Apple is intent on mounting a LiDAR sensor on the upcoming iPhone 12 to improve interaction with augmented reality apps. Here's how it works
Awaiting for next fall, the iPhone 12 is back in the news for a novelty always related to the photographic compartment. Last week, the well-known Apple brand analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, had unveiled the introduction of a brand new image stabilization system called "image stabilization with sensor shift". A new technology that could be the flagship iPhone 12 Pro Max before being offered "as standard" on two or three other next-generation iPhone models starting in 2021.
But now a new rumor provides more information about a new feature that could feature on the iPhone 12 Pro. The latest rumor was shared on Twitter by user @conceptsiphone and relayed by @Choco_bit, and it concerns the possible presence of a 3D camera designed to enhance the augmented reality experience through the use of additional hardware components.
iPhone 12: the latest revelations
On Twitter, an image has been published showing the rear camera compartment of the iPhone 12 Pro. The drawing shows an additional lens dedicated to the LiDAR scanner, the same one that has been included on the latest model of the iPad Pro released a few weeks ago. An acronym from the English Light Detection and Ranging or Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging, the LiDAR scanner is a remote sensing technique that allows you to determine the distance of an object or surface using a laser pulse.
iPhone 12 and augmented reality
Apple has always been interested in augmented reality and the possible presence of a LiDAR radar on its next device is not so unreal. The design seems to have been pulled from an iOS 14 build and the sensor has already been introduced in the new 2020 iPad Pro. Usually hardware innovations are first presented on the iPhone and then introduced on the iPad, but this time the Cupertino company seems to have done the opposite. Without a shadow of a doubt this is a technology in the making and in the next five years we will see a great development, but Apple, in the meantime, does not want to be unprepared. We'll just have to wait until next fall, unless the Covid-19 outbreak delays its launch.