On the heels of news indicating that the iPhone 7 Plus will feature a dual-lens camera system, there's chatter, from way up the hardware supply chain, indicating that Apple has already began testing the components needed to make those reports true.
Largan Technology of Taiwan, along with camera lens manufacturers based in Japan and China, sent Apple samples of dual camera system, according to sources.
Some of the upstream sources told DigiTimes that Apple was testing samples from several suppliers because Largan currently provides 60 percent of the cameras used by Apple's smartphones. The diversification is a move to lower risk, the sources suggested.
"The market watchers expect iPhone's adoption of a dual-lens camera to boost demand for the component," states the DigiTimes report.
The report is the latest among the steam of news alleging to offer details about Apple's plans for dual-lens cameras for the iPhone 7. However, Apple is hardly breaking new ground here, as several handsets manufacturers from China, including Lenovo and ZTE, have already adopted the tech.
While this probably doesn't include Apple, Sony says it developing a dual-lens system that will be adopted by "major smartphone players." However, Sony doesn't anticipate the dual-lens format truly taking off until next year because of current market conditions and a cloudy forecast for the rest of the year.
“Well, for next year, our so-called dual lens – dual camera platform will be launched by, we believe, major smartphone players," Kenichiro Yoshida, Chief Financial Officer for Sony, said during a Q3 2015 earnings call. "However, as I said previously, recently, our smartphone market is growing and particularly, our high-end smartphone market is now slowing down."
That slow growth, which is occurring now in the market for high-end smartphones, could have a negative impact on Sony's production schedule and demand for its components, according to Yoshida.
"So, we believe the real start, the takeoff of smartphone with dual lens camera will be in the year of 2017,” Yoshida said during the call.
