Apple is expected to announce a new iPhone later this year and while no one agrees whether it’ll be called the iPhone 4S or iPhone 5, pretty much everyone following the rumors that have been trickling out know that A) It’ll pack the A5 processor found inside the iPad 2 B) It’ll have an 8 megapixel camera and C) It’ll have a larger edge to edge screen while maintaining the same dimensions of the current iPhone. Now the question is who is going to provide that 8 megapixel camera sensor? Taiwanese site Digitimes claims that OmniVision will fill 90% of Apple’s demand for cameras while Sony will fill the remaining 10%. That begs the question, what if Sony’s sensor isn’t the same quality as the one from OmniVision? If Sony makes a better camera, then you’ll have people returning their iPhones until they get that perfect 1 out of every 10 model. On the flip-side if Sony makes a worse camera, then people are going to return their iPhone until they get one with OmniVision hardware inside.
Anyway, what’s important here isn’t necessarily the camera itself, but the software. Apple showed off iOS 5 earlier this week and they’ve made quite a few enhancements to the default camera application. You’ll have the option to display a grid on your screen so you can better lineup your shots, you’ll be able to jump to the camera application right from the lock screen, even bypassing the need to enter your password, and you’ll also be able to do a basic amount of image editing right on the device. Let’s not forget Twitter integration as well, making it even easier to share the photos you’ve taken.
All in all the next iPhone should make mobile photographers happy. The better image sensor, the faster processor that’ll hopefully reduce shot to shot times, and who knows what else the magicians at Cupertino will throw in there.