‘8P’ Refers to Eight Plastic Lenses, and in Some Cases, Helps Improve Image Quality for Wide-Angle Cameras
On Twitter, Ming-Chi Kuo made a prediction, talking about one change that is not arriving to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra. As 9to5Mac reports, there are advantages and disadvantages to increasing the number of plastic elements in a lens, which is why Apple has stuck with a 7P solution for a significantly long time and not gravitated to 8P. Adding an extra unit will be done to reduce light distortion, improving image quality in varying lighting conditions on wide-angle lenses. Fortunately, despite sticking with a 7P solution for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, image quality has not suffered, with multiple critics, reviewers, and media chains reporting that both flagships churn out high-quality results when capturing stills and videos. A boatload of customers might also not be familiar with the term ‘8P,’ but they will likely be waiting for perhaps the biggest camera upgrade arriving to the iPhone 15 Ultra, a periscope zoom lens.
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) October 30, 2022 A periscope zoom lens being tailor-made for the iPhone 15 Ultra would be a first in Apple’s history, and with the company reportedly having secured a supplier earlier this year, it should give the top-tier flagship access to incredible levels of zoom, like the Galaxy S22 Ultra. For those unfamiliar with this term, companies like Samsung have adopted this technology as it relies on a prism to reflect light to multiple lenses at a 90-degree angle. This light then gets captured by the sensor and allows the length of the lens to be significantly longer than a telephoto zoom lens you see on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. This results in improved optical zoom. At this time, the telephoto unit on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max allow both flagships to zoom up to 3x and digital zoom up to 15x. With a periscope lens, that optical zoom figure could increase to 5x on the iPhone 15 Ultra, and if we are being overly optimistic, perhaps even 10x. Unfortunately, it is too early to follow these predictions to heart, so we recommend treating this information with a pinch of salt, and we will be back with more updates. News Source: Ming-Chi Kuo
