Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Apple’s mixed-reality headset will have 15 camera modules and advanced biometric sensors. The analyst has unveiled camera-related aspects of several new Apple devices in recent hours. Kuo expects 2023 iPhones to feature a ‘periscopic’ telephoto lens.
Apple is preparing a mixed-reality headset with 15 camera modules
“We have reiterated several times in our previous reports that even though Largan faces the structural risk of the Huawei smartphone’s significant market share decline due to the US ban, Largan still has long-term investment value as the lens spec upgrade cycle and new application trends remain in place,” Kuo said in his statement. “In terms of short-to-medium term trends, we believe that Largan’s following potential benefits are worthy of investors’ attention, including Apple MR/AR headset’s adoption of 15 camera modules,” he added.
Largan Precision is a Taiwanese-based company whose specialty is camera modules. Products using these components include smartphones, computers, digital cameras, and tablets. Largan Precision has been a supplier to the iPhone on several occasions.
Certainly, the inclusion of 15 modules is an interesting number. Eight of them will be dedicated to augmented reality experience, another module will detect the environment for positioning objects, and six will be used as innovative biometrics according to Kuo.
According to the timeline shared by the analyst, these are the expected changes in iPhone camera modules.
A new transmitter for Face ID, made of plastic instead of glass, is expected for the 2021 iPhone. Improved coating techniques would enable this, although it is unknown whether it will impact anything other than cost reduction. We will also see improvements in the high-end telephoto lens, moving from 5 to 6-element lenses.
In 2022 he expects a new system that houses Face ID to adopt a “unibody lens” design. “This design requires the lens and VCM [voice coil motor] to be assembled before shipping to CCM. Since Largan will start shipping iPhone VCM for new iPhones in 2H21, we believe that if Apple adopts the unibody lens design in the future, Largan, a new VCM supplier, can integrate lens design production advantages and benefit from this new trend,” he states.
