Rumor: iPhone 5 to feature 8MP camera from Sony

[Emil]

During a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer may have inadvertently slipped that Sony plans to supply Apple with 8 megapixel cameras for the iPhone 5. While discussing the Japanese earthquake and resulting tsunami, Stringer noted that Sony's camera sensor plant in Sendai had been affected and that shipments of 8MP camera sensors to Apple were subsequently delayed. Here's the excerpt in question:

Early on, he raised the irony of Sony supplying camera components for Apple devices. It "always puzzles me," he said. "Why would I make Apple the best camera?" It is unclear what devices he was talking about as Sony isn't known to supply key camera components, known as image sensors, to Apple; A Sony spokeswoman declined to comment and an Apple spokesperson couldn't be reached for comment.

Apple has never used Sony as a camera supplier for the iPhone, relying instead on sensors sourced from Omnivision. An April 2010 report from The Street said that the iPhone 4 would have a 5MP sensor and that the fifth generation iPhone would feature an 8MP camera from Sony.

As we know, the former came to pass, and now it looks increasingly possible that the latter will as well. It's rumored that the iPhone 5 is delayed till next year, and this may be one of the reasons why.

At the same time, the Chinese Apple.pro blog is reporting that Apple may be putting a camera into its seventh-generation iPod nano while still keeping the current model's size and display. Maybe Sony will manufacture three sensors for that device as well?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/43106-rumor-iphone-5-to-feature-8mp-camera-from-sony.html

 

[Nima304]

I sure hope Sony declines this offer. If Sony starts sponsoring Apple, I'll never look at another Sony product again.

 

[miska_man]

Nima304 said:
I sure hope Sony declines this offer. If Sony starts sponsoring Apple, I'll never look at another Sony product again.

Sony is already bad in my book after that stupid fiasco with GeoHot.

 

[Guest]

8mp PINHOLE camera? What a joke. Yeah, it takes so so to average photos, but without a REAL lens, anything over 3-4 megapixels is just wasting space.
I see the cellphone makers are trying the same thing that the compact camera makers were doing until they finally ran out of megapixels. Keep throwing more and more pixels in the camera, screw the S/N ratio & noise, people will buy it because it has more "stuff" than the other guy.
I've seen really good 5mp photos & photos from cameras with 10-12mp and the 5's usually look better. If you want a camera, get a camera, but using a cell phone as a camera is a waste.
It's a swiss army knife. It can do 1000 tasks, but not to many of them perfectly.
Sorry...I've been into photography for 30+ years, and the megapixel wars the manufacturers throw around bug the h*ll out of me

 

[Archean]

In addition to that Guest, I've never factored in camera specs while making a decision when it comes to buying cell-phones. So even if they put in zillion pixel camera in any new phone it simply doesn't matter because it can never produce even half as good pictures as a real camera would.

 

[gwailo247]

Archean said:
In addition to that Guest, I've never factored in camera specs while making a decision when it comes to buying cell-phones. So even if they put in zillion pixel camera in any new phone it simply doesn't matter because it can never produce even half as good pictures as a real camera would.

Yep. A nice camera is a bonus, if all other features are what I want.

But then a friend of mine likes taking photos and hates carrying around a phone and camera, so he actually buys the phone with the best camera.

 

[Lokalaskurar]

gwailo247 said:
But then a friend of mine likes taking photos and hates carrying around a phone and camera, so he actually buys the phone with the best camera.

How funny, I know a guy who absolutely hates modern cellphones, and has been into photography since '75. He prefers to carry around a 2.2MP "hip-shot" sized camera - because such a camera can snap a photograph in the midst of ongoing action. With (his) expertise, the 2MP images from his camera (at least according to my experience) looks WAY better than the newbie-looking 5MP images from my cellphone!

 

[Guest]

i dont want to carry a camera for picture and a videocamera for video. i want a 1080p camera phone because anyway i have it in my pocket always.