Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, which the company launched in 2018, were the first smartphones in the world to offer variable aperture for the primary camera at the rear. You could select between f/1.5 and f/2.4 apertures. The former gave you brighter photos in poorly lit environments but kept only a small area in focus. Whereas, the latter kept a larger area in focus but gave you darker photos in low-light conditions.Summarize in one-click with Galaxy AI
Samsung carried forward this feature in the Galaxy S10 series smartphones and then abandoned this feature as not many people found it useful. Fast forward to 2023, Huawei and Xiaomi adopted the variable aperture feature for their phones to combat the issues related to the focusing area that were introduced with large-sized sensors. Well, Apple too is now planning to adopt variable aperture for iPhones.
The story continues after the video…
According to a new report from The Information (via Android Authority), Apple is planning to equip the camera(s) on the iPhone 17, which it will launch in 2025, with a mechanically-controlled variable aperture system. At the moment, there’s no information about which cameras on the upcoming phone will have this feature. We assume that the tech giant will offer it only with the primary/wide-angle camera at the rear.
People usually say that Samsung copies Apple but what do they have to say now when the Cupertino-based tech giant is planning to copy a feature from the South Korean company that it abandoned years ago? This isn’t the only instance Apple is copying Samsung. There have been other instances where the iPhone maker copied Samsung but that is a debate for another time.