Weibo insider Digital Chat Station indicates that upcoming iPhones might feature multispectral camera sensors. Although this could theoretically enhance color precision and improve low-light capabilities, we shouldn’t get too excited.
The technology has already appeared in a smartphone, but the outcomes weren’t notably remarkable, and it is primarily utilized in military and industrial cameras.
Digital Chat Station merely mentioned that Apple showed interest in this technology.
Apple is also looking into “multi-spectrum,” the supply chain is currently under assessment, and testing has yet to commence.
### What is a multispectral camera?
Standard camera sensors have receptors for red, green, and blue light. By gauging the relative amounts of light received by each receptor, the camera can determine a color value for every pixel. For instance, equal signals from red and blue receptors would suggest the color purple. Highly accurate measurements enable the detection of millions of color variations.
All light captured by a conventional sensor is within the visible light spectrum. A multispectral camera, however, is capable of detecting wavelengths beyond the visible range, specifically infrared and ultraviolet.
### What’s the advantage?
Multispectral cameras are mainly utilized for military and industrial purposes, particularly in satellites and drones.
The technology was initially created for military target recognition and has since been applied in weather satellites, agricultural monitoring, and even identifying counterfeit art. In commercial settings, it serves quality control on production lines.
In theory, this technology could also be beneficial for consumer cameras. It has the capacity to enhance the precision of color perception, especially in low-light situations. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has integrated the technology into two of its smartphone cameras, emphasizing color precision and better performance in dim lighting.
However, reviewers were not particularly impressed, and there has been no sign that the technology is poised to become mainstream in smartphone cameras as a whole.
### 9to5Mac’s Perspective
Digital Chat Station does have a reasonable track record, although not infallible. Apple shows interest in many technologies that never make it to actual products. Considering the ambiguity of the report and the limited advantages for consumer cameras, I don’t anticipate seeing this feature in an iPhone anytime soon.