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Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple is bringing in a new lens vendor for the iPhone 13’s main camera.
He says that Sunny Optical successfully passed Apple’s approval process for iPad lenses, and that the lessons learned from this have put the company on track to be approved to make the main camera lens for the iPhone 13 line. …
Orders for the seven-element lens for the main camera are currently split between Largan, Yujingguang and Kantatsu, who supply the lens to LG Innotek for incorporation into the camera module. Sunny Optical is expected to be approved as an additional supplier for the lens.
Apple likes to have multiple vendors for as many components as possible, for two reasons. First, security of supply: if there is a problem with one supplier, the others can take over. Second, cost management: Multiple vendors give Apple the bargaining power to pit one vendor against another.
Summary on iPhone 13 Camera Expectations
Kuo last year indicated that we can expect three improvements to the iPhone 13’s ultra-wide camera.
First, expect the aperture to widen from f / 2.4 to f / 1.8. All things being equal, that would let in more than double the light, significantly improving low-light performance. In particular, it should allow for sharper and cleaner night shots.
Second, sources indicate that the number of lens elements will increase from five to six. There are pros and cons of adding elements to a lens, but when a manufacturer takes an existing lens design and adds elements, this is usually done to reduce distortion, which is especially important in wide angle lenses.
Finally, expect the ultra-wide lens to get autofocus for the first time. The current ultra-wide lens is fixed focus. This may sound surprising, but it’s generally not a big deal in wide-angle lenses, as they’re mostly used for landscapes and cityscapes, where everything in the shot is far enough away to be in focus. However, switching to autofocus will be useful for closer wide-angle shots.
He does not anticipate noticeable improvements this year in either the primary lens or the telephoto. However, we expect dramatically better telephoto range in 2022, thanks to Apple’s long-awaited adoption of a periscope lens design. This could see up to 10x optical zoom.
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