iPhone 16 Pro Camera May Be Less Prone to Lens Flare and Ghosting

Apple is testing a new anti-reflective optical coating technology for future iPhone cameras that could improve the quality of photos by reducing artifacts like lens flare and ghosting, claims a rumor out of Korea.

iPhone 16 Pro Perspective Feature
According to the news aggregator account "yeux1122" on the Naver blog, citing a company source within Apple's supply chain, Apple is looking at introducing new atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment into the iPhone camera lens manufacturing process.

ALD involves depositing materials one atomic layer at a time onto a substrate, allowing for extremely precise control over thickness and composition. Its use allows manufacturers to apply very thin layers of materials onto semiconductor devices, including camera components.

In terms of camera lenses, ALD can be used to apply anti-reflective coatings, which can help to reduce photographic artifacts like streaks of light and halos that can occur in the final image when a bright light source such as the sun shines directly into the lens.

ALD can also reduce ghosting, a type of image distortion where faint, secondary images appear in the photo, typically opposite a bright light source. This happens when light reflects back and forth between the surfaces of the lens elements and the camera sensor.

In addition, ALD-applied materials can protect against environmental damage to the camera lens system without affecting the sensor's ability to capture light effectively.

The Naver blog claims that the manufacturing process will be applied to a "Pro model" in Apple's "next-generation" iPhone lineup, which sounds like a reference to one or both premium models in the iPhone 16 series, although given the timing of the rumor, the possibility that this method is being tested for next year's iPhone 17 Pro models should not be discounted.

Both upcoming iPhone 16 Pro models are expected to include a tetraprism lens with up to 5x optical zoom – a feature that is currently exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max in Apple's smartphone lineup. Apple usually launches its new-generation iPhones around mid-September.

Related Roundup: iPhone 16 Pro
Tag: Naver

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Top Rated Comments

Ifti Avatar
12 months ago
Finally, an actual useful addition!
Have had several night time photos ruined by flares from lights - even candles on a cake in a dimly lit room!
Not something I would upgrade from my 15PM for, but a useful addition nonetheless.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppZ.Zero Avatar
12 months ago
Would be great. The Lense Flares of the main camera are annoying af.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
spamabyss Avatar
12 months ago
i just hope it comes to the regular iphone 16 as well. It’s much more prevalent in iphones than in most other phones and it would be a little too petty if they kept something like this reserved for the pros.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coffeemilktea Avatar
12 months ago

reducing artifacts like lens flare
Now how will I bring out my inner J.J. Abrams and put ridiculous amounts of lens flare into EVERYTHING? ?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zach-coleman Avatar
12 months ago
Better be true. They have been getting smoked by Android phones in this regard for years.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JippaLippa Avatar
12 months ago
This is something that needs to be fixed.
It's useless to have great camera if you get flares all the time.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)