Apple patent: interchangeable lenses on smartphones

Today it became known about a patent application filed by Apple with the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2010, according to which it will be possible to install interchangeable panels equipped with optical lenses with various characteristics on mobile devices equipped with a camera.

The document is entitled “Back Panel for a Portable Electronic Device with Different Camera Lens Options”; it contains the opinion that smartphone users strive to use the capabilities of their devices to the maximum, wishing to get the same capabilities as on full-fledged digital cameras - changing optics, optical image stabilization, optical zoom, etc.

For this reason, Apple proposes to equip the replacement panels for smartphones with various optical lenses with additional power supplies for graphic processing. In addition to the lenses, it is also proposed to use various optical filters - for example, infrared - to take pictures under extremely low light conditions. For demanding users, it is proposed to equip interchangeable panels with two optical lenses at once - you can change the optics by rearranging the panel upside down.

It is worth recalling that in a similar sense - giving the user the opportunity to approximate the characteristics of the smartphone’s camera to professional devices - Nokia is now operating, selling Nokia PureView smartphones with a camera resolution of 41 megapixels.

[ Patent ]