iPhone 14 could have a periscope camera now that Apple has patented the tech

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TheiPhone 12range has excellent cameras, but what it doesn’t have is long-range photography, unlike, say, theSamsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which offers 10x optical zoom. That’s because no current iPhone has a periscope camera, but it looks very likely that a future one will, asApplehas just been granted a patent for a periscope system.

Spotted byPatently Apple, the patent dubbed ‘Folded camera’ was filed with theUSPTOand describes a system that allows the light entering the camera to be reflected at an angle, so thelensescan be laid out horizontally within the phone, rather than being stacked vertically.

This allows for longer range zoom without having the camera stick way out of the back, which would be required for a conventional telephoto lens that offers 5x or 10x zoom.

The fact that Apple now has a patent for such a system shows that it’s looking into offering a periscope camera on a future iPhone – though notably patents don’t always end up being used.

But we fully expect Apple to incorporate something along these lines at some point, or it risks being left behind by rivals likeSamsungand Huawei, which already offer periscope cameras on some of their phones.

Not only that, but we’ve heard multiple rumors now that Apple plans to equip a future iPhone with a periscope camera, but there’s some disagreement as to when. We had heardwe might see it in 2022with the iPhone 14, but a more recent leakpoints to 2023. We’re fairly confident that it won’t make it for theiPhone 13range though.

It’s also not clear how much zoom range Apple’s periscope camera would offer, but most phones opt for either 5x or 10x, so one of those numbers is likely. Hopefully we’ll find out for sure in the next year or two.

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ViaMacRumors

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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