Kali told EE Times that Corephotonics is “the inventor of the computational dual camera for smartphones” derived from its own IPs.
Apple, however, is not Corephotonics’ licensee, Kali said.
Refraining from discussing any potential IP issues, Kali explained that for Corephotonics, essentially an IP supplier, Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus launch is cause for “celebration, not a confrontation” [with Apple]. “We are glad that Apple… is not just confirming but validating our idea, which was once considered so radical,” he added.
In Kali’s opinion, Corephotonics’ dual camera solutions — the company has three models — have already progressed beyond iPhone 7 Plus’ current status. He explained that Corephotonics offers 2X optical zoom, continuously seamless digital zoom, an optical stabilizer, better depth of field, and enhanced imaging in low light — all squeezed into the smartphone’s most constrained form factor — the height — at 6.0mm or lower.
How about LG? The article did not know LG has a dual lens camera?
ReplyDeleteTrue, LG G5 and V20 smartphones both have dual lens zoom that, on paper, looks identical to Apple and Corephotonics offerings. I'd guess we'll see more of that in the future.
DeleteFor the image sensor industry, it means that the mobile market size is going to double in few years.
I wonder who will bring the first triple camera to the market. Sony Xperia X Compact is almost there with its triple sensor hub - camera, color RGB-IR sensor and ToF AF senor.
LG has a dual camera set up where you can SWITCH from normal (~76°) FOV to wide angle (135°). My understanding is there is no image fusion from each camera, so it's not a computational zoom function.
DeleteWhether this is good or bad news to Corephotonics is a matter of debate. On the one hand, everybody will be flocking in that direction and so there will be demand. On the other hand, they neither have the resources to defend their IP (if there's any) nor to indemnify potential licensees. My guess their best scenario is to be acquired by somebody big (Samsung?) who does have the resources (like LinX were).
ReplyDeleteWDUT?
Corephotonics Sues Apple Over Dual-Lens Cameras in iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 8 Plus。
DeleteIn the mobile industry speed is everything, and with Apple bringing this to the market, others will feel compelled to follow fast. This should represent a huge opportunity for CorePhotonics. As they have demoed this on Qualcomm platforms over the past couple of years (as seen at MWC and CES), I would assume that it is already baked in to some of the latest QC platforms, and as making this kind of computational imaging work is not trivial at all, I would expect this to put CorePhotonics in a very favorable position.
ReplyDelete