Largan, a key supplier of camera lenses for the iPhone, says it will be shipping out lenses for 3D sensing modules later this year, leading to speculation that they will make their way into this year’s iPhones, Nikkei Asian Review reports. “We will have lenses for 3-D sensing [module used in smartphone] ready to ship in the second half this year,” said Largan CEO Adam Lin.
Those lenses are essential in enabling facial and iris recognition-capabilities rumored to be coming in new iPhones. Lin didn’t say anything about Apple being the recipient of the lenses, but Jeff Pu, an analyst at Yuanta Investment Consulting, said Apple is the only one in the world expected to release a device with those features this year.
While even a July shipment schedule seems to create a tight timeline for getting the special lenses into the new iPhones, several sources including well-respected KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo have predicted Apple will include a “revolutionary” front-facing camera as a tentpole feature in its iPhone 8.
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