Apple has always remained rather aloft from the megapixel arms race that has seen its rivals scramble to print ever higher numbers on their spec sheets, but a new rumour suggests Apple will indeed boost the camera of the upcoming iPhone 6S from 8MP to 12MP.
According to Kevin Wang, IHS Technology Research Director in China, the iPhone 6S – along with the iPhone 6S Plus – will feature higher megapixel counts, but there’s a catch.
Although the snappers Apple include in iPhone 6S series will have more megapixels, according to Wang they will have smaller pixel sizes.
Pixel size matters
Larger pixels and lower pixel density sometimes results in better low-light photos and reduced noise, which could mean that while the iPhone 6S takes higher resolution photos, the iPhone 6 would still beat it when it comes to taking photos in dark and badly lit scenarios.
This is all speculation, however, as cameras are a lot more complicated than megapixel counts and pixel sizes, and we’d be very surprised if Apple released a flagship iPhone whose camera was worse than its predecessor.
Wang might also be wrong about Apple going for 12MP, however Apple Insider recently reported that Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities issued a research note also suggesting that the iPhone 6S will come with 12 megapixels.
Has Apple bowed to public pressure to up the megapixel count of its cameras? And if so at what cost? Hopefully we’ll find out more about this year’s upcoming iPhones in the run up to their launch.
