Sony Adds Fuel to Dual Camera iPhone Rumor

In January KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple would include a new dual camera system on the iPhone 7 Plus, and now Sony may be backing that up. Sony's CFO recently talked about the company's dual-lens camera platform and said we'd see it in smartphones from the big name players.

Sony hints at dual camera iPhone 7Sony hints at dual camera iPhone 7

For next year, our so-called dual-lens—dual camera—platform will be launched by, we believe, from major smartphone players," Sony chief financial officer Kenichiro Yoshida said, according to Motley Fool.

He added, "The real start, the takeoff of [smartphones] with dual-lens camera, will be in the year of 2017." That fits nicely with Apple's typical fall iPhone release cycle, and the KGI report, too.

According to Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will include a dual rear-facing camera system on the iPhone 7 Plus. One lense will offer a narrow field of view while the other will offer a wider view. The camera set will also include optical image stabilization and a 2x or 3x optical zoom.

Apple also filed its own dual-lens camera system patent at the beginning of the year, and bought LinX in 2015—a company that specializes in compact high quality multi-lens camera systems for mobile devices.

The KGI report also said Apple was looking at limiting the dual-lens so specific iPhone 7 Plus models. If so, that means Apple would be making a 4.7-inch iPhone 7 and 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus with single-lens cameras, and a second 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus with a dual-lens system.

That's possible, but what's more likely is a single-camera iPhone 7 and dual-camera iPhone 7 Plus. Apple is already doing something similar by offering optical image stabilization only on the iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6s Plus.

Apple isn't commenting on what's in store for its next iPhone refresh. Parts suppliers, however, are known for leaks, so we may start seeing parts and photos to back up the dual camera report soon.