Apple’s iPhone is the most popular smartphone in the world, and by extension, the most popular
digital camera in the world.
With Apple being the most used brand by photographers on Flickr.
Today, you can take some impressive high-quality shots with the iPhone 12’s multi-camera
system.
But all this incredible technology has a surprisingly modest history.
With the original iPhone sporting a tiny 2 megapixel lens, and its photos left a lot
to be desired.
So how did the iPhone’s camera system end up where it’s at today?
Well that’s exactly what I’m going to explain right now.
Let’s begin back in 2007 with the original iPhone.
It featured a 2MP camera lens that performed fairly well, although low-light photos left
a lot to be desired.
There was no front camera for selfies, no video recording, and no software features
like autofocus.
Although it did have geotagging so you could see where photos were taken.
The iPhone 3G didn’t add any new camera updates, but the following 3GS did.
With an improved 3MP lens, VGA-quality video recording, and software features like auto-focus,
auto-white balance, and auto-macro.
The 3GS was replaced by the iPhone 4, which feature an even bigger camera upgrade.
Like a front-facing selfie camera for the first time, although it was only zero-point-three
megapixels.
A five megapixel rear camera capable of recording 720p HD video in 30 frames per second complete
with LED flash.
Both cameras featured tap-to-focus while the rear lens allowed for 5x digital zoom.
The following 4s model had an 8MP rear camera which allowed for 1080p HD video recording.
And thanks to an additional optic lens, a wider f/2.4 aperture, and the A5’s image
signal processor, the rear camera had 30% better clarity, 26% better white balance,
and 26% better color accuracy.
The iPhone 5 marked the first upgrade to the device’s front-facing camera.
At 1.2MP, it could record 720p HD video, and take much higher quality photos.
The rear camera featured improved low-light performance, 40% faster photo capture, and
a sapphire glass lens cover that was harder and more scratch resistant.
Although it did cause a purple hue when taking photos with a strong light source.
The 5s brought a larger f/2.2 aperture and larger image sensor to the rear camera which
improved low-light photos even further, and a dual true tone flash that combine a white
and amber LED to improve color balance in flash photographs.
Burst mode at 10 frames per second and slow motion video at 120 frames per second were
also added with the 5s.
The iPhone 6 allowed users to shoot 1080p video at 60 frames per second, 720p slow motion
video at 240 frames per second, while allowing still photos to be captured during a recording.
The 6 Plus included all those features in addition to optical image stabilization for
the first time.
While its front camera received a larger sensor and f/2.2 aperture for better low-light selfies.
The 6s and 6s Plus brought a more significance upgrade to the iPhone’s camera system.
And both models received the same features.
Like a 12MP rear camera capable of recording 4K video or 1080p slow motion video at 120
frames per second.
And a 5MP front camera that took much higher resolution photos.
The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus both had a brighter quad-LED flash on the rear lens, a larger
f/1.8 aperture for even better low light photos, and optical image stabilization.
Which was a first for the base iPhone model.
While the pricier 7 Plus had exclusive features like a 12MP telephoto lens that provided 2x
optical zoom, 10x digital zoom, and a feature called Portrait mode.
Which allowed users to take photos of others with a bokeh effect normally only seen in
high-end DSLR cameras.
The iPhone X featured a radical new design, but its cameras were largely the same.
With the addition of 1080p slow-mo video at 240 frames per second.
And the front-facing TrueDepth camera system, which allowed for Face ID and a new software
feature called portrait lighting.
The XS saw an even less impressive upgrade.
With a larger rear sensor, a new software feature called depth control, and support
for stereo audio.
But the 11 Pro was the huge camera upgrade that customers had been waiting for.
It was the first model to feature three lenses on the back.
The standard wide-angle and telephoto lenses, with the addition of an ultra-wide-angle lens
with a 120-degree field of view.
Night Mode was added which automatically applied a longer exposure to low light photos to capture
more detail.
And Apple created a new software feature called Deep Fusion, which utilized machine learning
to optimize every pixel in a photo.
Multi-camera recording become possible thanks to the powerful A13 Bionic chip, although
the native camera app didn’t support the feature.
Finally, 1080p slow-mo was added to the front camera, which Apple marketed as “slofies.”
A term that, thankfully, never caught on.
The 12 Pro added a LiDAR Scanner for improved augmented reality, support for night mode
video on all four cameras, and the ability to record HDR Dolby Vision 4K footage up to
60 frames per second.
The 12 Pro Max included all those features plus a sensor-shift image stabilization system.
So compared to 2007, the iPhone’s photo quality went from this, to this.
With even more features on the way this fall when Apple introduces the next-generation
model.
That’s the history of the iPhone’s camera, this is Greg from Apple Explained, and I’ll
see you in the next video.