Sony CEO claims 8-megapixel Sony camera coming to iPhone 5

By on Apr 4, 2011 at 8:33 AM
mobile April 4, 2011

While speaking at an event in New York on April 1st, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer may have accidentally let slip info regarding Apple’s next-generation iPhone 5. Apple has been rumored to be looking for a new camera module supplier for some time, and now it looks as though Sony may be that supplier. Stringer, while speaking to The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg on stage at Carnegie Hall, mentioned that Sony’s image sensor facility in Sendai was impacted by the recent catastrophe in Japan. He then went on to say that this would likely impact the timeliness of sensor shipments to partner companies, using Apple as an example of Sony’s Partners. Sony does not supply camera modules for any current Apple products. Should Sony in fact be supplying image sensors for Apple’s iPhone 5, the sensor in question is likely Sony’s new 8-megapixel Exmor R, which can be found in newer Sony Ericsson devices like the Xperia arc and Xperia neo.

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  • Anonymous

    There isn’t much surprise that Apple is giving the iPhone’s camera a spec bump. The supplier being Sony on the other had was not expected. At least Apple doesn’t have to worry about and availability issues due to higher than expected sales of the Xperia arc and Xperia neo, because that isn’t going to happen.

  • Anonymous

    Enough of the hype, just release the dam thing

  • xxdesmus

    Well if that’s true …then uh ….welcome to 6 months ago Apple. You’ll be releasing your shiny new magic phone with the same camera that other phones had in mid-2010. Well done Apple.

    • http://twitter.com/homescrub homescrub

      man your math is off.

      • Jbutler85

        His math isn’t off if anything he might be underestimating the time period by about a month or two. The HTC Incredible for instance came out in April 2010 featuring a n 8 MP Dual flash camera. You can like Apple but you can’t distort the facts.

      • sirpaul

        That would make it “welcome to 1 year ago, Apple”, but since it’s coming out in July, it’s more like “welcome to almost 1.5 years ago, Apple”…how is is math not off?

      • Dave

        ya and you can’t “distort the facts” that I have tried almost every HTC with 8 MP camera (my friend owns a phone booth) and none of them take a picture as good as the iphone 4′s 5mp. remember higher Mega pixels doesn’t mean better quality pictures! whats important is the quality of the sensor! some HTC devices might have higher spec on paper but when you use them they are never as smooth/polished and high quality as the iphone4. hardware wise too they are plasticky and cheap looking! android really needs to bump up their hardware quality, they look awful. the GUI on android is still choppy and needs improvement!

    • El-father

      U funny, apple doesn’t have to be the first at releasing something new but they
      Definetely do it better and is what counts you should know this by now. Troll

    • Mplsboywonder

      The 5 MP camera in the iPhone was drastically superior to all other 5 MP smart-phones on the market.

      I think it is easy speculation that their 8 MP camera will be head and shoulders above anyone else’s comparable spec camera.

      Any “techie” on this site knows that Megapixels doesn’t mean ISH…..

      The number of megapixels (MP) a camera has has very little to do with how the image looks. Even worse, plenty of lower MP cameras can make better images than poorer cameras with more MP. The factors that matter, like color and sharpening algorithms, are FAR more significant.

      The fact is MP is a gimmick used by salespeople and manufacturers to make idiots like you “xxdesmus” think that one camera is better than another.

      If you care so much about cameras, and what makes sensors better. Than do some reading on the subject before trying to say that Apple is playing catch-up. It is pretty easy to say that their 8 MP camera is going to be head and shoulders above the competitions 8 MP.

      Well Done Apple!

      • xxdesmus

        I own an iPhone 4 dumb ass. I’m well aware that they claim their image sensor is superior to other 5MP camera’s. I’m also well aware that many tech blogs consider that to be complete BS. It’s comparable to most other cameras in the category. Apple’s marketing hype may have won you over, but don’t spread their garbage like it’s fact.

      • Mplsboywonder

        Anyone who claims a company is playing catch-up because of the term “MP”, has no idea what they are talking about.

