Robert Triggs / Android Authority
TL; DR
- Apple’s iPhone 13 series could debut the autofocus of the ultra-wide camera.
- This would follow in the footsteps of Android OEMs like Huawei, Samsung, and OnePlus.
- The autofocus of an ultra-wide camera enables better quality recordings, more flexibility and a macro mode.
Apple introduced an ultra-wide camera on all of its iPhones back in 2019, with the iPhone 11 series debuting the feature. The ultra-wide snapper has returned with the iPhone 12 family, but it looks like Apple is taking inspiration from Android OEMs for a rumored ultra-wide upgrade.
According to experienced Apple tracker and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (h / t: MacRumors), the Cupertino-based company will finally add autofocus functions to the ultra-wide camera of the iPhone 13 series. More specifically, the analyst says that only the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max models will get autofocus support. However, Kuo assumes that all iPhone 14 models will get autofocus on the ultra-wide snapper.
Either way, the addition of this feature would be a significant upgrade over the iPhone 12 series, which relies on ultra-wide-angle fixed focus cameras.
Ultra-wide cameras with autofocus are common in the Android flagship space, with Asus, Huawei, OnePlus, Samsung, and Xiaomi all offering this feature. The Pixel 5 and LG V60 were two high-profile Android flagships that lacked this feature. Nonetheless, this is definitely one case where Apple is catching up in this regard.
Why is that important?
An ultra-wide camera with autofocus offers a number of advantages over a fixed focus shooter. For starters, you can expect more consistent, higher quality ultra-wide angle shots as the camera can automatically keep the scene as sharp as possible.
Another benefit of ultra-wide autofocus cameras is that they allow you to get more creative shots because you can tap anywhere to focus (foreground or background, for example). Meanwhile, ultra-wide-angle fixed focus cameras tend to focus on the distance, making it difficult to photograph something in the foreground.
Finally, an autofocus module on the wider camera also enables macro shots without the need for a dedicated macro camera. And we’ve seen Android players like Huawei, OnePlus, Motorola, and Samsung all offer this mode through their ultra-wide snapper. Macro shots with ultra-wide cameras are usually of higher quality than the same shot with a dedicated macro camera, because macro cameras are equipped with low-resolution sensors and without autofocus.
So we’d expect Apple to be touting almost all of these benefits when it actually brings auto focus to the iPhone 13 family. What else would you want from the iPhone 13 series? Let us know via the poll above.