While the iPhone Xs and Xs Max continue to employ the use of the dual camera setup, the cheaper iPhone XR will be using a single camera. We’re sure many are wondering if the single camera will be capable of capturing the same bokeh-like effects compared to dual camera handsets.
It turns out that it will, and it seems that to achieve that, Apple will be relying almost entirely on an algorithm to do so. In a post on Medium by journalist Lance Ulanoff, he spoke to several Apple execs about the cameras on the new iPhones where Graham Townsend, Apple’s Senior Director Camera Hardware confirmed that the iPhone XR will use algorithm to achieve the bokeh-like effects that the iPhone Xs and Xs Max achieve with its dual camera setup.
Sebastien Marineau-Mes, Apple’s VP Software Camera, Photos & Security also added, “We turned the model of a lens into math and apply it to that image. No one else is doing what this does. Others just do ‘blur background.’” Note that Apple isn’t the first to use software to try and accomplish bokeh effects.
Some might recall how the Pixel smartphones were launched with single cameras, but yet still managed to pull off very impressive boeh using nothing but software. It remains to be seen how well the iPhone XR’s camera handles in real life as the phone is only scheduled to be released in October.