If there is one design element that many iPhone users really dislike about Apple’s new iPhones, is that the camera lens is jutting out a bit too much. Unless you have a case, placing your iPhone on the table could potentially scratch the lens, or at least annoy the heck out of users who would much prefer a flatter and more uniform design.However it seems that according to a recent patent discovered by AppleInsider, future iPhone cameras could be decidedly smaller, but at the same time offer up highly quality photographs. How this is done is by creating a spherically curved sensor that will work together with three different lenses.
According to AppleInsider’s description of the patent, “To correct for diffraction and visual aberrations that propagate within miniature cameras, the proposed lens system includes three lenses, two of which are convex or substantially convex. A third meniscus lens, or a lens with opposing convex and concave surfaces, is situated between the first two lens elements and the spherical photosensor.”
AppleInsider also points out that one of the downsides to this invention would be barreling, which can sometimes happen with ultra wide-angle lenses, but the patent also suggests that using software to correct it would not be an issue, which is kind of what photographers do these days anyway. No word on whether Apple will turn this patent into a reality, but we wouldn’t be surprise if they did.