For those unfamiliar with Sony’s work, the company has been instrumental with their efforts in helping Apple’s iPhone achieve great photos, thanks to the company providing CMOS sensors to both the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s’ rear-facing cameras, but what about the front-facing camera? Front-facing cameras have never really gotten much attention as for the most part, they are used to take selfies or to video chat with someone, so as far as photo quality is concerned, it does not necessarily have to be the best of the best. That being said, according to a report from Nikkei, they claim that Apple could be turning to Sony for its front-facing cameras, which at the moment are supplied by OmniVision.
Presumably by going with Sony, Apple is looking to bump the quality of its front-facing cameras up a notch as well, although exactly how big a difference in quality we might expect remains to be seen. This alleged deal is also expected to see Sony raising its production of sensors to 200 million per year just to Apple alone, an increase of 100% from its 100 million sensors per year which the company currently provides to Apple. To help cope with the extra work load, Sony has reportedly acquired a Japanese chip producer to help increase production by 25%.