  • Anonymous

    Ah, speculation about speculation. All Stringer said was they are providing sensors for Apple; he said nothing about which sensor or which device it is for. How ridiculous is this site going to let their headlines get?

    • Mr_marvelous30127

      I just read the same thing on CNN… Lol I’ll meet you there so you can bash them

  • Sean76

    The iPhones current cam is a lot better then more then a few current phones on the market. Mega pixels mean jack, the 5megapixel shooter current now, blows plenty of 8 megapixel shooters out of the water. So if Apple is going towards really making this a quality 8 from Sony, I say go for it.

  • Anonymous

    Biggest improvement apple can make is to totally revamp IOS away from a shotcut launching OS and bring it back into competitiveness with android. They need to start innovating again and their basic and boring OS is their biggest room for improvement.

    That and dumping iTunes, but that is a pipe dream.

  • Bringit

    I bet this will sell more than the ThuderBolt.

    • Anonymous

      I bet the ThunderBolt will strike down this iNferior device and then take a sh¡t on its’ little ol’ flaming “Homme” button.

      • Bringit

        Would not surprise anyone if Android had an “open” app that allowed the phone to take a sh¡t at will. But it’s “OPEN”!

    • Booboolala2000

      They need to get to work on their tired ios. It’s nothing without its apps. You can’t call an app launcher an os. And the crappy notification system is a joke. Sooo 2000 and late. All with no 4GLTE? All so it can fit in your skinny jeans.

      • Anonymous

        They will never have LTE (unless they use a Mi-Fi, of course), NEVER; their standard is 2G Edge and 3G, along with their “standard” 0.30 Pixel Front Facing Camera. They only have phones and mAxiPads to help validate them at parties so that they can have something homo’geneously to discuss since, they lack originality.

      • Anonymous

        not an iphone user, but until a lte device can last 5hrs+ i dont see the mainstream appeal of it. Thats what the iphone is, mainstream.

      • Booboolala2000

        I just got home from a trip that included San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta. My battery lasted more than five hours. Now, you are correct in the fact that I could only stream high quality video at a constant for about 3hrs. Not many phones can do that. Plus 4GLTE makes online content instant. But the iphone has never been about an online experience, just the apps on that tiny screen. I’ll keep my TBolt thank you. I understand that it’s not for everyone, kinda like a bugatti veyron, at top speed it will drain its fuel tank in under a half hour. You can toggle 4g when not using it.

      • Anonymous

        sure the screen is smaller but its higher resolution, and the iphone 5 is said to have a four inch screen. Your tbolt has a 4.3 inch screen at the same resolution as my old trusty droid. Thats why i’m not very impressed, i have very good eyesight and the tbolts screen is just kinda meh on clarity.

        and you saying the iphone isn’t about online experience when mobile safari was the standard at its inception is kinda ridiculous. Mobile safari is like the standard people use when comparing “online experience” on smartphones. And let’s be honest here, when it was created it wasn’t a “tiny” screen, it was the typical size at that time, the Droid was released at 3.7inches which was pretty large at the time.

  • nevermind

    Magical! Finally an “one year old EVO” killer!

    • Mr_marvelous30127

      Lol who needs to kill the evo?

  • Anonymous

    You bunch of sad iBelievers, this will not happen anytime soon; there is no way that crApple will leap up to 8MP, thereby, skipping 6MP, 6.30MP, 7MP, and 7.30MP, respectively. This iCam upgrade will happen gradually over the course of the next 4 years and, all the while, the Front Facing Camera will remain at 0.30 Pixels. The best part of this story is Sony, a company that has a great public perceived reputation and churns out more defective products than any other electronics manufacturer on the planet.

    By the time Apple gets to 8MP, Andoid Smartphones will be at 20MP.

    • Bringit

      “By the time Apple gets to 8MP, Andoid Smartphones will be at 20MP.”

      Probably true. With nowhere near the quality of the iPhone camera.

