Apple Just Patented an Image Sensor With 20 Stops of Dynamic Range

[Cmaier]

Do we think the deal mentioned in the article, between Apple and Samsung, relates to this patent?

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archive.is

That’s the rumor.

 

[Jimmyjames]

That’s the rumor.

Ok thanks. I was not aware that the rumour was related to this announcement.

 

[Cmaier]

Ok thanks. I was not aware that the rumour was related to this announcement.

Very interesting turn of events, if true. Apple can likely do to sensors what it did to CPUs and is doing to baseband chips.

 

[Citysnaps]

Very interesting turn of events, if true. Apple can likely do to sensors what it did to CPUs and is doing to baseband chips.

My thoughts as well. What I'm wondering is when their image sensor will come to fruition and into a shipping iPhone. Clearly not the 17. An iPhone 18, a year later, perhaps? That seems kind of iffy. As far as I know, right now it's just a patent with no first silicon to evaluate. Perhaps an iPhone 19?

 

[Roller]

My thoughts as well. What I'm wondering is when their image sensor will come to fruition and into a shipping iPhone. Clearly not the 17. An iPhone 18, a year later, perhaps? That seems kind of iffy. As far as I know, right now it's just a patent with no first silicon to evaluate. Perhaps an iPhone 19?

I doubt the 18 unless Apple is further ahead on the sensor than has been made public through leaks or otherwise. The 19 would be a good time for a technology breakthrough, since it'll mark the iPhone's 20th anniversary, but a lot would need to happen to make that possible. I'm excited by the prospect, though, since my iPhone has become indispensable for photography.

 

[Nycturne]

I think it’s great that Apple is developing its own sensor, a huge benefit being not needing to rely on Sony for image sensors going forward.

Whether 20 stops of dynamic range can be effectively and beneficially post processed with *today’s* displays, image processing tools, and making prints for hanging on a wall for viewing, is currently (in my mind) debatable. It’ll be interesting to see what Adobe comes up with for image processing tools such as Lightroom. No doubt they’re noodling the possibilities today.

That said… it’s great that Apple has made that breakthrough, which may have future benefits. If the sensor does indeed have less noise, that would be a huge benefit *today* for iPhone photography.

I think of two big features of such a sensor that make it desirable:

1) More forgiving of exposure time without loss of detail, making it easier to recover shadows or highlights in an otherwise good shot when the automatic exposure picks the wrong thing (or can help simplify auto-exposure if you simply know you just need to avoid blowing out a highlight).
2) Easier to do stuff like this without having to do a bunch of exposure bracketing, which means you can get a more complete effect without a bunch of exposure bracketing that the iPhone would currently need to do (and I think it even does in certain cases?): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-exposure_HDR_capture

Both of these seem like they would be a good fit for a smartphone camera.