportedly picked their brains over the technology, and was incredibly excited about its possibilities.

Now, this story is giving rise to Lytro iPhone 5 rumors. 9to5Mac has a very good article about Jobs’ vision for camera technology, in which they intimate how Lytro could fulfill his vision: “Jobs actively pursued his goal of reinventing photography, asking the CEO of Lytro to outline three specific things that the company would want to work on with Apple.”

In spite of Jobs loving Lytro, however, it is still more likely that the iPhone 5 will debut with the new Sony 8MP camera sensor we wrote about recently. While Lytro offers features not yet seen on even the most advanced smartphones, the iPhone 4S sensor actually has been resolution than what Lytro can offer. Moreover, the new Sony camera sensor has the one thing that the iPhone 5 will need: thinness. Lytro, on the other hand, is still a relatively bulky technology that isn’t at all suited to the ultra-thin trend that the iPhone 5 form factor seems to be moving toward.

With all of this being said, Lytro may be on the horizon. In a couple of years, Lytro could most definitely be refined down to a smaller package, and find itself on the likes of the iPhone 6.

New Source Puts iPhone 5 On Track For June Release, 4-Inch Display & No Teardrop Form Factor

If you have continued to follow the rumors here on the iPhone 5 News Blog — even through this current lull in rumor-milling — you’ll note that since just after the release of the iPhone 4S, our own source was told from his sources in Asia that the iPhone 5 would be put back onto the June release schedule, sport a 4-inch screen, and its new form factor would be based on thinness, not a teardrop shape.

It appears that 9to5Mac’s own source is corroborating our own reports from months ago. Seth Weinthrab said today that “We’ve gotten word from a reliable source at Foxconn in China that the iPhone 5, as it is currently being called, is currently being geared for production,” and that the current prototypes floating around Foxconn feature a “4+ inch display (made by LG on at least one of them)” and “No teardrop-shaped devices as were rumored in the lead up to the iPhone 4S. Samples so far have been symmetrical in thickness. Also longer/wider.”

In addition, 9to5Mac also reports that “it would appear that Apple is back on its new iPhone launch for Summer/WWDC pattern that it maintained until last year.”

You will recall that the blog first reported on the new 2012 iPhone rumors back on November 4th, 2011, “Top Source Claims: iPhone 5 To Have ’4-inch Screen and Will Be Announced in June, 2012′″ Just as 9to5Mac notes that their own Asia source was right about the iPhone 4S being a refresh of the iPhone 4, so too was our own source. But their source made that claim on September 21st — our source made his claim on August 22nd.

While I have not doubted our source, there is no doubt that this new 9to5Mac rumor lends even more corroboration to the claims of a larger screen and June release date, and that the teardrop-shaped iPhone 5 form factor rumor was just goofy to begin with.

 
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