  • Anonymous

    Finally a phone puts an 8 megapixel cam on a phone…about time Apple, ur 1st again hopefully Android will soon.

    Seriously though, how is Apple gunna spin this to make it seem like their the first to put an 8 megapixel cam on a phone…i also hear the i5 is gunna be 4 inches and have 3D graphics…how are they gunna be the 1st to do these things…i guess they’ll add an “i” to it…hello i4 inch display, and i3D graphics…MAGICAL!

    • Anonymous

      They are simply going to say that they’ve had it all along but that their manufacturing plants overseas were invaded by a bunch of little Green men from outerspace who held their workers iHostage until they were able to pay the huge ransom demand in iSheep. iSheep are only found on Earth and, therefore, are a huge commodity in other planets and galaxies; they are mainly used, intergallactically, for mindless physical labor and in the breeding of more iSheep for trade.

    • Bringit

      Apple could care less about having the most megapixels (highly over rated) or the largest screen (even more highly over rated, get a tablet) or 3D graphics (highly over rated unless you are 5 and going to the latest Disney movie). What matters is quality and the user experience.

      Unless of course you are in the market for a droooiddd. Then having mega-megapixels, a phone that won’t fit in your pocket and an “open” yet fragmented usless UI is what counts.

      • Anonymous

        ‘Apple could care less’ is so TRUE and it shows, boy does it show. The problem is that the “sheep” have iBlinded intelligence due to their “limited” abilities and, unfortunately, ‘can’t see the Trees before the crApple’.

      • Bringit

        Least intelligent post you have made – and that is saying a lot.

    • http://twitter.com/trick202 Rich Fletcher

      My iPhone 4 camera is one of the best on the market – a plethora of industry reviews backs this up.

      I can just see it now “wow, my pictures kinda suck – ah well, at least I have a 10mp camera, so I suppose they MUST actually be great”

      • Anonymous

        Oh, your plethora, well excuuze me your plethora. Is that like a reference to your iGina where a mAxiPad might fit?

        plethora, plethora, placenta…..

  • Anonymous

    Seems more likely that as the CEO posted this on 4/1/11 it is more likely an April fools day joke.

  • KCRic

    This is news? Where are all the articles about every other phone that has an 8MP camera? Good job getting with the times Apple. Next step, ‘The iPhone 6 has notifications’ if you don’t have an iPhone, you don’t have notif-iCations.

    • Bringit

      Really – you are surprised that people might be interested in what the next iPhone might include? Are you really that clueless?

  • http://twitter.com/homescrub homescrub

    These 8MP camera’s on the Androids are shooting more like the iPhone’s 3.2MP camera’s. Its sad. Only great when there is lighting, and outside of that, all shots are shit.

    iPhone needs to test these 8MP sensors out before making it to market.

    • Booboolala2000

      My TBolt takes awesome pics low light or not. Great camera options too. Quit talking out of your ass. Yes, I Motorola has horrible cameras, had the original Droid and the DX.

    • http://www.droiddoes.com/ Norm

      That’s simply don’t true. I will take the higher specs any day. Don’t be crazy.

  • Booboolala2000

    At that point they will be a year and a half late. And a four inch screen? I thought it was perfect. Next, they might get a decent os and widgets along with a better notification system. See, Android is good for Apple

  • Jose

    The iPhone camera is already better than other phone cams. Including the 8 mgp cams. Mpg’s don’t matter. If you don’t know this, you’re an ignorant asshole.

    • Bringit

      Or own an Android phone.

  • http://www.TheGuruReview.net TGR

    This has been said to be a joke.

  • Anonymous

    I thought Steve Jobs said specs don’t matter. So if this rumor is true, why is the Iphone 5 getting a camera upgrade?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000722296108 Herman Guerra

    only 8? oy.

  • Anonymous

    All you sad girls whining about the iPhone need to get a life.

    Who gives a —- whether your buggy little android can wipe your @rse, the fact that you’re so obsessed about what Apple is doing, shows how sucked in you are!

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